Services

Torah Reading & Haftarah

Rosh Hashana, first day (on Shabbat), Genesis 21:1–34; maftir Numbers 29:1–6.

The Eternal takes note of Sarah as promised, and Isaac is born to her and to Abraham in their old age. Sarah says that God has made laughter for her, and that everyone who hears will laugh with her. Abraham circumcises the child on the eighth day and makes a great feast when he is weaned. Hagar and Ishmael are sent away into the wilderness of Beer-sheba; God hears the boy's cry, opens Hagar's eyes to a well, and promises that he too will become a great nation. Abraham and Abimelech then swear a pact at Beer-sheba. The maftir names this day a day of sounding the shofar.

Haftarah: I Samuel 1:1–2:10. Ashkenazim and Sephardim read the same passage.

Hannah goes up year after year to Shiloh, taunted for her childlessness and unable to eat. At the sanctuary she prays out of her own bitterness, vowing that a son would be given to the service of God. Her lips move and her voice is not heard, and Eli mistakes her for a drunken woman. She answers him plainly, and he blesses her with peace. When Samuel is born and given over to Eli, Hannah sings: the bows of the mighty are broken, the hungry are fed, the Eternal brings low and lifts up, and gives strength to Israel's anointed king.

Rosh Hashana, second day, Genesis 22:1–24; maftir Numbers 29:1–6.

God tests Abraham, who answers hineni. He rises early, splits the wood, and walks three days with Isaac to the place he is shown. Isaac asks where the sheep is, and Abraham says God will see to it; the two of them walk on together. At the altar an angel calls twice from heaven and stops his hand, and Abraham sees a ram caught in the thicket by its horns and offers it instead. He names the place for the seeing of God, receives again the promise of descendants beyond counting, and returns to Beer-sheba. The chapter closes with the family of Nahor and the birth of Rebekah.

Haftarah: Jeremiah 31:2–20. Ashkenazim and Sephardim read the same passage.

Jeremiah speaks comfort to a scattered people. The Eternal says that love for Israel is everlasting, and that Maiden Israel will be rebuilt, take up her hand-drums, and plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria. The exiles are gathered from the ends of the earth, the blind and the lame and women in labor among them, led by level roads beside streams of water. In Ramah, Rachel weeps for her children and refuses comfort, and she is told to restrain her voice: they will return from the enemy's land. God calls Ephraim a dear child, still held in mind, and promises to receive him back in love.

In the Week Ahead

Saturday, 19 September — Shabbat Shuvah.

Yom Kippur begins Sunday night, 20 September.

Kiddush

Kiddush follows the service. Meals are dairy and vegetarian.

We meet in a private home; our address is shared by message. If prayer is not your thing, you are welcome to join only for the Kiddush and the company.

To RSVP and to register food issues and avoidances, kindly contact the Congregation's secretary at kehillatzikhronzvi@gmail.com by Thursday night at 10:00 pm

KKZZ is free to join, there is no membership fee, and we never solicit contributions from members, students, parents or alumni. You may, if you wish, sponsor a meal or contribute to the work of the Congregation. Kehillah Kedoshah Zikhron Zvi is a tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; offerings are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Reflections on Rosh Hashana

Halakha

The first day of Rosh Hashana falls this year on Shabbat, and no shofar is sounded. The Rambam rules that hearing the shofar is a positive commandment of the Torah, learned from the day of sounding named in the Torah reading for the festival.¹ He is candid about the difficulty. Blowing is restrained on Shabbat only by rabbinic decree, and a Torah commandment would ordinarily override such a restraint. The Sages ruled otherwise, out of concern that someone would carry a shofar through the public domain to a neighbor who could blow for him. All are obligated in the mitsvah; not all are skilled at it.² So we hear the thirty blasts on Sunday before Musaf, and then the blasts after Malkhiyot, Zikhronot and Shofarot.³

Communities differ over the blast that follows Musaf. The Tur, in the name of Rav Amram Gaon, records a great teru'ah after the prayer with no tekia around it, to confuse the Satan. Rav Hai Gaon held that this was never a formal custom, only something individuals did, and that nothing is missing where it is left out, since the obligation has already been fulfilled. Older Ashkenazic books record full sets of blasts at that point. A Sephardic student of custom adds his own reason: as the congregation disperses, the Shekhina rises from among them, and the teru'ah rises with it.⁴ The blast marks that the prayer is finished.

1. Mishneh Torah, Shofar, Sukkah and Lulav 1:1   2. Mishneh Torah, Shofar, Sukkah and Lulav 2:6   3. Mishneh Torah, Shofar, Sukkah and Lulav 3:10   4. Keter Shem Tob, vol. 6, p. 203

Aggada

The Talmud preserves a tradition that on Rosh Hashana Sarah, Rachel and Hannah were remembered.¹ The midrash hears the word for remembering as a word from the world of deposits. The Holy One keeps safe what is entrusted; Sarah had left mitsvot and good deeds in that keeping, and on this day they were returned to her.² Hannah asks in the same language, that the Eternal look on her and remember her, and she prays with her lips moving and no voice heard. From her the Sages learned how prayer is made.³ Yom HaZikaron means a day when what was entrusted is given back.

1. Rosh Hashanah 11a   2. Bereshit Rabbah 53:5   3. Berakhot 31b