First of all a Gmar Chasima Tova to all of my followers and readers of this blog. Today we are at the beginning of Aseres Yemei Teshuva, the ten days of teshuva in between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. As we all know Rosh Hashana is the Yom haDin, the day when we -and the whole world- are being judged by Hashem.
From Rosh Hashana until Yom Kippur we still have ten days to work on ourselves until our ‘judgement’ is sealed. As I wrote in this reply these days are not particularly some of my favorite days since I know I could still improve a lot and the Yom haDin is “serious business”. Hashem is our King and this is not a children’s game. But at the same time while Hashem is indeed our King, He is also our Father who loves us.
The following maaseh I once heard from my Rebbe helped me a lot:
During one Rosh Hashana by the Chozeh m’Lublin the Rebbe refused to come out of his room for tekias shofar (blowing of the shofar). Since the chozeh had the minhag of davening in a side-room the chassidim were waiting a long time for him to come out. Once they saw he didn’t come’ one of the Chozeh’s closest talmidim went inside to see what was going on.
Reb Dovid Lelover, who would later become the first Lelover Rebbe, went inside to see why the Rebbe didn’t come. After hours of waiting he asked the Rebbe to come out and listen to the shofar but he refused. No matter what Reb Dovid would say the Chozeh wouldn’t budge. He locked himself up in his room and refused to listen to anyone being too worried about the judgement in Shomayim. He had worries and questions that didn’t allow him to listen to the kol hashofar.
Among the mispalelim was also a little boy. This boy’s name was Shlomo Rabinovitz, who later later become the Tiferes Shlomo; the first Radomsker Rebbe who would attract many thousands of chassidim. Others say it was Itzikel Vorker, who would later become the famous Rebbe R’ Yitzchok Vorker. In any case Reb Dovid Lelover had adopted this little boy who was clutching on to his gartel as he went to speak to the Chozeh..
The Chozeh then asked the little boy for his name and what he was learning.
“Choshen Mishpat*” answered the boy.
“Tell me,” said the Chozeh in a troubled voice. “I don’t understand. Why is a korev not allowed to testify for a beis din?” The halacha is that when a Korev (a close family member) testifies for a Beis Din they are not allowed to accept him as a witness.
“Because a korev is always trying to do a toiveh [favor] for his relative, and so we suspect him of having his own interests.”
“But why the korev is posul [unfit] for both for zchus [speaking good] and for chov [speaking negatively]. I understand if he has something good to say we should not accept it because he is a korev; but if he has something terribly bad to say it must be true!”
Answered the little boy: “That’s because one shouldn’t say anything bad about a korev. We don’t want a korev to speak bad about other kerovim. A korov who testifies against his own flesh and blood is not a mentsh, and the posuk says ועמדו שני אנשים [Devorim 19.17] and two mentschen have to testify!”
After hearing this the Chozeh smiled and told the boy he comforted him saying, “Klal Yisroel are called kerovim of Hashem [Devorim 4.7] So the Ribono Shel Olam will not speak evil of His Children!” Now he walked inside the Beis Medresh b’simche [with a joy] and signaled to start with the tekias shofar.
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*A very complicated part of Shulchan Oruch that deals with finances/legal procedures etc.
Let us always remember and trust that no matter what; we are still Hashem’s kerovim. The Shem m’Shmuel writes that even though these are Yemei HaDin (days of judgement) we still say “שהחיינו וקיימנו לזמן הזה” on Rosh Hashana after kiddush because we are glad to be at this moment. The Tur brings down a medrash that a person has to dress nicely, get a haircut [and] act like it is any other Yom Tov where there is a mitzvah of simcha. Which is a very interesting thing to say. A simcha? We are being judged! That’s a simcha? It’s Yom haDin!
Yes, that is all true. It is a Yom haDin indeed; on the outside we do stand trembling in awe, but deep inside we all know that Hashem only wants it to be a good year for us, and therefore, it is a moed [a yom tov] as well.
Let it takeh be only a good year, a healthy and sweet year; a year of simches and teshuva sheleima for all of us!
