There is a very special time in the Jewish calendar, the Yamim Noraim or Days of Awe. This is the time starting with Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish new year that was celebrated Sept. 10-11, and ending with Yom Kippur – the day of Atonement to be celebrated Sept. 19.
Rosh Hashanah is known as the “Day of Judgment” because it is believed that on that day God opens the Book of Life and the decision of whether a person is going to be granted another year of life is made. However, that verdict is sealed on Yom Kippur. The 10 days between the two holidays are an opportunity for Jews to repent and ask for forgiveness.
On Rosh Hashanah, the wish people exchange is for a sweet new year and the traditional food eaten on that day shows this sweetness: apples, honey, pomegranate. It is also a day accompanied by the sound of shofar, this ram’s horn is blown during the religious service. This instrument recalls Abraham’s act of faith at the binding of his son and invites all to a spiritual awakening.
After 10 days particularly dedicated to introspection, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement is a day of fasting. The Jewish people remember Moses pleading with God for forgiveness after the people worshipped the Golden Calf. The Israelites were finally granted atonement for their sin and today Jews pray on this holiest day of the year to be cleansed from all sins (Lv 16:30).
“God’s forgiveness, however extensive, only encompasses those sins which man commits directly against Him, bein adam la-Makom; those in which an injury is caused to one’s fellow man, bein adam le-havero, are not forgiven until the injured party has himself forgiven the perpetrator,” explained Rabbi David Rosen, International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committeeand member of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel’s Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, in an article he wrote in 2003 on forgiveness.
“Hence the custom of seeking forgiveness from those one may have wronged on the eve of the Day of Atonement, without which proper atonement cannot be made,” he continued.
Teshuvah, repentance, is a key word in these days. “The major obstacle to teshuvahis not whether God will forgive us but whether we can forgive ourselves – whether we can believe in our own ability to change the direction of our lives even minimally,” wrote the late Rabbi David Hartman in 2009.