Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-09-07
THE HEBREW NEW YEAR
It Will Be Ushered in at Sunset With Ap
.propriate Services.
The Exercises in the Two Syna.
gOgues-A Season of Penitence-
Origin of the Rites.

The beginning Of the Hebrew New Year.
which occurs at sunset this evening. will
be observed with all the solemnites with
" hich the people of that race regard as
appropriate to so solemn an occasion, at
10th the synagogues in this city.
At the synagogue of the Washington
Hebrew congregation on Sth street be-
tween H and 1 streets northwest there
Will be short service commencing at $50
O'Clock.
The exercises will be conducted by Rev.
DR.. Louis Stern, and will consist mainly
of psalms and prayers, although there will
be some fine music, under the direction
of DR.. George w. Walter, organist, and
which will be rendered by a quartet, COM
posed of Mrs. Nellie Wilson Shir-Clif, So
prano; Mrs. Nolan-Martin, alto; Mr.. w. D.
Mcfarland, tenor, and Mr.. John Nolan,
bass.
The services at the Adas Israel congre-
CATION, corner of 9th and G streets north
west. will be conducted by the pastor, Rev.
DIR. SamCels. The exercises will COM
mence at O'Clock and continue for about
two hours. AT this synagogue there will
also be two services, morning and after
noon, Of the following day, and on the
morning of Wednesday, but it is expected
that Rabbi Samuels VIII be assisted in the
exercises by members OF mis- congrega-
ton.
Season of Penitence.
Unlike the Christian new year, whose
birth is regarded with joy and expectancy,
the opening of the Hebrew new year, ac-
companied, as it is. with the ten days of
repentance, IS distinguished as a season of
penitence. In the words of one of it's most
devoted adherents, lit possesses peculiar
properties, which at once appeal to the re-
hgious feelings Of man, drawing out and
exercising his latent spirituality 1t re-
moves him from of
miqulty and vice to the heaven of holiness
and sanctity, there to commune in soli-
tude with his Maker.
1t is appropriate that the new year be
marked as an occasion foc fervid DEVOTION
which is but a preparation for the strug-
giles and temptatio of the ensuing year
Ana In accordance with the rationale OF
JeWish ethics, this preparation, like puri-
ncation and expurging process. will ever
De continued throl ghout this life, to fit
one LOT the future state. as pictured by an
ancient sage: This world may be likened
TO court yard in comparison with the
future world; therefore, prepare thyself
IN the aEte-chamber. that thou mayest en-
ter into the banquet hall.
After the stress of the fearful days.
as they are termed, is over, the penitent
purgeu of his sins, is free and lght-heart-
ed, his whole being alive with new feel
1ngs. and his mind concerned with high re-
s9lses. yet never forgetting that life is
Always 10 De regarded as school of pro-
patton, where mems actions are accurate
~ weighed in the scales of Justice"
Origin of the Rites.
There Is something peculiarly touching IN
these ceremonies, which are practiced
wherever the race is to be found in every
section OF the world. The rites had their
origin at the close of the period of bondage
under which their forefathers suffered in
the days of Moses. and just before that
great law eiver-the greatest of all history
-hade his people, whom he had in the will
oerness 1or forty years, ascend the noun
tain, at the command of Jehovah, to OBJ
tain view of the promised land, which he
was not permitted to enter. 1t was here
That Moses died and was buried by 1t is
said, the hand of the Divine Being himself
When, many years later, they were car
rled away captives to Babylon they kept
alive the love and veneration for the forms
OF worship as revealed for their observance
through Moses, and even when, centuries
later, their capital was destroyed by the
Roman armies they scared in their belief
above those by whom they were conquered
The Hebrew faith teaches today as II
did more than 5000 years ago. that each
individual is alone responsible to his Maker
and that 10 rabbi, priest or minister dare
sin.
AS has been appropriately said by re-
cent writer, when Europe was a wilder
ness, peopled by savages, the Jews were
learned in arts, political economy and sci
ence. Today their learned men, savants
are among the most brilliant thinkers and
writers of modern times. Across the mon
strous dial of time the slowly moving hands
of Hebrew chronology have crept resist.
lessly. Ridicule, persecution, fanatcism
have not halted them, and the new year
dawns brightly for the race