We are in the middle of the High Holidays, two of the most important religious observances in Judaism. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year just passed and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, (which is also the holiest day of the year for Jewish people), begins at sundown on Tuesday, September 25 and goes until sundown of Wednesday, September 26. Hope surrounds the former with meals including honey and apples (symbolizing a sweet new year) and challah bread (representing the cycle of the year) also being served. With reflection and repentance being at the heart of the latter, a number of sacrifices are made including no eating and drinking with the idea that the state of unease the body feels allows one to empathize with how others feel when they are in discomfort or pain. So to all our neighbors at Temple Sholom and the Bellerose Jewish Center, Shana Tova (a good New Year) and Tsom Kal ([an] easy fast).
– Dave Gil de Rubio
