Shana Tova!

rosh-hashanah-shofar3.jpgSFist is so happy to be living in the Bay Area, where celebrations of the Rosh Hashanah holiday are as diverse as the populace itself.

"What's Rosh Hashanah?" you might be wondering. (You've probably heard it referred to as "Jewish New Year" which isn't too far from the truth.) Well, for a complete explanation you can look here, but the short answer is that
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day-long holiday that marks the beginning of the Yamim Noraim (the ten days of atonement).

So, on Rosh Hashanah, all mankind is judged. HaShem (God) writes the judgment for each of us in the Book of Life. This judgment is based on our lives of the year before, and is the decision of what will happen to us in the coming year. The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (this year, on Sept 23) give us a time to change this judgment for good, and we're given the chance to improve our coming year through Teshuvah (asking forgiveness), Tefillah (prayer), and Tzedakah (charity). Then on Yom Kippur the Book of Life is closed until the following year.

So, how to ring in the Jewish year 5765 in the Bay Area?

All Bay Area temples will have holiday services, but please note that most of them will require advance tickets. This is a big holiday, so plan ahead!

A temple we're particularly interested in checking out is Chochmat HaLev, Berkley's own center for Jewish meditation and sprirituality. They still have tickets available for their holiday services for tonight, tomorrow, and Friday.

We're sad to see that the Israeli Dance Party planned for this Saturday has been rescheduled, because it sounds like loads of fun.

But if you prefer to kick it old school, we recommend Temple Emanu-El. OK, we really don't, because you're not getting holiday tickets unless someone's scalping them out on California Street (now there's a business idea!), but we wanted to link to this beautiful and historic Congregation. We highly recommend that you check out services at some point, as this temple and congregation is a true piece of San Francisco history.

Whatever your faith, creed, or philosophy, SFist wishes all of you the best in the new year. L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem.

Thanks to the SFist staff and Anna Katz for contributions to this story

Contact the author of this article or email tips@sfist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
user-pic
By eve in on September 15, 2004 4:53 PM Comments 0 Likes Likes

Tags:

Email This Entry


To increase the security and stability of our sites, Gothamist has decided to stop collecting or storing commenter logins. To comment, please login with Disqus, Facebook, or Twitter. If you want to claim your previous comments, please create a Disqus login, and then claim them using these instructions. Thanks!

Comments [rss]