Judaism's Big Hits

 

Judaism's Big Hits

At Jewish Newport

September 11, 2020

By Aaron Ginsburg

Thank you to Rabbi Marc Mandel and George Aronson

also at facebook.com/groups/jewishnewport

the video is at https://youtu.be/NVoaMtcuFvQ 

Judaism has many types of big hits. Our texts and liturgy contain great hits. Did I mention the Ten Commandments?

For holy days, Shabbat is tops; the High Holidays are a very close second. 

One tenet of Judaism is to add from the profane to the holy. During Shabbat, we try to hold onto the enjoyment a little longer. Although in the Hebrew calendar, the day ends at sundown, Shabbat ends a little later, when 3 stars can be seen in the sky.

This kind of reasoning probably made our synagogue services as long as they are, particularly during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. For some of us, however, the lengthy services add to the agony rather than to the ecstasy. Fortunately music helps overcome the agony and keeps us awake to boot.

We lengthen the High Holiday period by reciting Psalm 27 twice a day from the first day of the month of Elul until Shemini Azteret. 

Rabbi Marc Mandel of Touro Synagogue Newport explains why in a short dvar he shared with Jewish Newport,

“There is a custom to recite the 27th Psalm during the High Holy Day season. What is the reason for this custom? There are passages in this chapter that connect to the High Holy Days. One passage references the Teruah, which is one of the sounds of the Shofar that we hear on Rosh Hashanah. 

“Another passage says, ‘God will shelter me in his Sukka on a bad day.’ 

“Another reason we might recite this chapter is because God's name is mentioned 13 times, and that connects to God's 13 attributes of mercy that we refer to during the High Holy Days. 

“Since we are now living in times of a plague that is dangerous to us all, this year especially we should recite this psalm. 

“May we all be inscribed in the book of life.”

 At morning minyan at Temple Israel in Sharon (service links at tisharon.org) we pause during Psalm 17 to sing Achat Sha’alti:

אַחַ֤ת ׀ שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת־יְהוָה֮ אוֹתָ֪הּ אֲבַ֫קֵּ֥שׁ שִׁבְתִּ֣י בְּבֵית־יְ֭הוָה כָּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיַּ֑י לַחֲז֥וֹת בְּנֹֽעַם־יְ֝הוָ֗ה וּלְבַקֵּ֥ר בְּהֵיכָלֽו 

“One thing I ask of the LORD, only that do I seek: to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD,  to frequent His temple.”

Since 9/11, at the end of Temple Israel’s morning minyan we add another Jewish musical hit by singing Irving Berlin’s God Bless America.

To a Jew, the Temple is not just a building, but a way of life including respect for God and for each other. 

Shabbat Shalom from Jewish Sharon!

May you be inscribed for a good year.