#selichot

[todaysjewishholiday]

Elul Practices

Unlike with the high holy days, the shalosh regalim, or even the period of the Omer, there are no specific ritual mitzvot for the month of Elul. Instead, the entire month is oriented around the most fundamental biblical mitzvah: teshuvah, ie return. Return to our best selves, return to HaShem and the covenant, return to the care for each other that can heal the world.

But Judaism doesn’t leave us without resources to promote mindfulness of this work during Elul.

I. Shofar

Many Jewish communities begin weekday shacharit prayers with a shofar blast. This serves as a spiritual wake-up call, a reminder of the upcoming encounter of the Yamim Noraim. In the Torah the sound of a shofar blast proceeded from the cloud atop Mount Sinai at the making of the covenant between the newly liberated multitude and HaShem. Even before Rosh HaShana became the Jewish new year during the exile in Babylon, the first of Tishri was known as Yom T’ruah (Day of the Shofar Blast) or Zikhron T’ruah (the Memorial Shofar Blast). Because the watchman’s sounding of the shofar would also be used to call the community together in times of calamity or attack, the sounding of the shofar served to shake our forebears out of their routines and focus them in preparation for the Day of Atonement ten days later. The sounding of the shofar on each weekday in Elul brings this wake up call even earlier and invites us to set our lives in order.

II. Tehillim

Psalm 27 is also added to the morning and evening prayers during Elul. This change also reminds us of the spiritual focus of the month, with the poet’s appeal, “Hear, HaShem, when I cry aloud; show mercy to me and answer me. My heart tells me to seek your face. HaShem, I seek you.”

III. Selichot

Selichot (from the Hebrew word selichah meaning forgiveness) are special piyyutim written throughout the generations of Jewish history to aid in the spiritual work of teshuvah. In Sephardi communities, the custom is to hold a Selichot service every day beginning on the second of Elul, while in Ashkenazi communities Selichot services generally begin roughly a week before Rosh HaShana, with only four services. Whatever your minhag or personal practice, the selichot prayers can help direct the soul towards the repair that Elul invites us to seek.

IV. Other Practices

In the past half century, the Reform, Reconstructionist and Renewal movements have seen a flowering of new practices to guide teshuvah during Elul. Search the web and you’ll find Elul workbooks and meditations galore. Many Jewish communities across the spectrum also see Elul as a time for interpersonal reconciliation as well as soul-work and emphasize reaching out who we have harmed or offended in the past year to attempt to mend what we can. The work of tzedekah— our obligation to provide assistance to those in poverty from what resources we have— is also a crucial aspect of teshuvah that is explored in many Elul traditions.

Teshuvah is deeply personal, and it’s good to remember that no specific practice is obligatory. These are not mitzvot, they are tools we can draw on as we seek to fulfill the ultimate mitzvah of return to ourselves, our righteous vows, and our G-d.

While this work is deeply personal, I encourage you to counteract the overly individualist and isolating spirit of our times and remember that the heart of teshuvah is in relationship, and in recognizing the webs of reciprocity and community and obligation we’re woven into. Recognizing our collective connectedness is at the heart of the healing that we’re offered through the path of teshuvah, and we cannot repair ourselves in isolation. May your labors this month prove fruitful, whatever type of teshuvah you may choose to seek.

[al-kol-eleh]

Raylan Givens

Elul- "The King is in His field"

[the-tipsy-tailor]

Chatanu l'fanecha racheym aleynu

We've missed the mark, have mercy.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

Last week, Arab media was filled with anger at news that the Jews of Hebron had taken over the Tomb of the Patriarchs and held a concert there on Sunday for the Selichot prayers. They emphasized that Muslims were not allowed into the building, insisting that this was unacceptable. But yesterday, no Jews were allowed into the same building. It was filled exclusively with Muslims. It was Judenrein.

The reason? It was Mohammed's birthday, one of the ten days a year the shrine is dedicated to Muslims only. Just as there are ten days a year it is for Jews only. Yet there are no screaming headlines about how no Jews were allowed to the site. Because the rules are clear and well-known. The holidays are published ahead of time every year. Three of the exclusively Jewish days are coming up - this coming Wednesday and Thursday, and next Monday. Expect more angry articles in the Palestinian media, none of which will mention the fact that the holy site is exclusively Muslim exactly as often as it is exclusively Jewish.

