HAKOL - New Year 2023

SEPTEMBER 2023 | ELUL 5783/TISHREI 5784

JFS to make its annual High Holidays visits

Each year, Jewish Family Service facilitates holiday programming that connects older adults with the Jewish community. This September, again, community members will visit long-term care residents for the High Holidays. Staff will deliver goody bags filled with treats to people living at residences across the Lehigh Valley.

Volunteers Howard Nathanson and Rabbi Allen Juda will make High Holidays presentations to residents of Kirkland Village, Country Meadows Forks, Legend of Allentown, Moravian Hall Square, Phoebe, Country Meadows Bethlehem, Luther Crest, the Vero and Country Meadows Allentown.

ROBERT WAX PRESIDENT JERI ZIMMERMAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

JDS is primed for the season of new beginnings

achieved the objectives they’d set in the previous year.

By Ariel Solomon JDS Director of Hebrew and Judaics

The fall Jewish holiday season is a great time to dive deep into ourselves and explore and set new goals for the upcoming year. Leading up to the Jewish holidays, the tradition is to say Selichot, prayers asking for forgiveness as a cleanup for the soul before the new year.

We begin with the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Rosh Hashanah is a symbol of new beginnings. We say symbolic blessings asking for a good, blessed and prosperous year. Some people pause for a moment to think about the past, checking in with themselves to see whether they

Once Rosh Hashanah ends, we enter the 10 days of repentance leading to Yom Kippur and giving us time to connect with our surroundings. This time is meant for mending our relationships with our family, friends and community. It is an exciting opportunity to open a fresh page.

At the Jewish Day School we get to celebrate the new Jewish year and the new school year at the same time in so many wonderful ways. During the summer, we clean up the school, reevaluate our needs, fix up our spaces and plan for the upcoming year. When the first day of school arrives, it is like a joyous holiday. We come together after a long summer, we share our experiences and we discuss our intentions for the new school year.

Soon enough, the excitement of the new year settles down, and we begin a regular routine, while we also observe the 10 days of repentance and Yom Kip-

pur. This time becomes our opportunity to focus on setting ourselves up for a successful future.

We then move on to Sukkot as we enter the fall and honor the harvest, which gives Sukkot one of its names: Chag Haasif. During Sukkot, we also enjoy Simchat Beit Hashoeva, a celebration of water that includes the prayers for water and rain that will nourish our crops and bless us with a prosperous year. Similar to these traditions in school, we review and “harvest” what we learned from the previous year, and then we start teaching and planting our seeds of knowledge for the current school year.

As we prepare for the year 5784 at the JDS, we’ll be teaching our students the customs of the Jewish holidays. We will hold a Rosh Hashanah Seder during which we will learn about the symbolic foods of the new year and the blessings we say for them. Our

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classes will practice Tashlich, the tradition of symbolically throwing your wrongdoings into a body of water to cleanse yourself for a fresh start. The students will gather around a pool and throw in notes that list regrets. We’ll hear the shofar to awaken us from our summer sleepiness into our early mornings. Before Sukkot, we’ll work on decorating the school’s sukkah, the temporary hut constructed

for Sukkot. During Sukkot, we’ll learn about arba’at haminim, the four species and their meaning, and shake them around in our sukkah. We will come together in the sukkah to celebrate with a delicious dinner, games and special activities on October 4 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Wishing all of you a blessed new year, chag sameach and shanah tovah.

FROM THE LEHIGH VALLEY CLERGY

RABBI MARJORIE BERMAN Temple Israel of Lehighton

The central task of the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, is teshuvah. It is often translated as repentance, but I prefer the translation return. But if we envision our work for these High Holy Days as return, then the question becomes, “Where are we returning from?” and also “Where are we returning to?”

In our tradition, exile is a central component of our story. We were exiled from the Garden of Eden, we were exiled in Egypt and in Babylonia, and for much of the last 2,000 years, our people thought of themselves as living in galut, in exile from the land of Israel. Woven throughout Judaism’s mystical teachings is the idea that even God is in exile.

For many of us, our experience of our daily lives is one of exile. We do not feel at home — truly safe and at ease — within our world, within our country, and sometimes we don’t even feel at home within our Jewish community, within our spiritual lives, within our own families or within ourselves. Part of this comes from being a Jew in America, akin to the experience of being an im migrant from any background in any country not their own. Part of it comes from the polarization that exists in our country today, which makes it hard for everyone to feel that they belong, no matter what their ideology. Part of it comes from brokenness or trauma in our own lives or in the lives of our families or communities. But a part of it is just the nature of the human condition. We are ever-changing, as are our families, our communi ties, our societies and our place in them. Whenever we hold on to the past, therefore, we find ourselves dislocated. We are in exile from the unfolding real ity of our lives.

