 We're talking about community today. Community matters. I'm Jay Fiedel. And Rabbi Itchel Krasnijanski is with me today. We're going to talk about the community in the Jewish community. Community is so important. I'm still working on that myself. Why is it important? Because it gives us structure. It gives us family. It gives us connection. Because living in the world, especially today, it's hard. It's unpredictable. It's confusing. There are issues that get the better of us. But also, as Maimonides says, that man is a social creature by nature. So we always seek out and we attach ourselves to a social setting in a group. That's why the community is very important. It defines who we are and it shapes who we are. Yeah, and you don't know about your peers, if you will, in the Jewish community unless you go to a temple and connect with them and have face-to-face conversations with them and see what they're doing and visit their homes and all that. In my neighborhood when I grew up in Queens, New York, with two temples, one was conservative, which is not quite as orthodox as you are, but the other was reform, which actually I didn't prefer that. I prefer the conservative. And the community was never so clear as on Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, the high holidays. And I would like to talk to you today about that, Rabbi. I'd like to get a handle on the high holidays and Rosh Hashanah. And maybe we could do a second show on it, too, because there's so much. It is the most important Jewish holiday. Why? So as you mentioned, it's Rosh Hashanah, which is the Hebrew word for the head of the year, is the high holiday. It launches the new year, and it is considered not just another holiday, but the primary holiday. And there's many reasons for that. On Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate the birthday of the world. According to the Jewish tradition, God created the world in six days, rested on the Sabbath. And every year, when this day comes, we celebrate the world's birthday. And according to Jewish tradition, this upcoming Rosh Hashanah will mark 5,780 years of the creation of the world. And we can get into this whole discussion about, do you really believe that? That the world is 5,000s. Does Judaism believe that? I think it was 5,712 I was bar mitzvah, something in there, right in there, within a few years. So I have believed it all my life. So that's a whole other discussion. Perhaps we can talk about how to reconcile the Torah's view with science, things of that nature. But Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the world. But actually, not quite the birthday of the world, it is the birthday of man. According to the Bible, man was created on the last day of the six days of creation. And so Rosh Hashanah is commemorated and celebrated on the birthday of man when Adam was created. Because man is not only the apex of creation and the crown of creation, but also the goal of creation. God, as it says in the Bible, placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to nurture it and protect it. And we have been sent this world to nurture and protect this world and to refine it and elevate it. And only man can lead that charge. So it's almost as if the world was, yes, was created six days before, but it didn't really kick in until Adam was created. Establishing the relationship of mankind, human kind, and the world that God had created. By the way, was Adam Jewish? Actually, no. Abraham was the first Jew. Very interesting. And what's interesting is that Rosh Hashanah is not a uniquely Jewish holiday in the sense that it doesn't commemorate a Jewish event, unlike Passover, which Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt. The holiday of Shavuos Pentecost is God gave the Jewish people the Torah Mount Sinai. But Rosh Hashanah celebrates this universal occurrence where one man was created. Now, we are going to talk about the four separate Jewish New Year's, which some of them are religious, like Passover is one of them. That's religious, but others are not. And certainly Rosh Hashanah, the one coming up in the weeks, ended September. Yeah, 2019. That's, as you say, that's a kind of agnostic holiday. That's not necessarily religious, but it is very important because it's the beginning. It's the beginning. The only thing I would say is that it's actually a very, very religious holiday, because Judaism doesn't just concern itself with Bible study or the Jewish people. Judaism concerns itself with man's purpose in this world, man's place in this world. And all of that is connected to Rosh Hashanah. And that's why we find something very, very interesting. The Jewish tradition, if you contrast Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year, to how December 31st is celebrated in the secular world, where they drop the ball on Times Square and everyone is cheering and partying and having fun, Rosh Hashanah is actually a very serious, serious time. And the