(Editor’s note: The following is a submission to The Recorder’s weekly column, “Faith Matters.” Each Saturday, a different faith leader in Franklin County offers a personal perspective in this space. To become part of this series, email religion@recorder.com or call 413-772-0261, ext. 265.)
Most people are aware that the Jewish High Holidays occur in the fall of each year. Jewish dates move a little differently that the secular and Christian calendar because Jewish years go by the lunar year, 12 lunar months. Lunar months (12 x 29.5) are shorter than solar months (365 divided by 12). So the Jewish calendar corrects course to the solar calendar roughly every three years by adding a leap month right before the spring planting. We need to do this because our months go by the moon but our holidays go by the sun; we have a harvest festival in the fall and a first fruits celebration in the early summer and so on. The Jewish calendar is called a luni-solar calendar.
So right now, my neighbors and friends, Jewish people are approaching the High Holiday season with our three major observances.
First — just around the fall equinox, as we enter the Zodiacal sign of Libra — Jews will observe our New Year, our Rosh Hashana (literally, Head of the Year). We will celebrate the idea of our lives being in balance — like the scales like Libra and the length of day and night in this season. We will examine our deeds to see if we are well balanced. We will try to make our thoughts and deeds heavier on the side of merit. We will try to tip the scales towards generosity.
The next of the high holidays is Yom Kippur. This day is almost a practice for death. We do not eat or drink at all. We wear white clothes, similar to the burial shrouds we use. We say a prayer of confession, as one does on one’s deathbed. If we understand the fleeting nature of our lives, we hold more precious the value of our days. We think more compassionately about people with whom we may feel angry or impatient. As the summer fades and we slip into the “nighttime of the year,” thoughts of mortality infuse our worship with sincerity and urgency.
The third and final of our fall festivals is called Sukkot, literally, huts! You will see our sukkah (singular, hut) on the temple property in Greenfield. On this holiday we symbolically live outside — as our ancestors did during this harvest season. We take our meals there and hold classes and programs in this frail structure, with a roof composed of harvest materials, such as corn stocks. This humble house is a symbol of our lives. Our body is a humble house. After the celebration of the new year and the deep repentance of Yom Kippur, we have a week of celebrating in our sukkah – a symbol of the simple and fleeting pleasure of life.
I share this with you, my Jewish and non-Jewish neighbors – because the themes in the Jewish holidays of this season are universal ideas. At Rosh Hashana, I try to be honest with myself and generous towards others. At Yom Kippur, I try to be aware of my mortality and the precious appreciation and urgency that insight brings. At Sukkot, I really try to observe the commandment to have joy – not a mindless joy but a joy tinged with all the other flavors that are part of a human life.