The story of our people has been one of many exiles, but it is also the experience of many souls — to be searching for home and belonging, a place to feel safe and connected with oneself, one another and with God. So often, we dwell in regrets or pain or anger or fear about our past, or anxieties about our future. From these places, it is hard to feel at home, because we are not actually in the present moment; we are not actually connected to our lives as they are happening.

From this perspective, when we do teshuvah, return, we are returning from the land of our anxieties and our fears, a place where we dwell in exile from our actual lives, and we are returning to the present moment. The Kotzker Rebbe puts it this way when commenting on the line from Psalm 103:12: “As far as east is from west have our sins distanced us from God.” He is said to have asked his students, “How far is east from west?” His students guess various distances, but the rebbe simply replies, “No, from east to west is but a single step. You just have to turn around.”

Our call to teshuvah is to turn and return to the present moment of our lives, and to say hineni, here I am. When we offer ourselves up for service, we begin to leave our own spiritual exile and find our way to connect to ourselves, to one another, and to God.

The founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, says that we must come out of our own personal exile before we can aid the redemption of our people. We must pray for our own souls and our own needs before we can pray for the community

and the world. Even our great leader and teacher Moses does this. He must find his own way out of spiritual exile before he can lead our people out of their physical and spiritual exile in Egypt.

So, as we enter this year’s cycle of the High Holy Days, as we begin this journey anew as we do each year, from exile to redemption, ask yourself this: Where am I? How can I return to myself? How can I step out of my worries and stories and fears, and take that single step to turn toward the now? Can I show up and say, here I am? This is the path toward connection, belonging and redemption. Over and over, this is how we return from exile, and find that we are already home.

Shanah tovah!

RABBI YAACOV HALPERIN

physical body. This is analogous to the lengthy journey of the prince. However, the body’s physical desires and the search for sensual pleasure in this world bring the soul to a very remote place where it is alienated from its Father and loses all recollection of its native tongue, the Torah, which it learned in the womb. Only upon returning to the king through a simple yet heartrending cry is the soul reunited with G-d, the Father of the Jewish people.

This cry is the shofar blast, a reflection of the outcry that rises from the depths of the Jewish heart, the voice that G-d recognizes as that of His wandering child. It is actually a profound expression of teshuvah, of remorse for the past and sincere commitment for the future, to reconnect to our father, to G-d. This outcry evokes a compassionate G-dly response, and G-d grants each and every one a happy and healthy year.

In the spirit of the High Holidays, my wife, Devorah, and I, along with our children, would like to wish the Lehigh Valley Jewish community that G-d grant His blessings to each and every one kesiva v’chasima tova — a happy and healthy

RABBI STEVE NATHAN Congregation Am Haskalah

Once again we have reached the end of the Jewish year, and we are ready to welcome a new one. Though much of the time we will simply wish shanah tovah, or good year, we must remember that the full l’shanah tovah — may you be written for a good new year.

ace doors. The king provided his son with a large escort, a group of noblemen and eminent government officials, and a retinue of servants to serve them all. He also bestowed great wealth on his son so he could journey in ease and luxury to the many lands and remote islands. He hoped the prince would acquire much wisdom and life experience.

During the extended journey, the son, accustomed to great luxury, squandered the money in pursuit of personal pleasure. His lifestyle increasingly became a quest for sensuality and selfgratification. Eventually he was forced to sell all his possessions and was left penniless. He found himself alone in a remote and distant land where his father’s name was unfamiliar.

In terrible distress, he decided to travel home. But so much time had elapsed that he had forgotten his native language. Upon his return, he attempted to communicate that he was the king’s son, but the people did not grasp what he was saying. Finally, he reached the castle courtyard and made a futile attempt to make his identity known there. In desperation he screamed out loud, hoping his father would recognize the call of his only son. The familiar voice crying out in pain and anguish aroused feelings of fatherly love and compassion in the king, and he ran to embrace and kiss his son.

