3rd September 2013
Rosh Hashana 5744
Shana Tova to you all – a year of joy, laughter and a great deal more logic and compassion!
If you had any doubts as to the insanity of diplomacy, this is the only piece of news I feel I must give you before we start the New Year. I suggest that all the Western leaders beg forgiveness for their negligence in their duty to protect those who have no power and atone their sin of turning a blind eye to their suffering http://www.bbc.co.
In an unexpected and positive move, 5 East Jerusalem schools have switched to the Israeli curriculum http://www.
From Australian Ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma in the town of Sfat (Safed) in the north of Israel, one of Judaism’s Four Holy Cities, the front-line of the conflict in Syria feels very close. At Ziv Medical Centre, without fanfare or publicity, they are treating a steady and growing stream of wounded Syrians from the conflict. Some 72 Syrian patients have been admitted to Ziv Medical Centre since February. http://blogs.
There are now 8.081 million Israelis! The most recent census shows that this little country is not only economically astute but we are good at producing citizens too!
Jewish population numbers about 6.066 million (75.1% of the total population).
Arab population number about 1.67 million (20.7%).
Non-Arab Christians, members of other religions and the non-affiliated about 345,000 residents (4.2%).
In 5773 (October 2012 – September 2013), population increase was 1.8%, similar to that in the past few years. 163,000 babies were born in Israel and about 40,000 people died. 19,000 people came to Israel on Aliya.
The Chinese are very clever. As opposed to the West and their idiotic BDS movement the Chinese search out the label “Made in Israel”! Could this be yet another reason the West is waning while China is waxing?
Australian friend Barry Pryer sent me this fascinating trivia question for Rosh Hashana
When was the last time Rosh Hashanah began as early as September 5th?
Give up? Try 1899!
It will be another 76 years (2089) until this Rosh Hashanah comes this early again.
Rabbis everywhere are scrambling to finish sermons and Jews everywhere are asking, “has the Jewish calendar gone crazy!?”
Well, not exactly. In reality the Jewish calendar works on a 19 year cycle adding a 13th month (Adar 2) in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19. This is year 17 of that cycle and represents the longest possible year in the Jewish calendar of 385 days.
The Jewish calendar which is based primarily on the lunar cycle, makes these adjustments in order to keep the holidays in sync with with solar seasons. This keeps Passover in the spring and Sukkot in the autumn. Every four years the calendar adds a month during leap years for the holidays to be “early” or “late”, what is different this year is the extreme “earliness” in relation to the secular calendar.
The next time Rosh Hashanah will fall on September 5th will as mentioned above be in 2089 or in the Jewish counting 5850 which is why this year is so special.
Give up? Try 1899!
It will be another 76 years (2089) until this Rosh Hashanah comes this early again.
Rabbis everywhere are scrambling to finish sermons and Jews everywhere are asking, “has the Jewish calendar gone crazy!?”
Well, not exactly. In reality the Jewish calendar works on a 19 year cycle adding a 13th month (Adar 2) in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19. This is year 17 of that cycle and represents the longest possible year in the Jewish calendar of 385 days.
The Jewish calendar which is based primarily on the lunar cycle, makes these adjustments in order to keep the holidays in sync with with solar seasons. This keeps Passover in the spring and Sukkot in the autumn. Every four years the calendar adds a month during leap years for the holidays to be “early” or “late”, what is different this year is the extreme “earliness” in relation to the secular calendar.
The next time Rosh Hashanah will fall on September 5th will as mentioned above be in 2089 or in the Jewish counting 5850 which is why this year is so special.
Latma's New Year video is very very close to the bone and quite excellent! http://www.youtube.
Another video that I love is this one - Shana Tova le'chooooooolam (to everyone)
Remember what I said about the Chinese wisdom? Well a Chinese new year blessing is “I wish you a boring year” and the curse? “I wish you an interesting year” I don't quite know what happened last year but it certainly was interesting!!!
So my dear friends, I wish you a boring year with patches of interesting fun and laughter, huge dollops of love and smiles and the power to change the world for the better. We all have the power of tikkun olam, bit by bit, person by person and minute by minute – we just need to try.
To change the world we must first change our view and wipe out preconceptions. Here is a fun video, I call it the flying “yeshiva bochers” and it tells us so much in a fun way http://www.aish.com/h/hh/
I send you love from Jerusalem, our Jerusalem. A city that holds 9 of the 10 portions of beauty in this world and is so incredible that everyone wants her. Everyone wants her but she is ours – ours to care for, ours to share, ours to protect and ours to hold.
Shana Tova
Sheila
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