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| Back to Index | Published on 9/19/98 Archived on 9/19/98 | |||||
| Religion High Holy Days Jews teach children early about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur By JULIE KAY Three-year-old Joshua Posner is just old enough to begin grasping the concepts of Rosh Hashanah, the 10-day period celebrated by Jews as High Holy Days.
For Joshua's parents, Mark and Linda Posner, the holiday, which begins at sundown Sunday, is an opportunity to teach their son and his brother, 17-month-old Aaron, about their heritage. The holiday signifies the start of the Jewish New Year and brings with it traditions encouraging introspection and repentance. Raising children in ways that affirm their Jewish identity is important to Posner and her husband, members of Beth Shalom Synagogue. "If they don't understand it, how can they believe it?" she asked. Teaching children the meaning of Rosh Hashanah starts early, said Wendy Herschman, director of the Religious School for B'nai Israel Synagogue. Younger children begin by eating apples dipped in honey to signify the sweetness of the new year and making greeting cards with apples or bees imprinted on them for their parents. Food and crafts help them to learn the meaning of the holiday on a level they can understand, she said. They like eating the apples and the challah, a type of bread made in a rounded form during Rosh Hashanah to signify the continuity of life, Herschman said. As the children enter second, third and fourth grades, concepts of asking forgiveness and those of sin are explored. "In Judaism, there is no word for sin. We use alchet, which means a missed target or missing the mark. We talk about how sometimes we don't act the way we should or how we wished we had, and we missed the mark so to speak," Herschman said. That leads to discussions about the establishment of goals and how each might "get closer to the mark," she said. As synagogue services draw nearer, there is time taken to discuss the prayers associated with the holiday and how it is relevant to their lives. 'We explain that we're all given laws to live by and we have to work our hardest to do that," she said.
As children grow older, explanations become more value oriented, she explained. "We teach that you have to measure what you do and sometimes you fall below what you wish," she said. "That's where we bring in atonement and asking for forgiveness. It's a time to be one with God. It's much more sophisticated than what a young child would pick up on." All ages understand the meaning of having a built-in new start every year and of saying 'I'm sorry,' she said. Linda Posner said her children pick up on many traditions through their Jewish day-care center, and by home discussion. Symbols like apples and honey are already familiar to Joshua, she said, "and ask him about Rosh Hashanah and he'll say 'I'm sorry.'" He also tries to blow a shofar, a hollowed out and straightened ram's horn that calls Jews to prayer, although his efforts are not entirely successful, she said, laughing. Posner said weeks before the holiday, she starts talking with her children about Rosh Hashanah bringing a new year. "I say, just like you have a birthday, Rosh Hashanah is like a birthday to the whole world." Much of the meaning right now is lost on toddler Aaron, but Joshua is at a good age for a limited understanding of the subject, she said. The 10-day period of repentance that Rosh Hashanah begins is ended by the most solemn day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur. It is the time when Jews ask God for forgiveness. Posner said she explains Yom Kippur as being the time "when we think about things we've done that are hurtful and ways to try and make up for that. "I ask if the world would be a better place if people were mean and they say 'no.' Then I ask if it would be better if people were nice." Diana Mann and her husband. Chip, members of B'nai Israel Synagogue, are an interfaith family. Ten-year-old Amelia and 7-year-old Michael are being raised Jewish. Diana Mann, who was raised Catholic, said she grew up knowing little about the Jewish faith. Raising their children in the faith means that their mother is learning tradition with them, she said. "I'm seeing this through their eyes. Truly this is a case of learning through the kids and we incorporate more tradition as they are learning." While the couple brings in some of the traditions her husband grew up with, she said, they have also made their own. An elderly relative is always visited after Rosh Hashanah services and an extra effort is made to spend more time with family. They attend a synagogue reception so the family can participate in the celebration, followed by services the next morning. "As an adult I'd like them to carry over the idea of forgiveness, starting a new year, learning from the mistakes of the past and to keep growing." David and Robbie Rubin, also members of B'nai Israel, have three children, 14, 17 and 19. Robbie Rubin said she will carry with her the memory of her children going to each other after Rosh Hashanah services and apologize for things they may have done over the past year. "Now, I try to do that each year to my children for anything that might have been hurtful to them." Such are the lessons learned from the holiday and taught from generation to generation that carry lifelong impressions, she said. "In the deep south, you have to work at being Jewish or it can be so easily swept away," she said. |
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