This allegory, related in a letter written by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, expresses the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people, the children of G-d. The souls of Israel are dispatched to the earth below to fulfill G-d’s commandments, to acquire spiritual wisdom and connect to G-d while in a

The image of God writing our names hopefully in the Book of Life at the start of the new year is a powerful one. It reminds us that this is a time for us to make choices and that those choices will help to determine what the year holds in store — in other words, in which book our names will be written.

In the Torah we read, “See, I place before you today life and good and death and evil…. [You can] choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:15, 19). It is our choice whether or not we are written in the Book of Life. It is not by some divine fiat or capricious decision. Just as the Unetaneh Tokef prayer states, the handwriting in the Book of Life is our own. It is up to us to make the right choices and, in doing so, choose life.

So many of the liturgical images remind us that should we sin, we will be punished according to the rules of justice. However, we also read that through repentance, prayer and righteous actions we can avert the severity of the decree. Just as justice and judgement are a part of the world and what it means to be human, so are forgiveness and mercy, if not more so.

Rabbi Irving Greenberg taught that teshuvah is so important, and so difficult, because it’s not just about repenting for a specific sin or because of guilt over a specific action. He cites Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, who has pointed out that the basis of repentance is that human beings are capable of recreating themselves continually. If we stop growing, if we are prisoners of our past behavior, then we are truly dead-in-life.

Becoming aware of bad or unsatisfactory behaviors is the first step to coming alive. Realizing

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how we have sinned, or missed the mark, in our lives is an essential part of the process. But then we must not only seek forgiveness; as Rav Soloveitchik taught, we must begin the difficult work of re-creating ourselves, no matter how long this recreation might take.

Tradition teaches us that Rosh Hashanah is the day we remember the birth of the world and the birth of humankind. If that is the case, then it, along with Yom Kippur, is about the rebirth of who we are. But let’s not forget that it’s also a time of rebirth for our families, our communities and our world.

So many of us have missed the mark this past year. So many of us have made choices that have had a detrimental effect on ourselves, others and our world. Let us work, not only as individuals but as a community, to bring forgiveness and mercy to our world. Let us work together to re-create a world that is a little bit closer to the ideal world imagined in our tradition. Let us truly repair our world today, tomorrow and every day of the coming year. And every day of our lives.

L’shanah tovah tikateivu — may you be sealed for a good year.

Rabbi Steve Nathan, the director of Jewish Student Life at Lehigh University, is representing Congregation Am Haskalah and student rabbi Alex Malanych with his message here.

CANTORS JILL PAKMAN AND BOB WEINER

For Congregation Bnai Shalom

Shanah tovah u’metukah to all our friends in the Lehigh Valley. We are overjoyed to share the bimah at Congregation Bnai Shalom this year. We wish all of you health, happi

spiritual experience during this High Holy Days season. May the coming year, 5784, bring you, your families and your friends much joy in all your Jewish observances.

If ever you find yourself in Easton on Shabbat, never hesitate to join us. Everyone is welcome to join the members of Bnai Shalom for synagogue activities.

Cantors Jill Pakman and Bob Weiner are temporarily handling some rabbinic responsibilities for Congregation Bnai Shalom.

RABBI JONATHAN POWERS

For Congregation Sons of Israel

On Rosh Hashanah all Humans are judged individually like sheep passing single file before their owner.

Gemara Rosh Hashanah 16a

In preparation for Rosh Hashanah, we blow the shofar during the en tire month of Elul to spark us to do tance, for our misguided wrongdoings throughout the past year. On Rosh Hashanah, G-d opens up the book of our lives and reviews all that we have done through the year, and on the ultimate Day of Judgment, Yom Kippur, G-d seals our book and decides our fate.

However, the same Gemara goes on to say that we are judged not just individually, but also as a group. The Sifsei Chaim explains that there are really two aspects to the judgement on Rosh Hashanah: a person is judged individually, on individual merits, and as part of a congregation. Since each person is part of a community, congre gation, town, city, etc., that person’s actions have a direct impact on those surroundings, for better or for worse.

The prelude to Rosh Hashanah is like the shofar blasts we blow throughout the month of Elul: tekiah, a long straight blast; shevarim, three blasts; and teruah, nine blasts. The tekiah is the easy, straight path, possibly for friendly relationships with people we don’t really have to make any apologies for. The shevarim is the path when we have had a bumpy road with people, sharing good

FROM THE LEHIGH VALLEY CLERGY Continued fom page 5

RABBI MOSHE RE’EM

Temple Beth El

Human speech is a great blessing. Without words we would not be able to speak, write or pray. But there are times when we are better off with few, or without, words. When angry or apologizing or comforting someone in pain, we should keep our words brief. Rabbi Harold Kushner z”l, author of the bestseller “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” used to advise people comforting a mourner simply to say, “I’m sorry, and then shut up and listen!”

