High Holy Days

The Days of Awe Yamim Nora’im Rosh Hashanah Through Yom Kippur

Awake, you sleepers, from your slumber… examine your deeds, return in repentance, and remember your Creator.

On 1 Elul, August 25th on the secular calendar this year, the shofar will sound in traditional synagogues, announcing the beginning of the forty days of preparation for the High Holy Days.  It will be sounded every morning except Shabbat, to awake us to examine our lives.

During this period of self–examination and introspection, we look back over the previous year–over our accomplishments and over our regrets–and work toward teshuvah, repentance or turning, in order to live more fully in the year ahead of us.  We make apologies to our family and friends, and we attempt to bring our lives into alignment with God’s commands.

Despite the awesome judgment proclaimed by Yom Kippur–who shall live and who shall die–the message of the Days of Awe emphasizes the possibility that through teshuvah (repentance), tefilah (prayer), and tzedakah (good works) we can change and make the year ahead one of sweetness and hope.

Selichot–Forgiveness

We set the mood for the Yamim Nora’im on Selichot, observed at the close of the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah. After Havdalah, the weekly ceremony that separates Shabbat from the rest of the week, there is customarily discussion concentrating on forgiveness and repentance in the spirit of the Thirteen Attributes of God (based on Exodus 34: 6–7). In the synagogue, we gather in the gently lit sanctuary for a brief Service. The Torahs are changed into their white High Holy Day covers, and the Service, with its psalms and prayers of forgiveness, is both solemn and moving, caught in the urgent music of Sh’ma Koleinu.

Rosh Hashanah–The Birthday of the World

In the seventh month, on the first day of this month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with loud blasts.  (Leviticus 23:24)

Although Rosh Hashanah is a solemn day, the day on which the books of judgment are opened, it has a joyous aspect, reflected in our prayer that states, "This is the birthday of the world."  In celebrating Creation, we are reminded of our role in helping God create a better world.

The standard daily liturgy is expanded to include the themes of the holiday.  Avinu Malkenu, "Our Father, our King," signals our desire to repent and be forgiven.  Unetanah Tokef, with its symbolism of the shepherd accounting for each sheep and its powerful music, announces the Day of Judgment–"who shall live and who shall die."

The Rosh Hashanah Service is punctuated by the sound of the shofar&nfdash;it is heard one hundred times during the Ten Days of Awe–and we are commanded to hear it. There are three blasts–tekiah, shevarim, and teru’ah–announced as they are sounded.

The blowing of the shofar is built on three themes of the holiday–Malchuyot (Sovereignty), Zichronot (Remembrance), and Shofarot (Revelation).  After the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah morning, we hear the notes that declare. “This is the day of the birth of the world,” our affirmation of renewal.

Tashlich–Casting Our Sins on the Water

You will hurl [tashlich] all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

After Rosh Hashanah morning Services, we symbolically cleanse ourselves of our sins by throwing pieces of bread into water after a short service at the water’s edge. 

Yom Kippur–The Holiest of Days

In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month,
you shall practice self-denial;…
For on this day atonement shall be made
for you to cleanse you of all your sins.  (Leviticus 16:29–30)

The uniqueness and solemnity of Yom Kippur are immediately noted in the tallitot worn by congregants. Yom Kippur is the only evening on which a tallit is worn.  Various reasons have been offered, but they can be summed up in one commentator’s observation that the tallitot heighten the atmosphere of the day.  Another unique aspect of the holiday is that it has five Services, more than any other holiday—Ma’ariv, the evening Service (Kol Nidrei); Shacharit, the morning Service; Mincha, the afternoon Service; Yizkor, (remembrance) created by the Reform movement to replace Musaf, the traditional extra service; and Neilah, the closing Service.

Yom Kippur starts before it starts, with the haunting chant of Kol Nidrei.  Kol Nidrei, basically a legal text written in Aramaic, precedes our worship because we cannot conduct business–the nullification of vows–on the holiday. Congregants hold Torahs to form a court. In a complex rabbinic interpretation, the chant nullifies rash vows that we may not keep in the coming year.

Throughout the Yom Kippur Services we feel the urgency of judgment and the hope of forgiveness.  On Kol Nidrei we first recite the Vidui, Confession, a catalogue of our sins, stated in the first-person plural, followed by prayers for forgiveness. The Vidui is repeated in the morning Service and in Neilah we again seek forgiveness in the face of human weakness–the words of the Machzor, "You hold out Your hand."

Yom Kippur also is a time to recall the history and martyrdom of our people, as reflected in the afternoon service, and to recall those whom we loved and now love in our hearts, as reflected in Yizkor.

Yom Kippur climaxes in Neilah, or closing, The gates are closing; judgment has been passed for this year—“On Yom Kippur it is sealed”—although the ark is open for most of Neilah and prayers are still heard. For ten days the gates have been open, and we have reflected and, we pray, returned to our better selves. For twenty–four hours we have fasted and prayed in the hope that individually and universally we can look forward to a year of sweetness, strength, and peace. As the gates symbolically close and the day ends, a hush–part hunger, part fatigue, part anticipation of a new year–falls over the congregation. The shofar is sounded for the last time. Darkness descends. We light the candles and celebrate Havdalah, the beginning of a new day, a new year, and new possibilities.

High Holy Day Customs

Note that the nusach, melodies, of the prayers are different during the High Holy Days. Each day of the year has different melodies, and those for the Days of Awe underline the themes of the holidays.

Rosh Hashanah is traditionally greeted with hope and sweetness. The challah with which we celebrate at home is often round, shaped as a spiral reaching up, as we reach up. We dip apples into honey, a taste of the sweetness we hope for in the coming year.

The prayerbook for the High Holy Days is called a machzor (cycle), rather than a siddur (order or sequence), the prayerbook we use on other occasions.

On Yom Kippur many people wear white, the symbolic color of purity. At Stephen Wise our clergy wear white, and the Torahs are dressed with white covers

Please feel free to invite others to join us for a special experience in the synagogue.