Jewish community to celebrate High Holy Days
Published 11:36 pm Friday, September 11, 2015
Sunday marks the beginning of a new year and the High Holy Days for the Jewish community.
Temple Mishkan Israel in Selma will celebrate the 10-day period with a series of services starting Sunday, Sept. 13 and ending Wednesday, Sept. 23.
“The whole period of 10 days is a time when people of the Jewish faith are expected to think about the sins of the past year and make commitments to God and to other people to atone and not to sin in the coming year,” said Acting Rabbi Steve Grossman. “The concept is that there is a book of life, and we are asking God to inscribe us and seal us in the book of life for a good year for the coming 12 months.”
Grossman said the holiday has been celebrated in Selma for almost 200 years in Selma and 116 years at Temple Mishkan Israel.
“It is a happy time, but during the 10 days you are supposed to be thinking about your sins, thinking about your responsibilities,” Grossman said. “Many people will not only think about asking God for forgiveness, but they will go to their friends and people they feel they could have treated better this last year.”
While the Jewish population in Selma is small, Jews aren’t the only people who attend.
“One of the beautiful things from the point of view of the Temple Mishkan family is this Sunday night on the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the community comes out to participate with us,” Grossman said. “It has not been unusual to find 40 or 50 people at that service of whom no more than 10 are Jews. It is something I and the temple greatly appreciates. Everyone is welcome. No one should feel that they would stand out because they are in the majority.”
The Rosh Hashanah services will be held Sunday at 7 p.m. and Monday at 10 a.m. The next service will be the Shabbat Shuvah service, the Sabbath of Return, on Friday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. The service will feature Don Katiganer, a guest cantor.
“In bigger congregations they have a rabbi and then they have a cantor who chants or sings the prayers,” said Ronnie Leet, president of Temple Mishkan Israel. “We don’t have one, and it is rare that we ever do, but he’s got friends who lives here in Selma, and he is going to be here.”
The final day, Yom Kippur, will be celebrated with services on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 10 a.m.
“When you talk about our most religious holiday, which is Yom Kippur, one of the main traditions is fasting on the day of Yom Kippur to cleanse your soul, to replenish your body and respect God with your devotion to our religion,” Leet said.
“We’ll traditionally break the fast with apples and honey, which is a symbolization of new life and cleansing of the soul and hopefully a whole new year of health and happiness.”
All services are open to the public, and Leet hopes to see people of other religions join them for the celebration.
“We love having our Christian friends here in Selma come and participate and join us a celebration, which is what Rosh Hashanah is all about,” Leet said.