High Holy Days

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Canadian band, see High Holy Days (band).

The High Holy Days or High Holidays of Judaism refers to the holidays of Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year") and Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"). In an extended sense it can mean the penitential period in the Jewish year which begins on Rosh Chodesh Elul, includes Rosh Hashanah and the Ten Days of Repentance (Aseret Yemei Teshuvah) and ends with Yom Kippur. The English term "High Holidays" is not an accurate translation; the actual name for this period is the Yamim Noraim (Hebrew: ימים נוראים "Days of Awe"), though this is sometimes taken as referring to the Ten Days alone.

Traditionally the period from Rosh Hodesh Elul to Yom Kippur is taken to represent the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai before coming down with the Tablets of stone.

1 The days preceding Rosh Hashanah (Jewish new year)
2 Rosh Hashanah
3 The Ten Days of Repentance
4 Yom Kippur
5 Hosha'ana Rabba
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] The days preceding Rosh Hashanah (Jewish new year)

The Hebrew month preceding Rosh Hashanah, Elul, is designated as a month of introspection and repentance. In preparation for the Jewish New Year, special prayers are recited. Psalm 27 is added at the end of morning and evening prayers, and the shofar (ram's horn) is blown at the end of morning services on weekdays (except for the eve of Rosh Hashanah itself). Among Sephardi Jews, Selichot are recited at dawn on weekdays throughout the month. Also, many complete the entire Book of Psalms twice during the month. It is customary to increase the giving of charity and to ask forgiveness from friends.

At midnight on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah, Ashkenazi Jews begin reciting selichot. On the following days, however, they generally recite the selichot before the regular morning prayers. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, extra prayers are recited and many fast until noon.

[edit] Rosh Hashanah

Main article: Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה rōsh hashānāh, beginning of the year) is the Jewish New Year, and falls on the first and second days of the Jewish month of Tishri (September/October). The Mishnah, the core work of the Jewish Oral Torah, sets this day aside as the new year for calculating calendar years and sabbatical and jubilee years.

Rabbinic literature describes this day as a day of judgment. God is sometimes referred to as the "Ancient of Days." Some descriptions depict God as sitting upon a throne, while books containing the deeds of all humanity are opened before Him.

Prayer services are longer than on a regular Shabbat or other Jewish holidays, and include (on weekdays) the blowing of the shofar. On the afternoon of the first (or the second, if the first was Saturday) day, a ritual called tashlich is performed, in which sins are "cast" into open water, such a river, sea, or lake.

[edit] The Ten Days of Repentance

Main article: Ten Days of Repentance

The "ten days of repentance" include Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the days in between, during which time Jews should meditate on the subject of the holidays and ask for forgiveness from anyone they have wronged. They include the Fast of Gedaliah, on the third day of Tishri, and Shabbat Shuvah, which is the Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Shabbat Shuvah has a special Haftarah, and traditionally the rabbi gives a long sermon on that day.

It is held that, while judgment on each person is pronounced on Rosh Hashanah, it is not made absolute until Yom Kippur. The Ten Days are therefore an opportunity to mend one's ways in order to alter the judgment in one's favor.

[edit] Yom Kippur

Main article: Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur (יום כפור yom kippūr, "Day of Atonement") is the Jewish festival of the Day of Atonement. The Hebrew Bible calls the day Yom Hakippurim (Hebrew, "Day of the Atonement/s").

In the Hebrew calendar, the ninth day of Tishri is known as Erev Yom Kippur (Yom Kippur eve). Yom Kippur itself begins around sunset on that day and continues into the next day until nightfall, and therefore lasts about 25 hours.

Jews fast throughout Yom Kippur and attend synagogue for most of the day. There are five prayer services, one in the evening (sometimes known as "Kol Nidre" from one of the main prayers) and four consecutively on the day.

[edit] Hosha'ana Rabba

There is a Kabbalistic belief that, though judgment is made absolute on Yom Kippur, it is not registered until the seventh day of Sukkot, known as Hosha'ana Rabba. The service for this day therefore contains some reminiscences of those for the High Holy Days, and it is treated as a last opportunity to repent of sins that may have been missed on Yom Kippur.