[mental-mona]

One of my favorite piyutim, even though I'm Ashkenazi, and I like this rendition. I have a whole Spotify playlist of High Holiday music, but I can't figure out how to share it here.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Cohens Do Not Go Inside Cemeteries,” Toronto Star. September 26, 1932. Page 2. ---- Synagogues Crowded for the Service of Slichut ---- In accordance with ancient Hebrew custom, Jews of the name Cohen, which is derived from ‘Kachanim,’ the tribal name of priests who stood near God, stayed at the cemetery gates and did not enter when Jews of the city visited their dead yesterday afternoon, following the service of Slichut, or forgiveness, at midnight Saturday.

The service of Slichut occurs one week before the Jewish New Year. The synagogues were crowded for the service and yesterday afternoon the Jewish cemeteries were the scenes of memorial meetings. The historic importance of the Cohen tribe forbids its members to go near the ‘unclean’ dead during the memorial service.

[AL: Gentile and frequently antisemitic 1930s Toronto trying and failing to understand some basics.]

[bdkinz]

Elul Thoughts: Finding Renewed Ways to Connect

As I continue to reflect on my recent trip to Israel, one of the things that always strikes me when I am there is how comfortable I feel in Israel. This has many layers, from religiously and spiritually as well as I get a sense in certain parts of the country that it is like I am home. This makes travelling less fraught with worries and anxieties. And, this does also have a shadow side. During…

[laineystein]

Came for Selichot. Stayed because I’m tired.

Anyone else awake? How’s everyone doing? Anyone else just trying to keep it together but a weird mix of sad and angry?

My heart hurts.

[thegreatimpersonator]

Aubade with Selichot, Mónica Gomery

[mariacallous]

(JTA) – At least two more synagogues in the United States evacuated their congregants over the weekend following bomb threats, the latest in a series of such calls that have put dozens of congregations on high alert heading into the High Holidays.

One of the synagogues was threatened during the pre-Rosh Hashanah Selichot services on Saturday night, in a sign that the perpetrators of the wave of attacks are paying careful attention to when synagogues are holding events before calling in their threats.

Since mid-July, at least 49 synagogues in 13 states have received the threatening calls, none of which have been linked to credible bomb threats, according to the Anti-Defamation League. That was up from 26 congregations four weeks ago —and the ADL expects the threats to continue when the High Holidays begin with the start of Rosh Hashanah on Friday evening. 

“Every weekend this network of swatters continues to identify targets and are calling in fake bomb threats,” Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, using a term referring to pranks that draw out a large number of police officers. “So that number is increasing and will potentially keep increasing.” 

Segal said the calls are part of a coordinated campaign orchestrated by antisemitic trolls and focused on synagogues that livestream their services, so the perpetrators can watch reactions to the threats in real time. But he noted that some institutions have been targeted even though they don’t livestream their events, and that the culprits are also developing a growing interest in non-Jewish institutions such as mosques and Black churches.

The synagogues that received bomb threats this weekend were Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California, in the Bay Area, and Congregation B’nai Israel in St. Petersburg, Florida. In both cases, the synagogues emptied out as police conducted full safety sweeps of the premises. 

The threat on Beth Am, a Reform congregation, was called in during Friday night services, at a time when the synagogue was hosting U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo and Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Israel lobby J Street. Both guests were reported safe by leaders of the Bay Area congregation.

“As a community, we remain resolute and determined in the face of this act of antisemitic harassment,” read a letter Beth Am congregational leaders sent to their community just before midnight on Friday, after the synagogue had been swept and cleared, according to J. The Jewish News of Northern California, which first reported on the incident. 

B’nai Israel, a Conservative congregation, received the threat as congregants were exiting the Selichot services on Saturday night. The St. Petersburg police department and B’nai Israel’s rabbi, Philip Weintraub, confirmed details of the synagogue’s evacuation with JTA.

“It was not disruptive to our worship,” Weintraub told JTA, adding that the police “took it very seriously.”

A spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Police Department told JTA that the investigation was still ongoing, but that law enforcement would treat the incident as a false bomb threat, which is punishable with prison time. Florida has grappled with a recent rise in antisemitic activity, and a new state law aims to make it easier to prosecute “ethnic intimidation.” But that measure hasn’t yet succeeded in curbing a statewide epidemic of antisemitic fliers, some of which were dropped outside the West Palm Beach area over Labor Day.

