Judaism

Passover Blessings

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Passover this year lasts from sundown on April 8, 2020 to sundown on April 16, 2020.

The eight-day festival of Passover is celebrated in the early spring, from the 15th through the 22nd of the Hebrew month of Nissan, April 8 – April 16, 2020. Passover (Pesach) commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. Pesach is observed by avoiding leaven, and highlighted by the Seder meals that include four cups of wine, eating matzah and bitter herbs, and retelling the story of the Exodus.

In Hebrew it is known as Pesach (which means “to pass over”), because G‑d passed over the Jewish homes when killing the Egyptian firstborn on the very first Passover eve. – from Chabad.org

Ready by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

Passover by Kathleen McTigue

Image Creator: Joel S Fishman Image Credit: Getty Images/Photo Researchers RM

Blessed Rosh Hashanah

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Days of Awe
By Ben Soule

 

We feel the season turning. The early sunset glancing through the red-tinged leaves. The newspaper arriving in the cool morning air. The flock of migrating swallows. A feeling of being on the edge of something new. These are the Days of Awe. A time to welcome a new year and a time to make the old year right before we lay it in its place on the shelf of our memories. We bless the wine and drink. We bless the braided bread and eat. We dip apple in honey, and savor its sweetness. May the sound of the shofar carry us across the threshold where lie the possibilities we imagine for ourselves and our children.

Meditation Monday: Stronger in the Broken Places

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“This month brings the Jewish High Holy Days—the New Year, Rosh Hashanah, followed ten days later by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The days in between are known as the Days of Turning—a time devoted to fixing what has broken in one’s relationships. There is wisdom in admitting that our brokenness is how to make a new start…

Mystical Judaism teaches that the Ark of the Covenant is a symbol of the human heart. And there, in our hearts, brokenness and wholeness live side by side; we carry them wherever we go.”

Read the full reflection from Rev. Teri Schwartz online at Quest for Meaning: http://tinyurl.com/y799h4t4

The Church of the Larger Fellowship’s spiritual theme for September is resilience.

 

Image Credit: UUA