The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-27
A SOLEMN OCCASION
RABBI HELLER WRITES ON JEW
 ISH NEW YEAR.
It Occupies . Peculiarly Important Place in Religion of the Faith full = Celebration and
 its Significance.

4SS 0A8 AAAAASoASS.
 The ceremony of Rosh Hashonah holds a peculiar place in the Jewish religion. It is essentially a solemn day, for the faithful Jew makes an inventory then of his virtues and his shortcomings. He sees that like most other mortals he has done many things which he ought not to have done, and left undone those things which he ought to have done, and under the in- spiration of the masterful sermon which the rabbis prepare, the impressive ritual istic service, and the melody of their an- cfent songs, the Jew solemnly and hearti- ly repents. He asks the forgiveness of Jehovah and resolves to abjure those things which he knows to be hateful in the sight of God.
 Rosh Hashonah has also A toyfuI as- pect. It is the Jewish New Year, and following the services in their houses of worship the day is spent in the pleasant est possible manner in family reunions and in social gatherings and the exchange of tokens of esteem among members of family and circles of friends
 In the last number of the Y. M H. A. magazine Rabbi Heller has written a treatiest on the celebration of the New Year, which is reproduced here:
 Rabbi Heller's Treatise.
 iHe JeWiSH NeW rear, ike everything Jewish exhibits. in It's history and fin its growth. process of evolution the result at one and the san1e time. of the adap- tiveness and the persistency of the Jew In it's origin, most probably, 1t was not a New Year at all, but merely a celepra- tion of the first day of the seventh month which, owing to its sacred number. was considered holy. In the Bible, with one possible exception-in the Prophet Ezekiel (xl, D, the reference of which is rather possible exception-in the Prophet Ezekiel tival in its character of a New Year day. In the First Palestinian Commonwealth almost beyond a doubt, this holiday was. as its name indicates, a feast of shouting. The shouting, or blowing of the rams horn, had the rather crude meaning of appealing to the national god-head for remembrance of his peculiar people. It was thus the day of remembrance having been at first day of arousing or awaken ing. The blast of the trumpet like the reveille of war times. meant a stirring up. the meaning of which gradually became spiritualized by that humanizing touch which formed Judaism. What had at first been Q national reminder to the deity. became a religious awakening The day of reminding God, became the day of remembering God.
 In the Babylonian captivity, no doubt, the additional dignity of becoming the opening day of the year was bestowed upon the day of remembrance. Even the Taimud realizes tsat the names of the months were brought to Palestine in the second commonwealth, from the Baby fonian captivity. In the oiden Jewish State the head of the months" had been the month of Nissan, which still remained the first month. Now the seventh month, as 1t was the mos tsacred of lne months, containing also tn eday of atonement and the feast of the harvest, became. as 1t were. the opening month of the Jewish calendar. reformulated after Babylonian patterns. In the course of time, new meanings were imported into the solemn day. such as largely had their origin in It's new character of an opening of the New Year. It became the day of judg- ment: again that which had at first been selfish and crude idea, full of primitive conceptions of the deity, blososmed out into a noble, human and universal con- ception. The day of judgment, as first conceived, was nothing more nor less than a clearance day for God; a day on which He balanced his books of destiny; a day on which He, as it were. took stock of the failings and the virtues of the hu- man gender, and especially, of the Israeli itish people; day on which He medi- tated, and provisionally resolved upon, the dispensations and decrees of the com ing year; a day on which He temporarily concluded for final determination on the day of atonement as the Jewish prayer expresses 1t: Who should die. and who should live; who should be enriched. and who should be impoverished; who should fall, and who should rise" on which. in general, he decreed the destinies of the coming year, all of these to be sealed and finally settled upon the day of atonement. These childlike ideas were the germ of the more exalted and truly spiritual realiza- tion of Gods all-ruling providence and justice.
 The opening day of the year became the day on which to ponder and deeply real ize our helplessness, the all-rulingness of the Divine Providence, our willing sub lection to, and acceptance of Gods in- scrutable decrees. From having been a day of selfish entreaty and crude fatal ism, 1t became a day of deep meditation on the gravity of life, on the brevity of human existence, on the responsibility of mans conduct.
 During the Middle Ages, while Israel lived a life of enforced isolation, owing to the exclusive laws of the governments under which the Israelites sojourned the New Year was. naturally, the opening of the Jews working year. As the Jewish cdIenuaT DOuuucu tlle JeWlSu udyS dnO determined the enumeration of weekday and holiday, the rabbis, with much in- genuity and, without doubt. also making use of valuable traditions. had computed the age of the world according to biblical history. They reasoned out. from biblical | accounts, that the world was created fin the fall when everything had come into maturity, and according to them, the New Year signalized the exact day on which the world had come into being They attached beautiful and profound sig. nifications to every custom connected with the New Year. and had observances in hymn and in symbol to deepen and further spiritualize that significance. To them the Rams Horn, which mad the mission of arousing the remembrance of | the New Year constituted a reminder of the sacrifice of Isaac. Tn substitution for whom a ram had been sacrificed. It | formed, thus. a protest against Chris tianity. A proof that God had refused a human sacrifice and that the appeal for his forgiveness was direct, not through mediator. In the homes, they welcomed the New Year with the cheerful symbols | of honey and sweet apples. The white garbs, in which alone worship was prop | CT on that solemn day, were reminder | of the innocence and purity which alone would make a prayer enectiVe-a symbol which goes back to the biblical sentiment At all times let thy garments be white" (Eccl. fix. s.
 The old orthodox service which has been much abridged in the Reform Syna- gogue, was, in the more fervent days of old. one of extreme solemnity and im- pressiveness Proverbial as 1t was for its rather undisciplined chaos Of fervid con fusion, it brought untold comfort and ed ification to the hearts of the -trod-