Rosh HaShanah

Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, 9/17/2003
Updated to link an audio file on 9-30-05

ISAAC AND ISHMAEL
copyright 1989 Rabbi Leila Gal Berner
(First two verses can be sung in Hebrew/Arabic or English)

Shalom aleichem, aleichem shalom, shalom
Shalom aleichem, aleichem shalom.

THE PEACE OF ABRAHAM, HAGAR, & SARAH:
SHARING SACRED SEASONS, 2007

Shalom, salaam, peace! --

In the fall of 2007, several sacred seasons of the Abrahamic faiths will come together. At a moment of history when religious conflict and violence have reemerged bearing lethal dangers for each other and our planet, God has given our spiritual and religious traditions an unusual gift of sacred time.

Let us celebrate this rare confluence of THE PEACE OF ABRAHAM, HAGAR, & SARAH by praying and learning with each other and by acting together to –-

SEEK PEACE, PURSUE JUSTICE,
FEED THE POOR, HEAL THE EARTH,

Long ago the rabbis took from the story of an enemy of ancient Israel a teaching of compassion even for enemies. And in our own generation, Rabbi Shefa Gold has done the same thing in a different way with the same story. Both ways deserve to be honored in our Rosh Hashanah gatherings.

The story of Sisera's Mother appears in Judges 5: 24-31, as part of the Song of Deborah. This is how the Bible tells the tale, picking up after the brutal general Sisera has been defeated, flees the battlefield, and takes refuge in the tent of Ya'el:

Blessed above women shall Ya'el be,
The wife of Hever the Kenite,

Rabbi Phyllis Berman, 9/12/2003

Long ago and far away is where most stories start; but this one begins in my own life. One day when I was 16, I came home from school very upset. My mother asked me what was wrong. I told her that Danny, the-love-of-my-life, was spending a lot of time with my second-best-friend Tamar. And I was frightened. I could only see Danny on weekends because he went to a different high school; but Tamar got to see him all the time - at school and at their synagogue's youth group. At the moment they were only friends, but I knew that Tamar really liked Danny, and I knew that he was also interested in her.

by Rabbi Edward Feld

Abaye expounded: The disagreement regarding how to sound the teruah revolves around the following: The Biblical verse in Numbers 29 instructs 'It should be a day of sounding the teruah," and the Aramaic translation for 'teruah' is , 'yevavah.'

Now regarding the mother of Sisera, the Bible remarks that when she heard of her son's death, "the mother of Sisera stood at the window 'vativav.'" One opinion is that the meaning is that she sighed and sighed and therefore the teruah should sound like shevarim a gasping sound, and one opinion is that she cried and cried and therefore the sound of the teruah should be constantly broken like uncontrollable crying. (B.T. Rosh Hashonnah 33b)
[see Rabbi Shefa Gold's article on Sisera's Mother]

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 9/2/2003

The festivals we are entering are both unique to the Jewish people and universal in their meaning. For the peoples of the Northern Hemisphere, it is the time of harvest in the solar year, time to reflect upon our efforts: Have all our hopes and deeds brought fruitfulness, or emptiness? And since they have probably brought forth both, how do we celebrate what good we have wrought and turn from our mis-doings into renewed joy and dedication?

This need to pause to reflect uopon our selves, our deeds, our souls, is one we share with all humanity: Ramadan, Lent, and other times throughout the year that are set aside for quiet meditation.

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, 9/2/2003

Reverend colleagues of the clergy, Mme. President and Administrators of Oberlin College, academic colleagues, Graduating Students and their celebrating parents,

For this moment, which we got to live, to experience, and to celebrate we give thanks: Shehechiyanu!

Psalm 100
This is how you sing to God a thank You song.
You join the symphony of the whole Earth
In your gratefulness you meet Him,
voices echo joy in God's halls.
In giving thanks we engage Her blessings.
We meet His goodness here and now,
Her encouragement from generation to generation.

Latifa Kropf, 9/2/2003

In Seasons of Our Joy, I suggested that the festivals of Tishrei are a spiral of spiritual growth — at Rosh Hashanah (the new moon), birth; at Yom Kippur (egg-shaped moon), meeting a Partner; at Sukkot (full moon), harve

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 9/2/2003

May You Answer Us!

This more inclusive version of one of the traditional High Holy Day prayers can be sung to one of the traditional melodies. Shanah tovah!

Hu Yaanenu /Hi Taanenu
An Inclusive Version

You Who answere