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 |   Random Writing, Blogs and Adventures |
A mix of Random writing in an attempt to organize my thoughts, storyboard ideas and conserve portfolio space in the process.  |
Ok in my last entry ("Rosh Hashanah"  ) I briefly mentioned the upcoming Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. This entry will attempt to cover that holiday in a little bit more detail. Yom Kippur translates into the Day of Atonement. In contrast with Rosh Hashanah which is more of a celebratory holiday, Yom Kippur has a much more serious tone to it. It is designed for reflection, self evaluation and making amends for past mistakes. Yom Kippur is the highlight of the 10 days of repentance that begins with the Jewish New Year and the final opportunity for Jewish people to repent any sins they have committed in the previous year. It is sort of a more extreme form of a New Year's resolution. The saying goes that on Rosh Hashanah everyone's destiny for the coming year is inscribed. Yom Kippur seals that fate. However if a person shows remorse and resolves to do better in the coming year a harsher destiny could be changed. As such there are that many traditions that Jewish people take part in on Yom Kippur to show they are sorry for past mistakes. The biggest is committing to fasting during the Yom Kippur period. It is a huge undertaking as the fast runs over 24 hours. The day is also spent in Prayer and Synagogues hold services throughout the holiday. The prayer services are divided into: Yom Kippur Evening service - All Jewish holidays start at sunset the day before the official holiday (similar to Christmas Eve) - The Evening service contains one of the most important prayers of Yom Kippur... Kol Nidre. Kol Nidre translates into All Vows. The story behind this particular prayer is that it dates back to a period of time where Jews were forced to convert. The prayer makes it clear that vows people are forced to undertake in the coming year are not binding. Because that prayer is viewed as incredibly important... it is repeated 3 times so that latecomers to the synagogue can hear it. Even Jews who don't plan to stay for all the Yom Kippur prayer services will make an effort to attend for this segment before departing. Shacharit - Shacharit is the Morning service. This includes a Torah reading where biblical stories are discussed. For Yom Kippur the Torah reading discusses the holiday's origin which go back after the Israelites were able to leave Egypt. The morning service also includes a sermon from the Rabbi. Mincah - Mincah is the afternoon prayer service. Leading into Micah, the Yizkhor (Memorial prayer) is recited. Yizkhor is a prayer dedicated to family members who have passed away. It is another very important prayer that Jews who lost members of their immediate family would make an extra effort to attend. Also covered in the Afternoon services is the story of Jonah and the Whale. The story deals with a prophet who God asks to visit a village in order to get it inhabitants to turn away from evil. Ultimately the village listens to the prophet and makes amends for the things they did and God forgives them. It is one of the classic examples of how sincere repentance and changes can make a difference. Neilah - The concluding prayer service. This is the last opportunity for Jews to make their appeal and sincerely show their regrets for the previous year. By this point everyone in the Synagogue is exhausted having fasted close to 24 hours. The concluding service is done with attendees standing upright for the bulk of the time making it all the more challenging to complete the service. Like with Rosh Hashanah, blowing the shofar (Ram's Horn) is a part of the Yom Kippur services. This time though it is blown only once for an extended period of time to symbolize the end of the fast and the holiday itself. Of course discussing Yom Kippur won't be complete without mentioning the typical meal involved to end the fast. The foods usually offered for a Yom Kippur feast are "Breakfast" type of foods which are easier to eat after not having eaten for an extended period of time. They include cheeses, bagels and smoked fish such as Lox, Sable, Salmon and Sturgeon. It is the perfect meal to end the holiday with and everyone taking part in the holiday looks forward to. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57be0600e3df288b8ce9492a/156943986... Thank you for reading and if you are celebrating Yom Kippur. Have an easy fast.  -    |