This year (similarly to last year) the most holy day of the Jews - Yom Kippur and of the Muslims -Eid al Adcha will be celebrated around the same time. This year, Yom Kippur falls on the same day as “Kapat Arpa” which is the day before Eid al Adcha - a day of preparation where many Muslims also fast. Together with the Community Mediation and Dialogue Centers of Jerusalem, Lod, Ramle, Acre and Haifa we have produced the attached video in order to learn more about the holidays and in order to encourage mutual respect and understanding between people of two religions, who share a common space.
This video is captioned in English. You can find it with Hebrew and Arabic captions here.
May these wonderful people’s wishes come true. Shana tova and gmar chatima tova!
Kol nidre, initial word: כל (“All”) opening the Eve of Yom Kippur prayers from David bar Pesah Mahzor (Germany). Volume 2, 1301 - 1400 (Approximate), ink and watercolor on Vellum, From The New York Public Library.
hey guys! as you know tomorrow starts Yom Kippur, a very important day in jewish culture a day meant to be spent in self reflection and fasting. but because of my health i won’t be fasting in a traditional sense, i’ll be doing a social media fast which as anyone who knows me knows is very very hard for me. But i’ll be gone for the next 48 hrs
I hope your Yom Kippur is one fillled with reflection and retrospection
be kind to yourself and i’ll see you after Yom Kippur
Wondering what to read over the Jewish High Holidays starting next week? Check out this year’s 10 Awesome Books for the 10 Days of Awe recommended by the Jewish Book Council!
“The Gemara recounts that when Rav Sheshet would sit in observance of a fast, after he prayed he said as follows:
“Master of the Universe, it is revealed before You that when the Temple is standing, one sins and offers a sacrifice. And although only its fat and blood were offered from that sacrifice on the altar, his transgression is atoned for him. And now, I sat in observance of a fast and my fat and blood diminished. May it be Your will that my fat and blood that diminished be considered as if I offered a sacrifice before You on the altar, and may I find favor in Your eyes.”
Today is the first of the Hebrew month of Elul, which means IT’S almost TIME FOR DAYS OF AWESOME! Whoo!
What is Days of Awesome?
Days of Awesome is a annual Jewish character ficathon in honor of the Jewish high holiday season.
Originally founded by Livejournal user jadelennox in 2007, the goal of this project is to create a venue for fans of all backgrounds to write fic about Jewish characters and their Jewish identities–which are all-too-often under-represented in canon and fanon, and, when they are represented, they’re often represented as Jewish in name only.
We’re also here because while we love other holiday fic challenges, they so frequently don’t correspond with holidays that are important on the Jewish calendar. We wanted to change that with a festive little celebration around the Jewish holiday season!
How It Works
We’re keeping it really casual.
We’ll have a collection on Archive of Our Own that will open on Erev Rosh HaShana (Monday, September 6, this year), and stay open through the Hebrew month of Tishrei (until October 6)–a length which spans the entire Jewish high holiday season, and includes the holidays of Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Sheminei Atzeret, and Simchat Torah!
You can feel free to upload any fic, ficlet, or podfic that you write that fits the requirements to the collection within that time frame. Please just tag it with the tag Community: daysofawesome!
And, if all goes according to plan, we’ll have a few optional prompts too, peppered and shared throughout the month.
What are the requirements for fic?
The only firm requirement is that your focal character be Jewish.
If they’re canonically Jewish–great!
If they’re not canonically Jewish, that’s okay too. But we would ask that if it is a situation in which you headcanon a particular character as Jewish, or are writing an AU in which they are Jewish, you please make the fic about their Jewishness.
If you have a Jewish OC that you want to write about–if, for instance, you want to explore what it would be like to be a Jewish character in the world of the Hunger Games, or His Dark Materials–go for it! Again, we would just ask that the fic be about that character’s (or those characters’) Jewish experiences.
If you wanted to be extra festive and seasonal, you could write about some of the characters celebrating one of the seasonal holiday, or a fic on one of the themes that is explored throughout one of these days.
All fandoms are game, and there are no length requirements, and you can upload as many pieces as you’d like within the month.
Questions?
We are here to help!
Check out our FAQ, or feel free to drop us an ask ,or send us an email at [email protected]
And if you’re interested, please signal boost! We’d love to spread this far and wide!
TWO WEEKS UNTIL DAYS OF AWESOME OPENS! Get those writing muscles stretched!