The High Holidays flood us with words of the Machzor. However, the most meaningful prayers, we are told, are those said in silence. The haftarah for the first day of Rosh Hashanah tells the story of Chana, who “was speaking in her heart (to God), only her lips moved but her voice could not be heard” (I Samuel 1:13). Chana, according to the Rabbis (Brachot 31a), serves as the model for silent meditative prayer. She serves as the inspiration for the silent Amida, the most important Jewish prayer after the Shema.

The shrill sound of the shofar stifles the silence of that hardly audible prayer. In particular, in Sephardi communities and those of Edot HaMizrach, where the shofar is sounded during the recitation, the stark contrast between silent prayer and the painful cry of the shofar is deafening. Rabbi Matisyahu Shulman has addressed the symbolism of silent prayer. “Perhaps the message of keeping prayer silent is that prayer is not about changing the course of events in this world at all,” he writes. “Instead, it is simply allowing man to unlock potential in the universe through a relationship with the Almighty.”

Unlocking our potential is really what any good relationship ought to be about. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, God serves as the inner ear that hears our desire to be the best that we can be. The shofar cries out the unspoken truth of the anguish we feel when our true potentials are stymied. When it comes to what we say to others, we are often better off remaining silent if what we have to say is mean or hurtful. When it comes to God, we are better off expressing our hopes in silence and our pain out loud through the cry of the shofar. Both are necessary in order for High Holidays prayer to be effective.

L’shannah

tovah tikateivu!

RABBI MICHAEL SINGER

Congregation Brith Sholom

It is easy to miss them. Too often they are drowned out by excessive noise. Or simply taken for granted. But nevertheless they are there. Every day and in myriads of ways. What may you ask are “they”? They are the sustaining gifts of God, the blessings that are all around us and in each one of us — miracles both great and small. From smelling a fragrant flower to seeing the ocean. From sanctifying sacred days to the crunch of an apple. From the way our bodies function to saying goodbye to those we were privileged to love so dearly. Our world and our lives are filled with God’s creative gifts.

Our Jewish tradition sought a way for us to acknowledge both the experiential and physical presence of God’s miracles in our daily lives. It was understood that if we would stop and look around even for a moment, we would become aware of just how incredible our world and lives truly are. Brachot (blessings) became one way to help us bring awareness of the sacred into focus. So the Rabbis created the formula of brachot, “Praised are You, God, our God, Sovereign of the Universe….”

Reciting a bracha gives each of us a way to stop and acknowledge God, raising what often appear to be mundane, ordinary or overlooked objects, moments or actions into nothing short of the miraculous sacred gifts they truly are.

When we recite a bracha we channel our kavanna (spiritual focus and intentionality) to lift praise to God and raise our own consciousness of the sacred that surrounds us. We indeed may pause to think about some of the many steps/processes/helpers that enable us to enjoy a sweet fruit or recover from an illness, reconnect with a friend or family member we haven’t seen, or mark the important moments and milestones in our lives.

The great sage Rabbi Meir taught that we should strive to recite 100 brachot each and every day. In fact, when we add up the number of times a day we have opportunities (three prayer services, three meals and, okay, snacks too!), we can indeed reach 100 brachot. Further, our Rabbis felt so strongly about Rabbi Meir’s 100 brachot idea that they implemented that the shofar blasts on Rosh Hashanah should also total 100 blasts. Each tekiah, shevarim and teruah sounding a collective voice of sacred brachot with no words needed.

As we dip apples in honey for a sweet new year and recall God’s creation of the world, Rosh Hashanah gives us the opportunity to acknowledge at least some of the blessings and gifts God provides that make our lives possible and meaningful. As the poet sings in the Nishmat prayer, “Were our mouths to fill with song as the sea, our tongues sing endlessly like waves, our lips offer praise like the limitless sky, our eyes shine like the sun and the moon, our arms spread heavenward like eagles’ wings, and our feet run as fast as deer, we would still be unable to fully express our gratitude to You, Lord, our God and God of our ancestors, or to praise Your name for even one of the myriad of moments of kindness with which You have blessed our ancestors and us.”

May the new year of 5784 be filled with blessings for you and your family, our Jewish community and the whole world. L’shanah tovah tikateivu v’tikateimu!

