Entering the High Holy Days: A Complete Guide to the History, Prayers and Themes

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Jewish Publication Society, Jul 1, 2005 - Religion - 252 pages
The High Holy Days -- Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur -- are for many Jews the highlight of the Jewish year. The liturgy for the Days of Awe are the longest and most complex of the year, leaving a large number of attendees without a complete understanding of the occasion's significance. Entering The High Holy Days provides historical background and interpretation of the ideas, practices, and liturgy and lends them contemporary relevance to today's Jews. Reuven Hammer received his ordination and doctorate in theology from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He is the former president of the Rabbinical Assembly and head of the Rabbinical Court of the Masorti Movement.

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Contents

The Days of Awe Origins and Development
1
The Meaning of the Yamim Noraim
21
Beginning the Journey Preparing for the High Holy Days
37
The Rosh Hashanah Liturgy I Arvit and Shaharit
47
The Rosh Hashanah Liturgy II From Musaf to Tashlikh
75
Opportunities for Change The Ten Days of Penitence
97
The Yom Kippur Liturgy I Kol Nidre
107
The Yom Kippur Liturgy II Arvit
121
Biblical Readings for the Yamim Noraim
179
Getting Started
197
Notes
203
Glossary
219
Bibliography
225
Transliteration Guide to Hebrew Prayers
229
Index
239
Copyright

The Yom Kippur Liturgy III Services of Yom Kippur Day
143

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Page 8 - And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land...
Page 203 - Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
Page 31 - We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.
Page 90 - Come, let us go up to the Mount of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob; that He may instruct us in His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.
Page 183 - You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
Page 3 - In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no laborious work; and you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.
Page 127 - For I the LORD your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Page 87 - ... who by hunger and who by thirst; who by earthquake and who by plague, who by strangling and who by stoning; who shall...
Page 14 - To unlock the fetters of wickedness, And untie the cords of the yoke To let the oppressed go free; To break off every yoke. It is to share your bread with the hungry, And to take the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, to clothe him, And not to ignore your own kin.
Page 34 - Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.* Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses.

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About the author (2005)

Reuven Hammer received his ordination and doctorate in theology from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He is the former president of the Rabbinical Assembly and head of the Rabbinical Court of the Masorti Movement.

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