The members of Temple Israel at 66 Salmon Street in Manchester will be gathering for the annual Selichot Prayers of Forgiveness at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 8^th.  This service is the prelude to the High Holiday Season which begins with Rosh Hashanah on the evening of September 12^th.  Prior to the Selichot service, at 9:00 p.m., there will be a pre-holiday get-together for the congregation and guests at which time the new Israeli emissary, Carmel Harel, will be greeted by the congregation.

This young woman, representing her homeland, happens to be a classical pianist and has agreed not only to speak to the congregation on Selichot night, but to perform a short program on the piano including classical pieces and several contemporary Israel melodies.  Refreshments will be served and the entire community is welcome to attend.

  Carmel arrived in Manchester on August 16^th to replace the previous representative from Israel, Liron Lavi, who served in that capacity during the past year.  The Israel emissary - Shelicha is the Hebrew term - is a goodwill ambassador sponsored jointly by the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire.  She will be visiting and speaking throughout the state in the coming months to school children, religious congregations, and civic groups.  Rather than focusing on controversial political and military issues, the Shelicha presents the human side of Israeli society to the American community.  Carmel Harel is the third young woman to serve in this position in New Hampshire.

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, will soon begin and Jews around the world will gather in their synagogues to celebrate the arrival of the year 5768.  The Jewish New Year marks the traditional anniversary of the Creation of Humanity, in accordance with biblical chronology.  Though most Jews today do not take this dating literally, a calendar has to start somewhere and 3761 B.C.E. is as good a place as any to begin.  More significant than the actual date, is the opportunity the New Year festival gives Jews to reflect on the year gone by and to find ways of changing their lives for the better in the year ahead.  In the liturgy, Rosh Hashanah is known as the Day of Judgment on which all humanity is pictured as passing under God’s staff while their fate is determined for the coming year.  The traditional prayer book proclaims that on Rosh Hashanah God’s decision is written down and on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement ten days later, the decree is sealed:  “Who shall live and who shall die.”  Yet we are reminded that “Repentance, prayer, and righteous deeds can avert the severity of the decree.”

This ten day period is known as the Days of Awe, yet Jews tend to see it as a joyous season of renewal rather than a time of strict judgment.  Though the services on these holidays are rather solemn, the participants greet one another with wishes for a “Happy New Year,” “A Good and a Sweet Year.”  Families gather for large festive meals, dip apples in honey, and partake of sweet dishes such as tzimmes (a casserole of carrots, raisins and prunes), and desserts like honey cake and taiglach (honey drenched balls of baked dough mixed with dried fruits and nuts), all reminders of the wish for a sweet year.

The entire month preceding Rosh Hashanah, Jews are to prepare for the holiday by reflecting on past deeds and making amends with those whom they may have offended or otherwise hurt in the past year.  Morning and evening, the 27^th Psalm (“The Lord is my light and my salvation”) is read and the ram’s horn, the Shofar, is sounded at the end of each weekday morning service throughout the month.  Special prayers for forgiveness, Selichot, are recited in some traditional congregations each day for the week preceding Rosh Hashanah.  The first occasion for this recitation is on the Saturday evening before the holiday, September 8^th this year.  Though ordinarily, those who recite Selichot daily arise early in the morning to say these prayers, the custom is for the first night’s Selichot prayers to be said late at night.  Some wait until midnight or later, while others begin a bit earlier as is the practice at Manchester’s Temple Israel.  Rabbi Edward M. Friedman will be chanting the traditional liturgy in which Jews cry out in the middle of the night for God’s forgiveness for their sins.  We believe that God is compassionate and forgiving and thus it is with confidence in God’s goodness that we enter this season of penitence.