Page 11 - Issue 31

Yom haZikaron (Day of Remembrance): This is
primarily the liturgical name of the holiday and
the one I most struggle to connect with. It
evokes for me a similarly challenging section of
Rosh haShana prayer in which we go through
tanach (bible) verses in which God remembers
and has compassion for Noah, Abraham,
Joseph, and Am Yisrael (the Nation of Israel, or
the Jewish People). A God who remembers us
individually is both difficult for me to
comprehend and very tied to the idea of the Day
of Judgment above. As I suggested above that

we must prepare by judging ourselves, we
similarly must prepare to remember others
with compassion – to forgive graciously not
only our friends, but especially those who have
deeply wronged us.

Rosh haShana: The term Rosh haShana
originates in the Talmud, where four new years
are listed: the first of Nisan, the first of Elul, the
first of Tishrei, and either the first or fifteenth of
Shevat (Hillel and Shammai, two prominent
rabbis, disagree). Each serves as the marker of
a new year for different aspects of society.
Rosh haShana is the new year associated
with shmita and yovel — two Jewish laws that
mandate things like freeing slaves, forgiving

debts, and property redistribution.