United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston Newsletter, October 1976 Page: 1 of 14
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Hidden Selections of Houston’s African American and Jewish Heritage and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Rice University Woodson Research Center.
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DO YOU SEE THE HIDDEN THINGS?
Rosh Hashonna is unique among all the
Jewish holidays. It is-the only one to
fall on a neu moon, on the very first day
of a Jeuish month. The Jewish Calendar is
a lunar one, which means that every month
must start with the appearance of a new
moon. A full moon always appears in the
middle of the month and the moon’s dis-
appearance from view always signals the
impending end of the present month. All
the other Jewish Holidays always appear
well on into the month with Pesach and
Succos always occuring during the full
moon. The Rabbis use this fact that Rosh
Hashonna is the only holiday to fall on
the new moon, on the very first day of
the month to declare that because of it
Rosh Hashonna is the day of Judgment,
the day upon which G-d judges all his
creatures and determines their fate for
the coming year. They quote from Psalm
81, verse 4 to justify their choice of
Rosh Hashonna as the day of Judgment.
This verse reads, "Blow the Shofar at
the new moon, at the covered time for
our feastday". There is only one holi-
day which appears on the new moon and
that is Rosh Hashonna so, therefore,
Rosh Hashonna is and must be the Day of
Judgment. This all seems very strange
especially since the Torah itself in
the book of Numbers calls Rosh Hashonna
the "Day of blowing the horn". Why did
the Rabbis have to go to such lengths
to justify Rosh Hashonna as the day of
blowing and thus the Day of Judgment?
What’s more the sentence they quote from
the psalms is a very ambiguous sentence
and can be read another way. It can be
read "Blow the shofar at the new moon, at
the full moon for our feastday". The word
Keseh in Hebrew is ambiguous. It can mean
two things. It can mean either covered or
full moon. This sentence can mean then that
we are supposed to blow the shofar both at
the new moon and at the full moon. Why did
the Rabbis have to choose such an ambiguous
sentence to link blowing and judgment with
Rosh Hashonna? Especially when they could
have had, by quoting Numbers or even Levit-
icus, a clearer sentence proving this. It
seems to me though that what we have here
is a very deep insight into human nature,
into the very meaning of Judgment. We all,
all the time judge ourselves and judge
others. Why is it though that most of the
time when we judge ourselves we come out
looking so bad? Also why is it that so
many people think that others don’t under-
stand them while they themselves think that
most people don’t do what they expect them
to do, fulfill their expectations? It seems
to me that in this sentence from the Psalms
which also plays a key role in the High
Holiday prayers we have the answer to these
questions. What happens when we judge our-
selves? When we judge ourselves we judge
ourselves by our intentions and not by our
actions. However, this is the very opposite
of what we do when we judge others. When we
judge others we judge them by their actions
and not by their intentions. This sentence
in the Psalms is telling us that this is
wrong. That if we are to truly become sen-
sitive, concerned, moral people we must do
the exact opposite - we must judge our-
selves primarily by our actions and not by
our intentions and others primarily by
their intentions and not by their actions.
(continued on inside page)
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United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston. United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston Newsletter, October 1976, periodical, October 1976; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1439676/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.