CANTOR ELLEN SUSSMAN

Temple Shirat Shalom

I was on a road trip with my husband chatting away about a historical figure who was greatly beloved, but modern scholarship gives him mixed reviews when it comes to his feelings about the Jewish people. He helped save the world from the horrors of the Holocaust but, like all people, he was complicated.

This brings to mind a saying attributed to Voltaire: “Perfect is the enemy of the good.” At this High Holy Days season, the aphorism is something we should keep in mind. After God made the world, God pronounced it good, not perfect. To me this means that in partnership with God, we engage in tikkun olam, repairing the world and making it better, with the possibility of one day making it perfect. In concert we can try to make our universe as close to the idea of Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden, as we can. We should always be striving to improve ourselves and all that is around us.

On Yom Kippur, as a community, we atone for all our sins. We say the phrase al chet shechatanu for the sins we committed. The Rabbis translated this phrase not as sin but as missing the mark. The Rabbis are telling us we are not perfect, but we can always work to be better.

At this time when acrimony and discord seem to be all around us, let us take heart. We have the power in ourselves to improve our own situation and to improve our communities. The Rabbis were confident in our abilities. God, also confident in our abilities, gave us free will. As we sit in temple and observe all that is around us, the wonder and awe of our tradition, let us remember “it is good.”

Through participation in all things Jewish we can move forward to improve the world and ourselves. Our tradition creates a framework for the

perfection of the world.

Let us all have a meaningful High Holy Day season filled with joy and love. Shanah tovah from the entire Sussman-Vaida family.

RABBI SHOSHANAH TORNBERG Congregation Keneseth Israel

Most years, about now, people ask me how holiday prepara tions are going. I can not resist answering, “Shofar, sho good.” I am a sucker for a dad joke, even though I am an ima. But, of course, the shofar is so much more than a pun or a punchline, and its layers of meaning carry us through important themes of this season.

In Leviticus, we read, “In the seventh month (biblically, Tishrei is month No. 7), on the first day of the month, you shall observe a Shabbat of remembrance, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts” (23:24). We love apples and honey, round challah and new year cards. Sephardi tables often feature fish heads in the hope that everyone may be at the “head” of things in the new year. But the shofar stands out as the defining symbol of our new year celebration. Why? What can it, and what should it, mean for us?

The shofar’s origin likely predates the Israelite religion. The hollowed-out animal horn was probably used to coronate the king, laud the victorious and celebrate the new year (by scaring away demons who lay in wait to mess up our moment of hope and good fortune). Of course, our people reclaimed the shofar as a way to indicate the coronation of God and declare God’s supremacy. We celebrate the new year and, we learn from both Maimonides and from Mrs. Weinstock, my fourthgrade Hebrew school teacher, that the shofar is meant to awaken us to our deeds and to the need for teshuvah (repentance). After all, it is easy to lose sight of who we want and need to be when we are in the midst of being. The sound of the blasts jars us into pausing. It carries us toward the reflective work of these days.

Of course, unique to our Jewish story is the connection between the shofar and the story of the Akeidah, the Binding of Isaac, one of our Torah readings for Rosh Hashanah. As Abraham is about to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, on the top of Mt. Moriah, an angel intercedes, staying Abraham’s hand. Abraham looks up and sees a ram with its horn stuck in a thicket. The message to our ancestor is clear: take the ram for the sacrifice in Isaac’s place.

The rabbinic tradition in a variety of sources talks about 10 specific created things that God brought into being at the twilight of the first Shabbat. They include the ram Abraham saw on Mt. Moriah as he was about to make this ultimate sacrifice. It is important enough to our story and to our relationship with God that the ram was made independent of the natural systems of the universe. It is as if God knew we needed it specifically and wanted to vouchsafe its existence. Indeed, the Talmud teaches that the blowing of the shofar serves as a reminder to God of the merit of Isaac in the moment of his almost-sacrifice. It is a reminder to offer mercy to Isaac’s descendants in the face of our failings.

Rabbi Marc Gellman tells a story he calls “The Announcing Tool.” In it, God tasks Enoch to come up with a tool to announce the new year. Enoch tries object after object, but none seems to reflect the values of the new year and God’s vision for humanity. Finally, Enoch comes before God with the ram’s horn and a bit sheepishly admits that he does not think it is the right tool. Enoch explains that it is so hard to blow this horn. It makes squeaky, screechy noises if you fail to blow it just right. God, in intimate conversation with Enoch, shares that a horn that is difficult to play is just right for the season: the new year itself it hard. It is hard for us to change. It is hard to admit our mistakes. It is hard to struggle with the challenges and

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dilemmas of being human.

