Friday, September 27, 2019

The No-Rush Hushana


The purpose of this blog is to add some sweetness to the Shabbat table... Please print and share.
Happy anniversary shout-out to Kyle and Shelli - We should all learn from and be inspired by your shalom bayit.


RH survival kitSo here it is, just days away.

Have you procured your apples and honey?

What's the rush? You still have Sunday.

The first question for your table:

Why again do we dip apples in honey? Do we really think that dipping apples in honey is going to give us a sweet year? And what does "a sweet year" mean, especially to those of us trying to kick our sugar habit? Is this another example of magical religious thinking?

Since it is the season, once again I would like to offer you:

1. Our Rosh Hashana "Simanim" sheet - traditional foods and blessings for the Rosh Hashana table.
2. Our "25 Questions to Think About from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur" sheet.

For either of these, just click reply and ask!

3. The High Holidays is a time when the most charitable people on Earth increase our tzedaka. If you are a regular or even occasional reader of this email, this is an excellent time to become a partner or renew your partnership. Your partnership supports not only the real costs of this weekly email but also innovative, far-reaching programs like this, this, and this (yes, I know the third one is buggy, that's why we need your help!). Oh, and let's not forget about this groundbreaking new project. Step up to the plate with a tax-deductible donation to JSLI.

Speaking of High Holidays and innovation, this morning the following question came in on the rabbis' email list:

 
Does anyone have a good way to request congregants not to have their phones on during services? Obviously, we send a request before Yom Tov but there is always that inevitable ring during davening. One year we wrote "please make sure all cell phones are off" (this way we are not asking them to turn it off), but I still feel a bit uncomfortable about it.

Question for your table: What would you advise this rabbi?

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a healthy and happy new year and a meaningful Rosh Hashana.

Shabbat Shalom

and

L'Shana Tova - May you be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life!



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2 comments:

micha berger said...

One answer to what does a sweet year even mean was offered by the Bostoner Rebbe zt"l. I'll omit the supporting texts and so on and get to his point.

"Everything the All-Merciful does is for the good." So giving a blessing that someone have a good year is redundant.

However, it is still an open question how often can we experience the good in what happens to us.

And so ask that it be Hashem's Will that we have a "good and sweet year" -- a year whose goodness can be tasted.

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