Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1913-10-02
| THE JEWS OBSERVE
THE HOLY SEASON
WOrshipers Of Hebrew Religion
Celebrated New Year at Sun
set Yesterday.
SERVICES IN THE CITIES.
Synagogues Held Meetings in Honor
Of Rosh Hashanah.

At sunset last evening, worshippers
of the Hebre religion ceased work
and CONNIE nee the observance of the
Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashansh.
It marked the commencement of
the year 1914 in the Jewish calendar,
and is known as Tisri /. The new
year, being a common" year, will
consist Of 354 days, whereas the last
year, because il was perfect F"
wear. consisted Of 3s5 days.
Members of al branches Of the
Hebrew religion celebrate the feast.
In the Reformed Synagogue, the Rosh
Hashanah will last until sunset to-
day. Those of the orthodox branch
of the church will observe the feast
until sunset tomorrow. Many work
ers in this city were given a holiday
today In many instances, depart
ment stores and other places of bust
ness were closed This probably is
the most important holiday observed
by the Hebrews.
TIE new year inaugurated a holy
| season which ends with the Shemini
Atzereth, or the Feast of the Ccnclu-
sion. on October 90. There will be
| observances this evening and tomor-
row in many Jewish synagogues.
| Services also will be held on the
evening of October 10 and the morn
ing of October IL. The "Harve ct
| Festival" will be held on the evening
of Oct ,ber is and the morning of
October lG.
On the evening of October % and
the morning of October 90 will be
| celebrated the Feast of the Conclu.
| sion, and this feast will be followed
on Sunday, October %, by memorial
services at the Hebrew Cemetery,
Baltimore.
Rosh Hashanah also is known as
| the Day of Memorial and the Day of
| the Blowing of the Trumpets. Its
| significance is not principally in
the change of date, which is consid-
cred of minor Importance by the
Hebrews. What causes it TO outrank
most other holidays of the faith
is that it begins what might be
termed a new life for each wor.
shipper. II is accompanied by hon
estly made New Years resolutions.
On the first day of the new year
the Jew, under his religion, starts
life afresh. He is supposed to for
give his enemies and to cast away his
sins; in fact, to review his whole
life. 1t is accompanied by self
analysis; by the consideration Of
former misdeeds, and the resolution
to avoid possible repetition in years
to come.
As the day of remembrance, or
memorial, Rosh Hashanah calls upon
the followers OF the Hebrew faith
faith to RENE mber the divine pur-
poses of his life, and as the day Of
the blowing of the rumpets-jerived
from the exhortation in the book CT
Leviticus of the Bible, which says
that "in the seventh month, on the
first day of the month, shall We have
Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of
trumpets and holy convocstion"-its
purpose is to stir the Israeltes from
their presumed self-compIacency and
lead them to worthy intentions and
noble deeds.
Yom Hadin, or the day of judg-
ment. is a third name for Rosh
Hashanah. 1t is supposed to be the
occasion for self-judgment, and leads
to the Day OF Atonement on October
IL. This is the climax of the
renewal of ideals. Rosh Hashanah
is the beginning of these ten days
of analytical self-study, as the He
brew Church has pointed out that in
their religion they realize that be-
fore disease cen be cured, its ma
ture must be determined.
Human nature may not be deter
mined by any, but the sufferer--in
this case a sufferer from sin. So, it
has been said, the period of analysis
precedes the Day of Atonem snt. in
that it is necessary to discover and
to admit sinfulness before it can he
forgotten,