The shofar, the story goes, is just the right tool. It reminds us of our imperfection. And it reminds God how deeply we rely on mercy.

In preparation for these Days of Awe, I offer you a poem I wrote about the shofar:

The Shofar Breaks

The shofar breaks the heart open

It starts out as a small thing: A breath.

An intention.

A wordless prayer. And then it meanders, Finding its way.

Like the soul on the path of the best laid plans.

The ways open, some

Less narrow, But with more choices

More to get wrong

More circuitry on the way to right

And then the breath widens

Finding its shape

Strong and sure

Like a teenager with her conviction: Tekiah.

Shevar

Eem

Eem

Eem: An Eema An Abba Firm

Sometimes tired

Juggling life and the next generation

Searching for renewal

Teruah: A life full of stops and starts

A soul staccato in its striving

Each of us expands out, Our living a tekiah gedolah

A breath

Becoming a song

Of our living.

May you have the courage to let the shofar break open your heart in the season to come. May God’s mercy find its way into your heart.

L’shanah tovah tikateivu v’tichateimu to you and yours — to us all!

Welcome to a new year of feasts, fasts, wins, losses

By Nurit Galon Partnership2Gether

The Jewish year is filled with celebrations, fasting, fancy dress customs, studying, tree planting, bonfires, and remembrances of the Temple and anticipation of its rebuilding, exiles and returns, victories and defeats, suffering and bravery. In short, in the space of one year, we relive our creation, our destruction, our survival and heroism, our devotion to our one God, our unity and our differences and, above all, our belief in our survival and common past and future.

A popular Jewish joke used to be, “One Jew, one opinion. Two Jews, many opinions!” A close look at our people, even today, or perhaps especially today, shows that we are rife with different opinions on what we should try to achieve and how to achieve it, and with whom. Yet with the deep chasm we are facing today, the holidays, and especially the High Holidays, continue to remind us who we are and how urgent it is for us to remember what we have been through in our history, how strong we are when we are together and

how much we have to lose when we forget these.

Our belief in our ability to survive is based on our past, handling the many difficult situations we continue to face. As the High Holidays show us, there can be much celebration and laughter. Jewish comedians are known worldwide. Is there any better language for jokes than Yiddish?

Tu B’Av, the festival of love and rebirth, fell on July 27. It’s one of the happiest days of the year, when Jewish maidens were invited to go out to dance in the hope of attracting suitors. The Code of Jewish Law, or the Shulchan Aruch, contains no observances or customs for this day except that the confession of sins should be omitted from prayers and that study of the Torah should be increased, to exploit that the nights are growing longer and more suitable for study.

Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset on Friday, September 15, and ends at nightfall on Sunday, September 17. No work is allowed during this time. It’s the Jewish New Year, the first of the High Holidays, the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve,

Symbolic foods

By Yoni Glatt koshercrosswords@gmail.com

Across

1. Rows in the Knesset?

6. Baldwin of “The Hunt for Red October”

10. Eye rakishly

14. Bris follower

15. Teenage illness, often

16. State of mind

17. Bless with oil, old style

18. Mr. ___, Homer alias

19. Heidi’s home

20. Hits home on Rosh Hashanah?

23. Cooler

24. Cool

25. “Come ___?” (Italian

the Day of Judgement and the coronation of God as king. It is the birthday of the universe. A central observance is the blowing of the shofar (ram’s horn) on both mornings (though not on Shabbat), acts usually performed in a synagogue. Sweet foods symbolize our wishes for a sweet year: apples dipped in honey, sweet challah with raisins. No creative work is allowed.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, 10 days later, are part of the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe of the High Holidays. The Rosh Hashanah custom of Tashlich is to cast away our sins over a body of water, preferably water that has fish in it, in memory of Abraham’s trip to sacrifice his son. Water with fish is very important. Fish have no eyelids and also have many offspring, thus they represent God’s supervision of us. And just as fish are caught in a net, so are we caught in God’s net of judgment.

