Drunken New Year's Celebrations- What's The Point?

After over half a century living as a Torah observant aka Orthodox Jew, I'm having real problems understanding the way most of the world, meaning the Christian world/culture/societies all over "celebrates" its New Year.

What's the point of getting drunk?

photo of shofrot taken in Moriah Judaica store
 in the Old City, Jerusalem

The Jewish New Year aka Rosh Hashanah takes place at the very end of the summer and is a process that lasts forty days, from the Jewish Month of Elul until the 10th of Tishrei, Yom Kippur. During Ellul we're supposed to repent, reflect on our actions during that year and try to change our way of living to do it all much better according to Jewish Law. Then we have a two day holiday, Rosh Hashanah, 1st and 2nd of Tishrei, during which we pray and feast and let the sound of the Shofar, horn of the ram, shake us to our very soul.

As in all Jewish festive meals, there can be wine, but we're never supposed to drink enough to get out of control, ok except Purim when drinking is supposed to put us to sleep. And then on the 10th of Tishrei is Yom Kippur, when we don't eat or drink. We fast for twenty-five hours and spend most of the day in prayer beseeching Gd for forgiveness. And we don't just pray for ourselves; we pray for the entire Jewish People. Our prayers are in the plural. There's no such thing as saying:

"I don't need Yom Kippur prayers and fasting. I was just perfect this past year."

We can't be forgiven unless we pray for the entire Jewish People, because we're all in this together. We are one.

Our enjoyment and celebrations do not need liquor.

עבדו את ה' בשמחה
Ivdu et Hashem b'SimchaWorship Gd with Joy

ושמחת בחגך
Vi'Samachta b'ChagechaBe Joyful in Your Holiday

Our joy and celebrations come from worshipping Gd and keeping His Commandments, not drinking hard liquor and losing control.

Drinking too much causes more tragedy than joy. So, I hope you celebrated the New Year in a good healthy way.



Since it is forbidden to photograph on Rosh Hashanah, here's a shofar blast from Israeli Independence Day.

Rosh Hashanah, Not The New Years I Grew Up With

this year's "fruit head"
"May we be a head, not a tail." 

Yesterday, on Shabbat, I was at my usual shiur nashim, Women's Torah lesson, and the young man teaching us somehow got us to talking about the differences between Rosh Hashannah, the beginning of the Jewish Year, which starts actually in a few hours, and the New Year's celebrations I grew up with.

I can't say for sure that every American family of my generation was the same or that things have remained on the same keel until now, but I don't remember the secular New Year's as a family holiday. My parents sometimes entertained on New Year's Eve, but we kids weren't invited. we had to stay in a different part of the house and go to bed even early. The next day on the news we'd see celebrations from the night before. Well into my teens I did go on New Year's Eve dates a couple of times, but the partying seemed rather mechanical to me. At least for me it was more about imitating the party spirit. I sure didn't feel like it was anything special.

Even though my family as pretty assimilated, I do remember Rosh Hashanah being celebrated with some Jewish customs. We had a traditional meal with challah, honey, chicken soup and whatever else my mother considered as proper for Rosh Hashanah. I don't remember my father ever making kiddush, but I think they did serve some sweet red kiddush wine. We also went to our local shul and heard the shofar. I probably spent more time in shul than anyone else in the family, since I always enjoyed it and felt connected to what was happening. I guess it wasn't all that great a surprise when later on I did become Torah observant.

One of my earliest, if not the earliest Jewish themed memory is going with my father to Rosh Hashana prayers in a big tent in a parking lot of the Windsor Park garden apartments just west of Bell Park Gardens, Bayside, NY, where we lived when I was a child. I can still picture myself standing on the brown folding chair to see better. That was most probably the forerunner of the Oakland Jewish Center, before it had a proper building. Our section of Bayside was full of young Jewish families who, although may not have been all that religiously observant, but they wanted a synagogue that would be sufficiently traditional in which they'd feel comfortably Jewish. OJC was affiliated with United Synagogue Conservative Judaism.

Jewish Holidays, including Rosh Hashanah always have family friendly aspects, special food and child friendly prayers like the Shofar, ram's horn, which is blown in a specific way. Purim, Passover, Succot, Simchat Torah and Shavuot also are celebrated in a family inclusive fashion.

