Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
“Le shanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim,”
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown on October 2, 2016 and is celebrated through October 4; while the holiest day of the year, for Jews everywhere, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sunset on October 11 and ends on October 12 at sunset. The ten days in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe; during this time, a time of repentance and atonement.
The New Year is ushered in according to Leviticus 23, with the sounding of the Shophar, calling Jews to seek God’s forgiveness, reflecting on Him and His desire for mankind; hoping for a sweet and happy new year, an apple dipped in honey, is consumed with joy!
Yom Kippur is marked with fasting and deep reflection, praying for forgiveness of sins, and determining to repent and make amends for deeds unpleasing to God, again as Leviticus 23 calls for. “The Mishnah (Yoma VIII, 9) tells us that ‘when a person says I shall sin and Yom Kippur will procure forgiveness, Yom Kippur will not procure forgiveness.’ Furthermore, ‘it is only for the transgressions against God that Yom Kippur atones, but as for transgressions against our neighbor, there can be no atonement until we have first righted any wrongs we may have committed.”[i]
May you be written and sealed for a good year!
(I apologize for not crediting this work of art. I do not know where I got it; but love it and feel it perfect for this post. If this is your work, thank you for creating it, please let me know who you are that I may give you the proper credit, and permit me to use it.)