At the body of water, we coronate God as King of the Universe, and God shows His mercy in preventing the waters from flooding. Realiz-

“The Fugitive”

50. Prince who had 53 purple peacocks

51. ___ inclusive

53. Like a messy bed

58. US armed force, on Rosh Hashanah?

62. Ageless Florida Panther

64. It gets hit on the head

65. 1/4 of a seasonal mitzvah

66. Competent

67. Sicilian spouter

68. Hit the road

69. Makes like Avraham in Chevron

70. Party in Israel

ing God’s powers everywhere inspires us to repent. Jewish mysticism teaches that water corresponds to kindness, and on the High Holy Days we beseech God to treat us with kindness during the coming year.

This year, as every year, we will celebrate, be happy, be sad, hopefully take a good look at ourselves and remember that as we demand kindness from God, then surely we must be ready to grant it to ourselves and our people. Chag sameach.

Nurit Galon writes regularly for Hakol from the Lehigh Valley’s Partnership2Gether sister region in Yoav, Israel.

12. Cut (off)

13. Mag. staff

21. Cupid’s counterpart

22. Copycats

26. Letter before iota

27. Off-center

29. Light horse-drawn carriage

30. Lincoln’s in-laws

32. Charging need

33. Israeli

34. Cosmetics name, L’____

35. Apparently

36. Voting “no”

38. Sported

40. A holy city

44. This paper is full of them

45. It’s coming to an end

greeting)

28. TV Hit with a last season that angered many fans

31. Core

33. He (illegitimately) hit 60+ three times

37. Plumbing woe, on Rosh Hashanah?

39. “You ___ kidding!”

41. Like a party by Gatsby

42. Hotel offering

43. Headphones, on Rosh Hashanah?

46. Bite like a beaver

47. Expand

48. Harrison’s wife in

71. Levy who has two parks named after him in New York City

Down

1. Big hit

2. Old Ford

3. Like a good shomer

4. It’s a wrap

5. It has its ups and downs?

6. Moshav gear

7. Manilow gal

8. Son of Cain

9. Kosher material

10. Barbra’s “Funny Girl” co-star

11. Jewish (sounding) character in “1984”

49. Judith (Light) on “Who’s The Boss?”

52. Disinclined

54. Masked trumpet blower, biblically

55. Glows

56. Had the wheel

57. Gardener’s tool

59. Trojan ally, in the “Iliad”

60. Part of a famed fleet

61. “Oh dear!”

62. The “one” in a one-two

63. Monkey of 50-Across’s alter ego

View the solution to the crossword puzzle at jewishlehighvalley.org/ hakol/crossword.

Happy birthday to the world! It’s time to start anew

By Shira Yacker Special to Hakol

The summer as we know it is almost over, and just like that the High Holidays are approaching. As a teacher, I have always associated the end of summer with the beginning of a new year, and Rosh Hashanah coincides

with this, giving me the feeling of fresh starts, new beginnings, refocusing priorities and setting goals.

It is an exciting time of year for all of us as we set out to improve our lives in many ways, whether big or small. It is a time to reflect on the past year

and to see what we can do differently to make this year even better. We can take this time to work on our relationships, with others, but especially with ourselves. We can set personal goals and keep track of how successful we are in meeting them or how we may have to reframe these goals to improve our success.

The High Holidays give us this time for reflection so that we can do all of these tasks in order to have a sweet new year. An article in the Brooklyn-based Jewish Voice says we should do the following three things to make our upcoming year one that is filled with joy and appreciation:

“Reflect — Check in with G-d for an examination of our lives with deeper introspection and reflection.

“Respond —

When G-d shines the light on the weak areas of our lives, it’s up to us to respond.

“Restore — Ask G-d to renew a faithful spirit in you and help you make good choices in order to meet and exceed the goals you may have.”

Aish.com says that with Rosh Hashanah, “We are restarting our relationship with G-d. We are casting our past aside and starting fresh. We are not asking G-d to forgive us and grant us life in spite of our less-than-stellar past. We are ignoring all that and starting completely new — on today, the birthday of the world.”

Congregation Bnai Shalom welcomes you this High Holy Day season

2023 - 5784 HIGH HOLY DAYS OBSERVANCES

Led by Cantor Jill Pakman and Dr. Robert Weiner

SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE

Sunday, September 10

Graveside Service, Easton Cemetery - 1:00 P.M. Graveside Service, Bnai Abraham Southside Cemetery - 2:00 P.M. Graveside Service, Bnai Abraham & Children of Israel Cemeteries - 3:00 P.M.

EREV ROSH HASHANAH

Friday, September 15 - Evening Service - 7:30 P.M.

