 |
| Ben Adret, the Major Synagogue in Barcelona |
Jewish Community had an important presence in the Iberian Peninsula (Sepharad) and nowadays this culture is very apreciate in places like Girona, Besalú, Tortosa, Palma (where the Jewish are named xuetes), Tarragona, Valls and Barcelona. If you have the opportunity, don't forget to visit these cities and learn as things as you can about the semitic culture because is an incredible experience.
Rosh Hashanah, literally meaning the beginning of the year, is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah, literally day of shouting/blasting, sometimes translated as the Feast of Trumpets. It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days specified by Leviticus 23:23–32, which usually occur in the early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere.
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day celebration, which begins on the first day of Tishrei. Tishrei is the first month of the Jewish civil year, but the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year.
 |
| A Jewish man with a shofar (sjofar) |
According to Judaism, the fact that Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the year is explained by it being the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman according to the Hebrew Bible, and their first actions toward the believed realization of humanity's role in God's world.
According to one secular opinion its origin is in the beginning of the economic year in the ancient Near East, marking the start of the agricultural cycle.
Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar, a hollowed-out ram's horn, as prescribed in the Torah, following the prescription of the Hebrew Bible to raise a noise on Yom Teruah; and among its rabbinical customs, is the eating of symbolic foods such as apples dipped in honey to evoke a sweet new year.
The Mishnah contains the second known reference to Rosh Hashanah as the day of judgment. In the Talmud tractate on Rosh Hashanah, it states that three books of account are opened on Rosh Hashanah, where in the fate of the wicked, the righteous, and those of an intermediate class are recorded.
The names of the righteous are immediately inscribed in the book of life and they are sealed to live. The intermediate class are allowed a respite of ten days, until Yom Kippur, to reflect, repent and become righteous; the wicked are blotted out of the book of the living forever.
The Jews' greatest contribution to history is dissatisfaction! We're a nation born to be discontented. Whatever exists we believe can be changed for the better.
Shimon Peres
No comments:
Post a Comment