September 28, 2011, - 5:45 pm
Rosh HaShanah: To My Friends & Readers
To my friends and readers: tonight at sundown, the Jewish holiday of Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, begins. It is one of the two most important holidays in Judaism, with the other being Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. The holiday, outside of Israel, lasts for two days, so I will be out of live blog commission for the next two days. However, I’ve prepared a few posts in advance, including my Friday movie reviews, which will go up in my absence. There will be at least a couple of things you won’t read and will not have read anywhere else but on this site. I will also post a couple more things, today. So, stay tuned. Below are a couple of my favorite Rosh HaShanah postcards from my collection, including one that Jews sent in support of America’s troops in World War I, and a cool ’60s or ’70s postcard of an Israeli soldier and his girlfriend. (Later, I’ll post a few Rosh HaShanah postcards sent by Jewish American soldiers serving in the U.S. Armed Forced during World War II.)
On Rosh HaShanah, we eat apples (my faves are McIntosh and Fuji) with honey and ask G-d to bless us with a a year as sweet as apples with honey. Some people also eat several other foods, including pomegranate and carrots, which symbolize good things.
As we pray in our synagogues, you will not hear our rabbis calling for violence and destruction and preaching hate and genocide, as is the case in mosques all over the world, including in America. Our rabbis will sermonize about peace and what we can do to be better people spiritually. That is the Jewish way. In synagogue, we will also hear a man blow many different sounds out of a ram’s horn, called the “shofar,” and we are obligated to hear all the sounds.
Man Blowing Sounds Out of the Shofar
At synagogue, I will be praying for a good and peaceful year for our country and that G-d will bless America with prosperity and freedom uninfringed by politically correct pandering to Muslims and other malefactors. I will pray for secure borders and continued safety for those of us who get it and dare to speak out against the Islamic encroachment. I will pray for the safety and security of our troops serving in the U.S. Armed Forces all over the world, including my cousin who serves in the U.S. Air Force. I will pray for America’s economy to get better and for our country to return to the greatness that is now tarnished. I will also pray for all of my friends, Jewish and gentile, for their continued health and happiness and financial livelihood. These are dangerous times we live in, and I will ask G-d to keep us safe, secure, and free.
To my Jewish friends and readers who sent me New Year’s wishes, I regret that I cannot respond to each of you individually, but I reciprocate your good wishes and say, “Ktivah v’Chatimah Tovah”–May You Be Written and Sealed (by G-d) for a Good Year. L’Shanah Tovah–To a Good Year.
To my gentile friends and readers, thank you to the many of you who also sent me New Year’s greetings and good wishes. And thanks for your continued support, friendship, and readership. I am blessed to have you. And I hope you will read my new stuff posted in my absence.
Y’all come back now, ya hear!
L’Shanah Tovah Debbie!
Mike on September 28, 2011 at 5:57 pm