Jewish High Holidays

Sundown Sept. 29 marks the start of the Jewish High Holiday season.
Rosh Hashanah (Sept. 29 to Oct. 1) is the start of the Jewish new year.

Unlike the secular new year, which is spent partying and in celebration, the Jewish new year is a solemn day of prayer on which the deeds and fate of the world are judged. The new year is the beginning of the “Ten Days of Repentance.” These days are spent in personal reflection and rectification of one’s actions over the previous year. They are also spent seeking forgiveness of sins from God and from any people we may have sinned against.

The last day of repentance is Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. This is the day when, hopefully, God forgives us for all of our sins during the previous year. While we can seek, and be granted, forgiveness any time of year, Yom Kippur is a spiritually appropriate time for forgiveness and a day entirely devoted to repentance. The entire day is spent fasting and in prayer in the hopes that one’s sins will be
forgiven. However, one cannot receive forgiveness for those sins unless one has repented and made the effort to correct that sin.

As the Mishna (Jewish oral tradition) says “For transgressions against God, the Day of Atonement atones, but for transgressions of one person against another, the Day of Atonement does not atone until the one appeases the other.”

Holiday services will be on the following days:
Rosh Hashanah:
• Sept. 29, 7 p.m. (Community
meal to follow, call for reserva-
tions)
• Sept. 30, 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.
• Oct. 1, 9 a.m.
Yom Kippur:
• Oct. 8, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 9, 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.  
(Break-fast to follow)
Call Chaplain (Capt.) Michael Bram at 480-5753 for more information.

(Courtesy of Ramstein chapels)