The season of the Jewish New Year begins a month before Rosh Hashanah, when we are supposed to begin repenting and thinking of what we did wrong in our observance of Judaism and behavior towards others, and how to do it better. Jewish News Year's resolutions are in the spiritual realm, not focusing just on things like "lose weight" and "get a better job."

Rosh Hashanah is a holiday for the entire Jewish Nation, and may this next year, 5776 be an absolutely wonderful one for all of us.

Good Health, Blessings, Joyous Events and Geula Shleimah, Complete Redemption!

January First 1st Isn't My New Year, Chodesh Sh'vat Tov!

Living in Israel, especially in a place like Shiloh, even though I use non-Jewish dates on infrequently written checks, it's very easy to be oblivious to dates like December 31/January 1st aka New Year's Day. For me, this year's January 1st was the day before Rosh Chodesh Shvat.  I could see that in Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda which has lots of traditional and not so traditional fruit for sale for celebrating TU (the 15th of) B'Shvat טו בשבט.

When you come to the land and you plant any tree, you shall treat its fruit as forbidden; for three years it will be forbidden and not eaten. In the fourth year, all of its fruit shall be sanctified to praise the L-RD. In the fifth year, you may eat its fruit. -Leviticus 19:23-25

There are four new years... the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month. -Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1

Tu B'Shevat, the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat, is a holiday also known as the New Year for Trees. The word "Tu" is not really a word; it is the number 15 in Hebrew, as if you were to call the Fourth of July "Iv July" (IV being 4 in Roman numerals). See Hebrew Alphabet for more information about using letters as numbers and why the number 15 is written this way.

As with many Jewish Holidays, there's a very strong connection to agriculture.  The Jewish People/Land was an agrarian society in the Time of the Bible.  Many of the 613 Mitzvot are connected to farming and can only be observed in the Land of Israel, Eretz Yisrael ארץ ישראל .

Instead of all the exotic and imported dried fruit, many people buy and eat in honor of TU B'Shvat, it's actually preferable to have locally grown fruits and nuts, especially the "Seven Species," Shiv'at HaMinim שבעת המינים.

Tu B’Shvat appears in the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 2a) as one of the four “new years” in the Jewish calendar:
“Beit Hillel says that the ‘new year for the trees’ is the 15th of Shevat – Tu B’Shvat.”
The custom on Tu B’Shvat is to eat fruits from the seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised: "...a land of wheat, barley, [grape] vines, fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and [date] honey" (Deut. 8:8).

It's also getting more and more popular to attend/conduct a TU b'Shvat Seder, a ceremonial meal consisting of fruit and wine native to the Land of Israel.  Unlike the Passover Seder, there isn't one traditional ceremony and text on which people base their Seder.  Aish.com has a TU b'Shvat Seder you can try out and edit to your needs and preferences.

Courtesy of Aish.com

And since today, it's the 1st of Shvat Rosh Chodesh Shvat on the Jewish Calendar, my plan is to doven (pray) with other women at Shiloh HaKeduma, Tel Shiloh.  Shiloh is a very traditional location for Jewish Prayer.  It's where the Biblical Channah, Hannah, successfully prayed for a son, who ended up being the Prophet Samuel, Shmuel Hanavi.  He was the one who worked with G-d to create the Jewish Monarchy and anointed the first two kings, Saul and David.

Next month's Rosh Chodesh, Beginning of the Jewish Month will be Adar Alef, Friday January 31.

Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh

Rosh Chodesh Adar Alef

Friday, January 31, 2014

30th of Shvat 5774, 8:30am

Tour of Tel Shiloh & Dvar Torah, Short Torah Lesson

Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors

תפילת נשים
ראש חודש אדר א' בתל שילה

יום ו' 31-1 ל' שבט תשע"ד 8:30
יהיה דבר תורה קצר וסיור בתל
 כדאי לבוא ולהזמין חברות, משפחה ושכנות

Mark your calendar, and join us.  

You're welcome to join our facebook page. Tel Shiloh is open to visitors daily. Tours can be arranged through the Shiloh HaKeduma, Ancient Shiloh office. Email visit@telshilo.org.il  or phone 02-994-4019.

חודש טוב Chodesh Tov