reason for that is because in the Jewish tradition, it is on Rosh Hashanah that every single person is judged, the day of judgment. Our belief is that not only that God created the world, but he actually guides the world and is engaged with this world and taught us right from wrong. And everything we do matters. And it's all on the record. Not only, yes, it's all on the record, but it is also all very important. And the person can think to themselves, I'm just one little teeny person, barely a speck in the cosmic scheme. So does it really matter what I do and how I live my life and the actions I do or don't do? So Judaism teaches us, yes, it matters. And that is actually the foundation of the year. It's the day of judgment. That's the other name. I can't remember it in Hebrew. Yom HaDin, the day of judgment. Day of judgment. So there are four Rosh Hashanahs around the cycle. I think all of them have at least something to do directly or indirectly with agriculture, with the harvest and the seasons and the planting and all that. Well, Tubeshvat, the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shabbat. Tubeshvat is one of them? Yeah, Tubeshvat is one. And Tubeshvat is like the Jewish Arbor Day. It is the day when it's the new year for trees, meaning that they lost the planting. Not only the planting of the trees, but they begin to flower on this day. And the reason why we celebrate, we mean people celebrate Tubeshvat is because in the Bible, in the Torah, there's a reference that man is like a tree. There is a relationship and a lot of similarities between man and a tree. So therefore, what happens in the world of trees is something of note to man. And just in short, I don't want to spend too much time on it. But a tree, in order for it to grow, has to have roots, and it has to be connected to its roots. A tree has branches that produce fruit. And in this way, man is similar to that. And that is that we have to recognize that we have roots. We have to stay connected to our roots in order to nourish ourselves. And our purpose is not just to be, but to be a fruit. And that has many, many to be fruitful. Be fruitful. A long supply. Yes. OK, so that's two. We have Rosh Hashanah in September. We have Tubeshvat. The other ones is relays. Tessach is one. Tessach Passover is the Rosh Hashanah for the Jewish holidays. It's the first of the three biblical Jewish holidays. Passover, Pentecost, and Easter Cabernacle, the Sukkis. And then the other one, it relates to the years of the kings at the beginning, the month of Nisan, which is the month. Passover is also the year for counting kings, how many years they reigned Jewish kings. We're getting back to Rosh Hashanah. So Rosh Hashanah, interestingly enough, doesn't just come upon us. But the month before Rosh Hashanah, which is the month that's going to begin this Saturday, it's called Elul. And Rosh Hashanah itself is in Tishrei. Exactly. First day of Tishrei. Elul is the 11th Jewish month, like December is in the secular calendar. And the month of Elul is referred to as the month of stock. We take stock of ourselves, of our lives, how we live the year gone by. In other words, it's a time of introspection. And a person should be taught to use this time to look back and see how, in fact, did our year go. And if there's things that need to be strengthened, or fixed, or corrected, this is the time to do it, as well as to not only looking back, but also looking forward to prepare ourselves for the new year. Because in Jewish teachings, what's interesting in Judaism is that we believe that everything comes from God, literally everything, except one thing. That is who you are and the person you choose to be. That's not God's doing. That's our self-determination. That's self-determination. So at this time of the year, we take time out, just like in a business, before the tax season, you sit down with your accountant, and you figure everything out, and you straighten out all the books, and you strategize for the year ahead in the same way as in reference to life. This is a time when we reflect on these matters. I see a continuum there. So hello, you take stock. In Tishrei, you judge. You judge. Maybe God judges, too. But there's a judgment time also in terms of evaluation. We judge ourselves. And you decide, or maybe you and God decide. Based on the evaluation you made the month before, whether you have been a good person. And then, right after Rosh Hashanah, I guess that would fall in October this year, you have Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, where you recognize after evaluating yourself and judging yourself that some things you need to atone for. They were not good things. So all three are connected that way, aren't they? Yes, very well said. And yes, this is, in fact, the case, as it's explained, that actually the month of Tishrei, that's the month of all these Jewish holidays, it's not just Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of