Rosh Hashana

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Rosh Hashana resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

Rosh Hashanah 29: A Split Personality

Rabbi Jay Kelman

"Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh, all Jews are co-signers [responsible] for one another" (Shevuot 39a). This is not just a nice idea reflecting the bond we must feel for all Jews everywhere; it is a legal principle, allowing one to perform…
Article
Jun 10, 2014

Rosh Hashanah 25: A Saving Kiss

Rabbi Jay Kelman

G-d is known as kel mistater, a hidden G-d (Yishayahu 46:15). Being created in His image, man, too, should yearn for anonymity. As Rav Soloveitchik notes, we know almost nothing about the members of the Anshei Knesset Hagedolah, those most…
Article
Jun 8, 2014

Rosh Hashanah 23: A Sweet Smell

Rabbi Jay Kelman

There is a widespread custom to decorate our shuls with flowers in honour of Shavuot. This beautiful custom commemorates the flourishing of the desert in the vicinity of Mount Sinai as the Jews received the Torah. The gloom and desolateness of the…
Article
Jun 7, 2014

Rosh Hashanah 18: Changing G-d's Mind

Rabbi Jay Kelman

In the last couple of posts, we discussed the fact that many of our prayers are likely to have little impact. We noted how many of the Talmudic views teach that once our fate is sealed on Rosh Hashanah (or Yom Kippur), we are basically praying for…
Article
Jun 2, 2014

Rosh Hashanah 16b: Better Not Pray Too Much

Rabbi Jay Kelman

We are familiar with the term iyun tefillah from our daily davening, where iyun tefillah is included amongst "the things whose fruits we eat in this world [but] whose principle [reward] awaits in the world to come".…
Article
Jun 1, 2014

Rosh Hashanah 16: Why Bother to Pray?

Rabbi Jay Kelman

"At four times the world is judged: On Pesach for produce; on Shavuot for the fruit of the tree; on Rosh Hashanah, all who come into the world pass before Him like the children of Maron, as it says, 'He creates the hearts of them all, and…
Article
May 29, 2014

Rosh Hashanah 12: Rosh Hashanah Farming

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Sometimes one can glean the most interesting information from the most unexpected places. "Our Rabbis taught: [one who] gathered a vegetable on erev Rosh Hashanah up until the sun has set, and he returned and gathered when the sun…
Article
May 26, 2014

Rosh Hashanah 10: Does It Really Matter?

Rabbi Jay Kelman

History is not something that greatly interested our Talmudic Sages. Of course, such was the norm for all in the ancient world; and history as a serious academic discipline is a product of modernity. The historical information presented in the…
Article
May 24, 2014

Rosh Hashanah 9: Fasting and Feasting

Rabbi Jay Kelman

"You shall afflict your soul on the ninth of the month [of Tishrei] in the evening, from evening to evening you shall rest" (Vayikra 23:32). As Yom Kippur begins on the tenth of Tishrei--"but on the tenth of this seventh month, it is…
Article
May 22, 2014

Rosh Hashanah 6: My Word Is My Bond

Rabbi Jay Kelman

"The first of Nissan is the New Year for festivals" (Rosh Hashanah 2a). There is no holiday that begins on the first of Nissan. Rather, the Gemara explains, the first of Nissan is the month in which the first of the holidays (Pesach)…
Article
May 20, 2014