ROSH HASHANAH FIRST DAY

Saturday, September 16 - Morning Service - 10:00 A.M.

ROSH HASHANAH SECOND DAY

Sunday, September 17 - Morning Service - 10:00 A.M.

Tashlich Service – immediately following morning service

KOL NIDRE

Sunday, September 24 - Morning Service - 7:30 P.M.

YOM KIPPUR MORNING

Monday, September 25 - Morning Service - 10:00 A.M.

Yizkor Service - 1:00 P.M.

Afternoon & Ne’ila Service – 4:30 P.M.

Holiday ends at 7:33 P.M.

Break-the-Fast dinner to follow, please make dinner reservations by Sept. 15, 2023

Tickets and ID are required to attend in-person. To purchase tickets call the Bnai Shalom Office at (610) 258-5343.

Congregation Bnai Shalom 1545 Bushkill Street · Easton, PA 18042 Phone: (610) 258-5343 · www.bnaishalomeaston.org CONGREGATION

If you’re looking for events and services in the Lehigh Valley related to Rosh Hashanah and the other High Holidays, you’ll find many on the pages of this special New Year section of Hakol. You can also contact the JCC and your local synagogues. And don’t forget to check the Community Calendar in this issue or view the online calendar at jewishlehighvalley.org/ calendar.

Shira Yacker of Palmer Township teaches special education in the Pen Argyl School District and has taught at Hebrew school for about 25 years.

CONGREGATION BNAI SHALOM

CONGREGATION BNAI SHALOM

(My Jewish Learning)

By Sean Boyle Congregation Keneseth Israel

Richard Ho’s latest picture book, “Two New Years,” describes

and compares the

many similarities between celebrating Rosh Hashanah and the Lunar New Year. His inspiration for this was his own multicultural family.

Through parallel stories, Ho explains the differences and the (many more) similarities in how his family celebrates these holidays. Contrasts are displayed side by side, with one holiday’s characteristics on the left and the other’s on the right. Lynn Scurfield uses more white and blue colors in her illustrations representing Rosh Hashanah, and reds and oranges for her Lunar New Year illustrations; a mix of both highlights what the two have in common.

Ho’s Author’s Note points out universal ideas celebrated by Chinese and Jewish cultures and hopes that all readers can find themselves relating to the same ideals: family, community, hope and renewal. The eight-page Visual Glossary provides further detail about different aspects portrayed visually in the book, both Chinese and Jewish.

Ho converted to Judaism

as an adult and modeled the book on the dual celebrations his children experience. Scurfield is half-Chinese and her stepfamily Jewish, and she was excited to explore both aspects of her heritage. For her art in the book, she used cut paper overlying vibrantly colorful illustrations.

Highly recommended for ages 3-120, especially for anyone interested in the similari-

ties between celebrating Rosh Hashanah and the Lunar New Year.

Sean Boyle is Congregation Keneseth Israel’s librarian and serves as vice president, president-elect, of the Association of Jewish Libraries.

“Two New Years,” by Richard Ho, illustrated by Lynn Scurfield, Chronicle Books, 2023, 44 pages.

Honey Asian Texan Brisket

BY SANDI TEPLITZ

Fusion recipes are all the rage. Here’s what happens when you combine American West with Chinese cuisine. Serve with sticky rice or huge, crisply baked potatoes and broccoli.

TEXAN RUB INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons liquid smoke

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup finely minced garlic

2 tablespoons Diamond kosher salt

1/4 cup coarsely ground pepper

1 scant tablespoon cayenne pepper

TECHNIQUE:

1. Combine ingredients in a food processor and pulse for 15 seconds.

2. Coat a 10-pound brisket with the mix-

CHINESE SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

1 cup tomato sauce to which 1 pound of shiitake mushrooms has been added

2/3 cup honey

2/3 cup soy sauce

6 tablespoons vinegar

1/4 cup corn syrup

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Mix Chinese sauce ingredients in a pan and stir until well combined. Cook on low for 35 minutes. Cool. Chill.

2. The next day, cook the brisket, covered, at 250 degrees for 6 hours, basting every hour. Pour off excess liquid. Pour the Chinese sauce over the brisket until the meat is covered. Cook the brisket, covered, for one more hour.

Shana tova!

Wishing you and yours a

PEACEFUL New Year.

We’re here to help you gather with a full kosher selection for Rosh Hashanah.

We’re here to help you gather with a full Kosher for Rosh Hashanah selection.