what is referred to as the 10 Days of Repentance. When what we just discussed about elul, time of reflection and introspection, that's intensified between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In case you missed it the first time, it's time to bear down the second time. Correct. And on Yom Kippur as a Day of Atonement, we believe, see, the Jewish tradition teaches us. That's something very interesting to allow. Like many other things, once you study the matter, you find out that the assumption that people have is not only not correct, but it's just the opposite of what it truly is. In Judaism, we believe that even if a person makes mistakes or a person sins, there is what is repentance. You can have remorse for the things that one has done and a strong resolution that in the future you would change your ways. When a person genuinely feels this remorse and makes this resolution, then we believe that God forgives us for our sins and he wipes our slate clean. So this idea of Jewish guilt, of always feeling guilty of what we've done or could have done or should have done or whatever, that's not a Jewish thing, believe it or not. So Yom Kippur is that Day of Atonement. And Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are very solemn days, serious, serious days. But then right after Yom Kippur, we enter into the holiday of Sukkis, East of the Tabernacle, which is a very joyous time. For a harvest. Yes, yes, a very joyous time. And the idea, spiritually speaking, is that once we go through this cleansing, so to speak, and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, then we are able to fully express our happiness. And we can feel good. We're going through that cycle. So when I was a kid, we had a pretty active Jewish center. I remember it well. When I was a kid, at the high holidays, everybody showed up. I mean, it was not a seat to spare. People were squeezed in the pews. They were hanging around outside. It was a whole day thing. It was a two-day thing, a first day, second day. And it was a very impressive gathering of people, because they didn't come so much the rest of the year. But in those days, they came. So query, why does that happen? Does it happen all over the world that way, or best in New York? And secondly, why two days, Rabbi? You need two days for this? Is that sort of to accentuate it, or what? Well, two good questions. You're right that Rosh Hashanah strikes a chord amongst many, many Jews, even those Jews that throughout the year you don't find in synagogue and they don't necessarily observe all the Jewish ways and customs. But Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, many, many, many Jews show up. It's subconscious. You want to connect. Thank you. Not so much, I don't think today is OK. But it's more because the day is a very holy day. And like I say, we orient ourselves on this day for the entire year. The reason why it's two days is that's the difference between the Jewish customs in the diaspora and in Israel. In Israel, all the holidays are one day. In the diaspora, there are two days. And the reason for that is technically is because the Jewish calendar is a lunar-based calendar. Meaning when the moon reemerges, that's the new month. So in the times of the temple, there was the rabbinical court in Jerusalem. And the witnesses would come and they would say, we saw a sighting of the moon so that today is the first day of the new month. And that was very important to determine which day was the first month because, for example, Passover should be on the 15th of the month of Nisan. We need to know when the first day is today or tomorrow. So the people in Israel were notified right away once the witnesses came. The people who were living far away they would not be notified. So they would practice two days just in case they're beginning to. That's very practical. Now today, the calendar has been figured out based on the astrology. They know exactly when the moon will reemerge for our calendars based on Rabbi Gamaliel, one of the sages in the Talmud, who he figured out the calendar forever, for thousands of years. Because it's tradition, so we still keep two days. So Hamad is part of the diaspora. Yes, anyone who lives outside of Israel. Anyone who lives outside of Israel. So I recall there was a lot of eating. There were meals. There were prayers all day, and then meals. As opposed to Yom Kippur, you were fasted all day. And I remember too, you have to tell me more, but there was something about an apple dipped in honey to be sweet. What about the foods? What happens at home, and what do people do with their time on these two holidays? So again, very good question. Even though that Rosh Hashanah is a serious time, but it's also a very happy time. That's just the Jewish way. That's what the Torah teaches us, always to be happy, always to celebrate. And happiness is a very serious thing. This is going to be on the final exam. Happiness is a very serious