The Santa Clara County sheriff’s office, which oversees law enforcement in Los Altos Hills, did not return JTA requests for comment on its own bomb threat investigation.

In mid-August, two other synagogues in California also evacuated their livestreamed Shabbat services over a single weekend due to bomb threats.

There have been other evacuations of Jewish institutions that have gone unreported because they have chosen not to publicize them, Segal said. 

“They don’t want to necessarily, I presume, give these trolls the satisfaction of letting everybody know every time they’re evacuated,” he said, adding that institutions should make such decisions “based on what they think is best for the community.” In some instances, when synagogues have issued a statement about an evacuation, the perpetrators have used those statements to boast of their success, Segal said.

This is not the first time false bomb threats have been called into a series of Jewish institutions. More than 100 such threats were called into Jewish community centers in the early months of 2017 — most of which, it was later discovered, came from a teen in Israel. In 2020, dozens of JCCs received a separate series of emailed bomb threats. 

Weintraub is determined to not be rattled by the experience. Instead, he takes comfort in knowing the congregation already heeds security precautions recommended by police. Heading into Rosh Hashanah, he said, he isn’t scared.

“My understanding is their goal is to shake us, and I’m not going to be shaken,” he said.

[pargolettasworld]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-A68fKMaEs

This little piece is about one of the Thirteen Attributes of the Divine, in this case, mercy.  It’s part of the Selichot series of penitential prayers that are said before Rosh Hashana, sort of as a warmup to the High Holy Days.  How far before Rosh Hashana they are said depends on your ethnicity.  I’m Ashkenazi, and we do Selichot according to a formula of a similar complexity to determining the date of the Midwest Sacred Harp Convention.  To cut things short, we start Selichot tomorrow night, September 9, 2023.  Sephardim start saying Selichot on the second day of Elul, full stop, so they’ve actually been at this for a while by now.

There are some other occasions on which one might recite Selichot, but the Elul date(s) are the most famous.  Most of the synagogues I’ve been to regard the beginning of Selichot as the sort of unofficial kickoff of the High Holy Days, and that is how I have always experienced it.

[todaysjewishholiday]

29 Tammuz 5784 (3-4 August 2024)

Shavua tov! Semana buena! Gutt voch! Shabbat concludes at full nightfall with havdalah and another six days for creative labor begin.

The 29th of Tammuz is the yahrzeit of the great medieval sage Shlomo ben Yitzhak, aka Rashi.

Born in Troyes, in the Champagne region, in what was according to tradition a family of Jewish winemakers, Shlomo was introduced to Torah learning at the age of five, and at the age of seventeen departed home for study at the yeshiva in the city of Worms, returning home to his wife only for the three pilgrimage festivals and the Yamim Noraim. At the age of 25 he returned to Troyes permanently and was appointed to the communal Beis Din. Rashi and his wife had three daughters, who they named Yocheved, Miryam, and Rachel. He educated them fully in Torah and Talmud and they each married prominent disciples of their father. Many of central Europe’s rabbinical dynasties for generations claimed descent from one of Rashi’s daughters.

Rashi is most famous, however, for his detailed commentaries on Tanakh and Talmud, which are studied widely to this day. The standard print layout used for most printings of the Talmud includes Rashi’s commentary in a column next to the text of the Mishnah and Gemara. The commentaries were compiled in the final years of Rashi’s life and grew out of decades of study and teaching. In his commentaries Rashi attempts to distinguish consistently between the pshat or plain meaning of the text on its own and aggadic and midrashic traditions based on expanding the text with external narrative additions. In both his Tanakh and Talmud commentaries, Rashi shows a great sensitivity to word choice and often explicates difficult passages by pointing out other instances in which the same word is used.

Rashi’s commentaries spread so quickly within medieval Judaism that they were being used by Yemenite Jews within a century of his death.

Over 300 of his rabbinical responsa from his decades on the Beis Din of Troyes were collected by his daughters and students and published after his death. They reveal a great deal about the conditions of Jewish life in his time.

Rashi’s final decade saw the outbreak of violent antisemitism inspired by the first Christian crusade. Many Christians, whipped into a frenzy against supposed enemies of Christendom but unable to travel to far away Jerusalem to fight the Muslims who occupied it at that time, turned upon their Jewish neighbors. Over ten thousand Jews in the Frankish region of Lorraine were murdered in 4856. Rashi was devastated and composed a series of Selichot in response to the slaughter. Nine years later, on the 29th of Tammuz 4865, he passed away and was laid to rest in the Jewish cemetery of Troyes alongside his ancestors and many generations of Jewish sages of the region.

