Solemn Days, ימים נוראים
By ימים נוראים “solemn days,” we understand the first ten days of the month Tishri, especially their beginning and their end: ראש השנה, “New-year,” and יום כפור “the Day of Atonement.”100
It is customary to prepare for the “solemn days” during the month of Elul, by additional prayers, called סליחות “forgiveness,” after or before the Daily Service, and by blowing the shofar at the close of the [401]Daily Service.101 According to the Portuguese Ritual, the Selichoth begin on the 1st of Elul, and are continued [402]morning and evening till the Day of Atonement. The German Ritual has Selichoth only in the Morning Service; they begin on the Sunday before New-year, and if the Festival is on Monday or Tuesday, on the second Sunday before, and end on the Day of Atonement. The blowing of the shofar takes place in the German Synagogues during the month of Elul, in the Portuguese this custom is not practiced.
ראש השנה New-year.
The first and the second days of Tishri are kept as New-year.102 In accordance with the command, “The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God” (Exod. xxxiv. 26), we devote the first ten days of the year as an offering to the Lord; they are days of increased devotion, earnest self-examination, and new efforts to lead a good, virtuous, and godly life. They are called עשרת ימי תשובה “ten days of return” to God, or “ten penitential days.”
We greet and congratulate each other on New-year, using the phrase, לשנה טובה תכתב—or לש׳ ט׳ תכחבי, תכתבו, תכתבנה according as a male, a female, several males, or several females are addressed—“May you be inscribed for a happy year.” It is a figurative expression, borrowed from the writing and signing of decrees by earthly judges. [403]
In the Bible the Festival is not called New-year,103 but יום תרועה “Day of blowing the shofar” (Num. xxix. 1); and זכרון תרועה “Memorial of the blowing of the shofar” (Lev. xxiii. 24); in our prayers the names יום הזכרון and יום הדין “Day of Remembering” and “Day of Judgment,” are also used.
The first of these four names implies, according to the traditional interpretation, the commandment of blowing the shofar. As a rule the shofar is blown during the Morning Service before the sefer is returned to the Ark, and during Musaf.104 The blowing of the shofar is expressed by תרועה, which denotes the sound of an alarm; hence we learn that the shofar is intended to awaken us, and to call us forth to range ourselves under our banner. It is an ideal banner, the worship of God and faith in Him, that we are called upon to protect and to defend from enemies without and within.105 Prominence is therefore given in our Service for New-year to the proclamation of God as King of the universe, and to our longing for the time when all mankind will unite in the worship of the One God. [404]
The name “Memorial of blowing the shofar” indicates that we are to remember some historical event suggested by the sound of the shofar. We are reminded of the period when the Israelites, encamped round Mount Sinai, on hearing the Divine message, “Ye shall be my peculiar people,” “a kingdom of priests,” and “a holy nation,” joyfully replied, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do” (Exod. xix. 8). The shofar thus awakens us to greater watchfulness and activity in the purification and sanctification of our heart.
The third name, “Day of Memorial,” seems to be a modification of the second; but it has a more general meaning. The second name, that reminds us of our duty as God’s peculiar people, suggests also the idea that God, who declared us to be His people, watches over us; that what we do, we do in His presence. He perceives, notes, and remembers all our deeds, words, and thoughts. When, therefore, we appeal to the goodness of Him, who remembers all His creatures and provides for the wants of every one of them, we must not forget that He is also just. This idea, again, suggests the fourth name, יום הדין “Day of Judgment,” the day on which we are judged according to our deeds, both our merits and our shortcomings being taken into account.
The essential elements in our Service are the three sections in the Amidah of Musaf: מלכיות, זכרונות and שופרות. They chiefly refer to the three fundamental principles of our religion: (1) Existence of God, a Being that is King of the universe; (2) Divine Justice, and (3) Revelation. Ten passages are quoted [405]from the Bible in support of each of these principles.
Tradition has fixed the 1st of Tishri as the date of several events in the history of Israel, e.g., the birth of Isaac, the binding of Isaac (עקדה), and the birth of Samuel (B. T. Rosh ha-shanah 10b). Hence Gen. xxi. and xxii. are read on the two days of New-year, in addition to the paragraph on the sacrifices of the Festival (Num. xxix. 1–6).
From the Prophets, we read on the first day 1 Sam. i. 1 to ii. 10, on the birth of Samuel, and the prayer of Hannah praising the justice of God; on the second day, Jer. xxxi. 2–20, a prophecy concerning the restoration of Israel.106
The Sabbath between New-year and the Day of Atonement is called שבת שובה because the haphtarah, taken from Hosea (xiv. 1 seq.), commences with the word שובה and is an exhortation of Israel to return to God.
יום כפור “Day of Atonement.”
The tenth day of the seventh month, Tishri, is the most important of all the Holy-days. It is the Day of Atonement, on which “God will forgive you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord” (Lev. xvi. 30). [406]
“Ye shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict yourselves: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath” (Lev. xxiii. 31, 32).
The Day of Atonement is therefore a day of resting, fasting, prayer, and spiritual improvement.
It is a day of rest, and the prohibition of work is the same as on the ordinary Sabbath.
The fasting begins the 9th of Tishri—ערב יום כפור—about sunset, and lasts till the beginning of night on the following day. The phrase, ועניתם את נפשתיכם “Ye shall afflict yourselves,” is explained by Tradition to signify the total abstinence from all kinds of food and the gratification of other bodily desires (Mishnah, Yoma viii. 1). The reason of this commandment may be the following: The principal source of sin is the gratification of our bodily appetites; תשובה “return” to the right way must therefore include the earnest attempt to control, and when necessary to suppress, such appetites. Fasting is such an attempt. But it must be borne in mind that fasting is only one of the duties we have to fulfil on the Day of Atonement, and that the other duties are equally essential.
תשובה “return,” is the principal object of the celebration of the Day of Atonement; it implies the following four steps:—
1. Consciousness of sin, ידיעת החטא. We must again and again examine ourselves and try to discover our failings; our actions and our words must pass in review, and we must remember that, however good we may [407]be, no man is righteous upon earth “that doeth good and sinneth not” (Eccles. vii. 20).
2. Confession of sin, ודוי.107 On the discovery of sin, we must have the courage to confess our guilt before him against whom we have sinned; if it is against God alone that we have sinned, we make silent confession before Him; if we find ourselves guilty of an offence against our fellow-man, we must confess our sin to him.
3. Regret, חרטה. Having discovered and confessed our sin, we should feel pain and remorse, alike for the evil we have done and for the good we have left undone.
4. Amendment, עזיבת החטא. The regret should be followed by a firm resolve to abandon the way of evil, and not to sin again, even if occasion be given for a repetition of the sinful act.
There are five Services on the Day of Atonement: [408]
(1) Evening Service, מעריב;108 (2) Morning Service, שחרית; (3) Additional Service, מוסף; (4) Afternoon Service, מנחה; (5) Concluding Service, נעילה.109—The [409]confession of sin, ודוי is the most essential and characteristic element in the Services of the Day of Atonement.
In the Morning Service we read Lev. xvi., and Num. xxix. 7–11, on the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement; in the Afternoon Service, Lev. xviii., on forbidden marriages. The Lessons from the Prophets are: in the morning, Isa. lvii. 14–lviii. 14, on our duties on the fast-day; in the afternoon, the Book of Jonah, illustrating the effect of sincere repentance, and Micah vii. 18–20, on Israel’s repentance.