HOUSTON, TX — There are many contenders for the quintessential symbol of Rosh Hashanah. There's the apple dipped in honey signifying a sweet new year. Then there's the pomegranate, an Israeli autumnal fruit eaten to herald in the fall season, and, given that its full of sweet seeds, regarded by tradition as symbolic of a Jew's being full of good deeds.
Going Door to Door to Make Sure Everyone Hears the Shofar
HOUSTON, TX — There are many contenders for the quintessential symbol of Rosh Hashanah. There’s the apple dipped in honey signifying a sweet new year. Then there’s the pomegranate, an Israeli autumnal fruit eaten to herald in the fall season, and, given that its full of sweet seeds, regarded by tradition as symbolic of a Jew’s being full of good deeds.
Still, the shofar, a ram’s horn, stands out as the Rosh Hashanah item regarded by most as an absolute necessity for new year’s observances. Not only is the sounding of it mandated by Jewish law, but its sequence of mournful notes, represents both the wailing of a contrite spirit and an arousal to change for the better.
But for many, hearing the shofar, traditionally blown in a synagogue during Rosh Hashanah services, can be a mitzvah far out of one’s reach. It was for Pittsburgh, Pa., resident Dorit Sasson until a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical student came knocking.
“On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, I sprained my left foot” said Sasson, a writer who recently moved to the city. “I had never sprained a foot in my life, and I had wanted to hear the shofar. But my left foot was hurting terribly.”