The first Hebrew language book ever printed was an edition of Rashi’s commentary on the Torah printed only 35 years after Johannes Gutenberg’s first demonstration of moveable type. Over 300 metacommentaries on Rashi’s commentaries have been written by scholars ranging from Judah Loew ben Betzalel of Prague to Solomon Luria. The script known as “Rashi script” however did not originate with Rashi but is a Sephardic Hebrew semi-cursive script adapted as a typeface by early printers of the Tanakh and Talmud to distinguish Rashi’s commentaries from the main text, which they printed in a traditional square Hebrew typeface.

Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av. The prefix “Menachem” meaning “consoling” is traditionally appended to the name of the month of Av to indicate that along with the great tragedies of the month we find divine consolation. The first of Av also begins the mourning period known as the Nine Days, which culminates in the full day fast of Tisha B’Av.

[alexanderoftirragen]

cleo (part that feels happiness / comes out when we feel safe and loved) hasnt fronted in months like the last time i definitely remember her being out was selichot so its been like four and a half months lmfao

[sethshead]

"#DearTeachers,

"Some of your students may be requesting a day off to celebrate the Chag Yeshu's Bris, also known as the Pope Gregory Rosh Hashanah, which is observed by Christian people as the Christian New Year.

"Rosh Chodesh has already passed but Christians do not observe our secular Rosh Chodesh. Instead, Christian people follow a religious calendar established by Pope Gregory, and the Pope Gregory Rosh Hashanah does NOT coincide with a new moon.

"(Christian holidays are set according to the Pope Gregory Calendar, which is not a lunisolar calendar like the normal one, and is why most of their holidays move around the year.)

"(A 'Pope' is like the Christian chief rabbi who rules over Medinat Vatican and all Christians, because they are definitely monolithic and totally homogeneous.)

"Some Christian minhagim consider that Yom #Christmas begins a 12-day period known as the Twelve Yemei Christmas, sometimes referred to as “Christmastide” by Christians. This 12-day period is the #religious core of the Christian #HolidaySeason.

"Eight days (inclusive) after 'Christmas' they celebrate as as their Rosh Hashanah ‘Chag Yeshu's Bris,’ sometimes known as the 'Feast of the Circumcision,' the day of the prophet Yeshu’s bris. The event happened a bit over 2000 years ago. The Christian calendar labels the years before the bris as 'BC', which stands for 'Before the Circumcision.'

"This year, Pope Gregory Rosh Hashanah falls on Tevet 20-21. You may assume that since their Rosh Hashanah has two days, that it must be a two-day yom tov, like the secular Rosh Hashanah.

"Wrong!

"The Christian day starts in the middle of the night, so the Pope Gregory New Year begins in the middle of the night, on the night of Tevet 20th, then continues until the middle of the night on the 21st.

"On Erev Pope Gregory Rosh Hashanah, some Christians clean their homes to remove and discard dirt and stale energy. On the following day, they open windows to let bad old air out and fresh new air in.

"Christians do not light candles, say a bracha, or make kiddush to welcome in the yom tov.

"Frum Christians may mark the beginning of their chag with a special late-night maariv service at the Christian shul. This service is called 'Watch Night.' They daven until the new year officially begins according to their calendar. Other Christians daven all night long for Christian Selichot as they prepare for the 'feast' of their prophet’s bris. (Although it is called a 'feast' there is no seudat mitzvah in honor of the bris and the festive meal may consist of a variety of appetizers.)

"There are a variety of #colorful#customs and superstitions surrounding Pope Gregory Rosh Hashanah. Some Christians observe normal Rosh Hashanah minhagim with which we are all familiar, such as eating symbolic foods as simanim for luck & prosperity in the new year. Some familiar symbolic foods include black-eyed peas, fish, and leafy greens. Less familiar symbolic choices are to eat swine flesh and a special maize kugel referred to as 'cornbread,' even though maize is a New World food not available to ancient Vaticanians.

"Secular Christians celebrate the yom tov, and the adjacent preceding holiday, Yom Saint Sylvester Ha’Kadosh, with parties and drinking until they can no longer differentiate between the old year and the new year.