| Rosh Hashanah (The Jewish New Year) begins this week. In honor of the holiday I'll share some Rosh Hashanah trivia: 1) The Timing - Most Jewish Holidays follow the Lunar calendar so the date of Rosh Hashanah changes every year. Rosh Hashanah itself falls on the new moon. This year the holiday falls relatively late in the year towards the end of September. Other times it usually falls at the beginning of the month. Similar to Christmas Eve... Jewish holidays begin at sunset the night before the actual holiday. 2) Two Days - Rosh Hashanah is observed on two consecutive days. The reason for this is historically observers had trouble determining when the New Moon would fall. To make sure that the holiday was celebrated during the correct time (when the new moon was present), the holiday was observed twice to cover the period of time they where not sure of. The tradition of celebrating the holiday twice continued even when people were able to better determine when the new moon would occur. 3) Shofar Blowing - Rosh Hashanah is a religious holiday so most Jews attend Synagogue (the equivalent of church) for prayer services. One of the big parts of the prayer ceremonies for Rosh Hashanah involves Shofar Blowing. The Shofar is a Ram's horn which is able to produce noise when it is blown. There are 3 types of Shofar sounds: Tekiah - A long uninterrupted sound Shevarim - 3 Medium staccato like noises. T’ruah - 9 or more short staccato noises. Over the course of a Rosh Hashanah service the Shofar is usually sounded 100 times. 4) The 10 Days of repentance - Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of a period known as the 10 days of repentance. During that time Jewish people reflect on sins and mistakes of the past year. This period concludes with another Jewish Holiday Yom Kippur (the day of atonement). I will try cover Yom Kippur in my next entry. 5) Taslich - Keeping with the repentance theme. One of the customs to perform on the first day of Rosh Hashanah is Taslich. This ceremony involves throwing bread crumbs or into a body of water. It is seen as a purifying ritual with bread symbolizing sins being cast away and water being used to cleanse it. 5) Apples and Honey - A popular Rosh Hashanah food is Apples dipped in Honey. It is supposed to be good luck with the honey representing sweetness. The action of dipping the apples honey symbolizes creating a sweet year. Happy Rosh Hashanah Everyone!! |
| In some of my other entries, I've mentioned that one of the writing activities I've been participating in this year was "I Write: Enter the Second Decade" . The Activity is divided up into 3 rounds of 10 entries and Merit Badges are awarded for successfully completing a round. The third round and final round of the year started this week. There was a 2 week break in between the rounds but it feels like that flew by very quickly. In the last round I had to do a bit of scrambling toward the end to finish. I think I wrote 8 back to back entries in one week to complete the challenge. That wild bit of dashing did not go unnoticed and was even acknowledged in the merit badge awarded: ![Merit Badge in Enter the Second Decade
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Dear [Link To User kingscastle1]
Congratulations on finishing Writing Session Two of [Link To Item #2263836] . These ten weeks of writing & reviewing also marked the ten year anniversary of the activity. Thank you for celebrating by participating.
Your final sprint to win was epic.
Annette](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Enter_the_Second_Decade-1868486_11.gif) That said back to back entries took a lot out of me. I'm hoping to space out my entries a little bit more this time around and I'm trying to post once every week. Additionally the new rules for the activity are set up in a way that last minute scrambles are impossible even if I wanted to try that again. The entries are required to be spaced out. With the new round just starting it feels a little bit like I am standing at the edge of a diving board about to take the plunge. I know it will be refreshing once I hit the water but it seems like a way down and I find myself trying to muster the energy to jump. In other news... Writing.com is celebrating its 22nd birthday this week. I've been on this site for 15 of the 22 years. Here are a couple of tips I've learned over the years regarding the Birthday celebration... 1) Birthday Login Rewards - There is special login reward of 2200 GP per day just for logging in during Sept 1st - 7th. Just sign into your account every day this week. 2) Reviews Bonuses - Writing.com's birthday week is probably the best time of the year to do reviews. The Daily rewards are multiplied by 22 times the normal amount this year for the first week of September. Additionally all public reviews are automatically entered in daily drawings for 10,000 GP prizes. 3) Free Merit Badges - If you have a basic membership or above you can give out a Free Merit Badge every day during the Birthday week. Don't let them go to waste. 4) Party Central Rewards - Be sure to visit "Writing.Com Party Central 2024!" regularly during the birthday celebration. It is updated everyday during the first week of September as with a variety of surprises. Make sure to expand all the sections for Hidden trinkets. The item also have some good recommendations for birthday activities to try.That's all for now everyone. Best of luck with your writing!  (Oh yes...I have a few new signature graphics I'll be showcasing. Special thanks to Legerdemain  for creating these  ) |
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