thing. Very serious matter. And we mentioned earlier, Rosh Hashanah is a day of judgment. That's when we work on ourselves to better ourselves. But it's also, as we say in the prayers of Rosh Hashanah, that we all pass by God and is thrown, and we're judged whether to live or to perish. Everything about the future year is determined by God. However, when the judge also happens to be your father, and he's a loving father, so we actually are not that worried because we're confident that God, our Father in heaven, probably sees us in a better light than we see ourselves. He sees our goodness and our potential. He's kinder than we are. He's kinder than we are. Talking to ourselves. Yes. That's why Rosh Hashanah is also a day of celebration. And the tradition is that we eat different kinds of foods because we want to call attention to the different themes of the day of the holiday. So for example, dipping the apple into honey and we say a prayer that, my God, we knew this year for us to be a sweet year. And the idea of the sweet year, as we all know, we all want to have a sweet life. As someone once explained, I forbid someone is sick. They need to have medicine. An apple a day. And you need to have medicine. You got to be a sanskant or you take chemo, which is administered to you to save your life. So it's good, but it's not sweet. It's a bitter pill. Sometimes in life, we need to take a bitter pill. So we ask Rosh Hashanah that not only should it be a good year, but it should be a sweet year. The good should not come to us through any bitterness of the sweet year. One of the things that strikes me from this is this process of evaluating yourself, this process of finding where you may have failed and atoning and seeking forgiveness and all that. My recollection, I remember I was only in one little family and it was going nuclear all the while, spreading to the four corners of the planet, is that it was personal, that your evaluation was between you and God. Your atonement was between you and God. But is this theoretically more than that? Is this where I come to my father, my actual father, or my mother? And I say, I'm evaluating myself. This past year, I did some things that were wrong, like confession almost. What do you think? Give me support. Give me a reaction. Is it a family catharsis or is it just me? Well, first of all, a person is not an island unto themselves. We all are in different relationships. Some of them are deeper than others. Now, what's interesting is that the atonement says, Yom Kippur, which is the Day of Atonement, and forgiveness, God forgives on all sins as they relate between you and God. You had a moral lap. But if you sin by hurting someone else and it's not enough to repent to God, you need to actually go and ask forgiveness from the people that you've hurt. And only then are you atoned for your sins. I mean, you pay a visit. You actually speak to a person who you may have sinned against. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you may have hurt whatever. So that's the Jewish custom. We ask forgiveness. They don't necessarily. That's not limited to Jews against whom you've sinned, but anyone against whom you sinned. So is it appropriate then for me to call somebody and say, really, I'm sorry for what I did. I recognize that was wrong. I want to cleanse myself at the end of the year. Interesting. And that would give you a catharsis. Yes. And it's very interesting in the Jewish law it's brought down that what happens if the person you offended or the person you hurt is no longer alive? How do you correct that? It says that you go with a quorum to the grave where the person is buried and you ask forgiveness. That's brought down. Oh, is that right? You go to the cemetery. Yeah. OK, well, I'll give you a hypothetical. Suppose I pray every day. And I do everything right. I always follow the rules. I am always kind, nice to everyone. You're perfect, in other words. I'm perfect. Let's assume that for this discussion. Is this holiday still relevant to me? Is this cathartic experience still relevant to me? Maybe it's a relative thing. My transgression would be much smaller than somebody else. So let me tell you that there was a Hasidic rabbi that once said that God prefers the sinners who acknowledge that they sinned and the righteous people who think they're all righteous. Nobody's perfect. Nobody's perfect. All right, I'd like to come back and do more of this. You have to talk about the show for blowing. The show for blowing. Right. I looked it up. And the show for blowing has certain notes, certain pitch, certain words that go along with it. And we should talk about that next time. We should talk about how you get from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur and what the exact connection is. And the very demanding requirements of Yom Kippur. It's different. Yeah. OK, a couple of weeks. Yeah, sure. Pleasure, as always. Pleasure. Thank you, Rabbi. Yes, thank you. Shalom.