Yom Kippur: What it's all about

From Kveller
Yom Kippur--the Jewish Day of Atonement--is a fast day that follows Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are often called the High Holidays. The holidays and the time in between them are known as the Ten Days of Repentance.

According to Jewish tradition, at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, God seals the Book of Life and the Book of Death for the coming year. Yom Kippur is, thus, a day of prayer and introspection. It is considered the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar.

The overarching theme of Yom Kippur is repentance. From the beginning to the end of the holiday, we are meant to be thinking about affecting positive change in our lives and making amends with others.

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A Tale for the New Year from Sholom Aleichem

From Hadassah Magazine;
by Sholom Aleichem translated by Curt Leviant

L’Shana Tova 

Imagine, every single one of them up to mr. big himself takes bribes. Don’t be shocked now—he accepts them too, if he gets an offer. What’s that? You don’t believe me? You’re all laughing, eh? Well, have fun…. Ready now? Have you all laughed yourself dry? Now gather round me, brother Jews, and listen to a story that happened a long time ago to none other than my grandfather, may he rest in peace. It happened in the good old days when Czar Nich was boss. Why’re you nudging me? What’re you scared of? You think these peasants sitting here know what we’re jabbering about? They won’t understand a word, blast them. I won’t be obvious and where necessary I’ll throw in some Hebrew. Just pay close attention and don’t interrupt me and everything will be fine.

To make a long story short. it happened during the reign of our present Mr. Big’s grandfather, after whom he’s named. Our fathers and grandfathers couldn’t forget that old Mr. Big for all the fine and dandy things he let loose against us. In short, their whole life

hung on a thread. We existed by the grace of little Mr. Big, or Buttons, as we called him, who ruled every shtetl. This Buttons liked to have his palms greased and loved Friday-night gefilte fish and tumblers of whiskey. So long as this went on the Jews breathed free and easy, did business, plied their trades and had a wonderful time.

But once—and whenever you hear but once, you know trouble’s coming—something happened. Buttons kicked the bucket. He suddenly upped and dropped dead and was followed by a new Buttons, a Haman, a villain, a rat, the likes of which you’ve never seen! He just couldn’t be greased! They tried bigger bribes. Still, no. They tried the real thing—big money. Still nothing doing. He wouldn’t go for gefilte fish. They dropped hints about rare liqueurs. He didn’t drink. Talk of being ethical! He was as clean as a whistle! If you begged him, he stamped his foot, kicked you out on your ear and then did things that just weren’t done. He gave summonses and fines. Didn’t let Jews do business or let Jewish teachers teach. If he saw a young woman, he’d rip off her marriage wig; a young man, he’d snip off an earlock.

Continue reading.Check out Jvillage’s High Holiday+    page.

While you're at it, check out our High Holidays holiday spotlight kit for great HHD ideas, recipes, crafts, etc.

Everything you need to know about Rosh Hashanah in this Infographic

 For more, visit aish.com

Your One-Stop for all things High Holiday

Have you checked out the Jvillage Network High Holiday Spotlight Kit? It is a wealth of information for all the fall holidays -- when they occur, what they are, customs, blessings, special foods, recipes, books, videos and a whole lotta challah!

This week we want to highlight NJOP (National Jewish Outeach Program), which can be found here or on the Spotlight Kit under "Your complete guide to Rosh Hashanah, a downloadable resource." At NJOP you can browse and download a free Rosh Hashanah eBook, designed to engage and inspire those who are active in the social media universe. It is an invaluable tool for all Jews, especially those who may never have experienced the majesty and inspirational nature of Rosh Hashana.

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But why stop there? Check out all the many resources we have on the High Holiday Spotlight kit. It's your one-stop for everything you need to know on how to celebrate, from Slichot through Simchat Torah.


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Elul A Spiritual Month that Precedes the Jewish High Holidays

From Judaism.About.com

Elul, the last month of the Hebrew year, is the month preceding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Hashanah, the Jewish New Year's Day, is "Judgment Day." On Rosh Hashanah, God judges how we behaved.

Yom Kippur is the Jewish Day of Atonement. On Yom Kippur, we repent for our sins, and God determines our reward or punishment.

Accordingly, Elul is a time of introspection, repentance, reconciliation, and heightened spirituality as Jews prepare to be judged and sentenced by God.

Introspection

In preparation for Judgment Day, we think critically about how we have behaved during the year and how we can improve our behavior in the upcoming year.

Elul is a time for personal growth. During Elul, we should ask ourselves if we made the most of our life and reached our potential this past year and how we can improve ourselves in the upcoming year.

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When He Said

With no Jewish holidays coming up immediately, we bring you profiles of some well known and some not so well known Jews. Enjoy.

Philippe Halsman defied gravitas.

By Owen Edwards for Smithsonian Magazine

The freezing of motion has a long and fascinating history in photography, whether of sports, fashion or war. But rarely has stop-action been used in the unlikely, whimsical and often mischievous ways that Philippe Halsman employed it.

Halsman, born 100 years ago last May, in Latvia, arrived in the United States via Paris in 1940; he became one of America's premier portraitists in a time when magazines were as important as movies among visual media.

Halsman's pictures of politicians, celebrities, scientists and other luminaries appeared on the cover of Life magazine a record 101 times, and he made hundreds of other covers and photo essays for such magazines as Look, Paris Match and Stern. Because of his vision and vigor, our collective visual memory includes iconic images of Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Oppenheimer, Winston Churchill and other newsmakers of the 20th century.
And because of Halsman’s sense of play, we have the jump pictures—portraits of the well known, well launched.

This odd idiom was born in 1952, Halsman said, after an arduous session photographing the Ford automobile family to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary. As he relaxed with a drink offered by Mrs. Edsel Ford, the photographer was shocked to hear himself asking one of the grandest of Grosse Pointe's grande dames if she would jump for his camera. "With my high heels?" she asked. But she gave it a try, unshod—after which her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Henry Ford II, wanted to jump too.

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Fabulous, Formidable Lauren Bacall

With no Jewish holidays coming up immediately, we bring you profiles of some well known and some not so well known Jews. Enjoy.

The captivating queen of Old Hollywood was a Jewish girl from Brooklyn

By Rachel Shukert for Tablet Magazine

Okay, when I wrote yesterday how I feel like all I ever write anymore is obituaries, I was kidding. Apparently, someone didn’t get the joke, because less than an hour after those very words were published, it was announced that the legendary actress Lauren Bacall passed away at the (blessedly) ripe old age of 89. I was devastated, naturally, and immediately called my friend Michael.

“Oh my God,” I shrieked, before he had even said as much as hello. “Do you remember that time we went to Joel Grey’s book party and Lauren Bacall was there and that publicist came up to us and was like, look, whatever you do, do not attempt to speak to, or touch, Miss Bacall.”

“Of course,” he said, “and I really hope you still have that picture on your phone that you took from all the way across the room.” He sighed sadly. “All the fabulous old ladies are gone now.”

Lauren Bacall was not always old, but from the moment she sauntered across the nation’s screen in To Have and Have Not, playing opposite Humphrey Bogart, her future husband and the man with whom she would be forever identified, she was fabulous. All of 19 years old and what my grandfather always called, “a mean 19,” she appeared to us fully formed, a gloriously youthful creature who was already entirely herself.

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