"When the exact moment of the new year approaches, they loudly count down in unison from ten, watching a timer or clock, and then at the moment of the new year at 'midnight,' they kiss the person nearest to them, or if they are strict about negiyah, they celebrate by making noise with a grogger or a Pope Gregory New Year’s shofar, which is usually constructed of plastic and paper.

"Some Christian families will litter their floor with a shower of 'confetti.' (Confetti is a Modern Latin word meaning 'sweets' but now resembles large pieces of glitter.)

"Secular Christians depict the moment of the New Year as 'Father Time' (Kronos in the ancient polytheistic Greek tradition), hands off timekeeping duties to a new Baby New Year.

"Baby New Year should not be confused with baby Yeshu, the Christian prophet whose brit milah anniversary is being celebrated.

"The proximity of Pope Gregory’s Rosh Hashana to Chanukah is a coincidence, so none of us should be offended that a Greek deity personifies a year on their calendar.

"Like Yom Christmas, there are typically no morning services for Pope Gregory’s Rosh Hashanah. The frum Christians have already davened all night and the secular Christians are hungover from their parties.

"Check GregCal if you need to know the exact date of Pope Gregory’s Rosh Hashanah or any Christian holiday. It is a good resource for Christian holiday dates since they move around so much from year to year.

"Like Yom Christmas, Pope Gregory’s Rosh Hashanah falls on Secondday this year and each is a one-day yom tov, even outside of the Christian homeland of Vatican. Since Erev Pope Gregory’s Rosh Hashanah falls on the weekend, and there is no work prohibition anyway, students should not need to miss any days of school and our two Christian staff members should not need to miss any days of work. It is appropriate to require a note from their Christian rabbi if they will be absent for this observance.

"Kol tuv,

"Principal Noga Jacobsen

"Yochanan Cohen #PublicSchool

"#MedinatAmerica = #Satire"

h/t Jew Who Has It All

[spoofymcgee]

there are so many ways to pass someone a piece of your heart and ask them to keep it safe until the next time you see them.

my father's parents live an hour away by bus. all the same, i don't talk to my grandfather very often. i love him, but i am the second of some forty grandchildren, and quite frankly i don't know what to talk to him about.

last week, he drove me through the city traffic for half an hour at eleven pm so i could go to selichot. i told him i would take a bus and he laughed. on the way, he told us about new developments in the wine industry. when we pulled up he yelled for me to get out of the car, but let me give him a quick hug before i did.

my grandmother packed me chicken sandwiches to take with, on the trip. she put a pear in the bag and asked me about my day while my grandfather got the car started. she gave me a tight hug and told me she likes how my hair is growing out before she opened the door.

my mother's parents live in america.

they came together once, for my uncle's wedding.

my grandfather left early. he said he had to get back to work.

he doesn't call us.

when we call him, he makes the time to talk. he'll tell us about his childhood, his parents, his brother.

sometimes, he mixes up which of his daughters is my mother.

he told me, once, out of the blue, that he'd made my mother promise to bury him in america.

before we hang up, he'll spend five minutes telling me how much he appreciates me, how difficult it must be to be the oldest daughter, how proud he is of all of us. i tell him thank you, and it's not so hard, really, and i love him, and he says it back.

i don't remember my grandmother ever telling me that she loves me.

my mother told me, once, that my grandmother's sister had passed away when she was thirteen, and sometimes seems like she's never moved past it. i am older than my grandmother now, in some respects. my mother, handed a baby brother to take care of when she was fourteen, never had a chance to be that young.

when i talk to her, she will sit quietly and listen to me go on for hours, unless i ask about her. then she'll sum up in a few brisk sentences: it's to cloudy to read on the porch today, i made calzones for dinner, the rabbi at the shul called me sarah again and i've never heard something so disrespectful.

when i was smaller, she would send clothing for us with a relative coming in from america. tights, seven for two dollars from the sale section at target, a dress from the bargain bin, a shirt from the defects rack that with a gradient that made it look soaked from the hem up.

i didn't know it, then, but she was, in her own way, saying 'i want you to feel confident. i want you to look pretty. i want to give you what i can, all the things i didn't get.'

she emails me sometimes, recipes for noodle kugel and carrot rice and low fat chocolate chip cookies.

there are a thousand ways to say i love you.

i can't hear all of them, but i like to think that something of the silent vibrations seeps into my bones anyways, when i let it, and i can always learn to listen better.

[shoutsindwarvish]

just got back about 20 minutes ago from a night selichot service and holy cow. that was transcendental.