What the day actually is, how to keep it at home, and what to expect if you walk into shul having never been. No assumed background, no labels, nothing you need to already know.
It gets translated as the Jewish New Year, which is true and also misses almost everything. Here is what the day actually is.
The whole holiday in order — candles, kiddush, apple and honey, shofar, tashlich — with the blessings you'll need and nothing you won't.
One hundred blasts, three sounds, and the one mitzvah of the day that asks nothing of you but attention.
Ten minutes at the water's edge, a few verses from a prophet, and empty pockets. What it is — and what it isn't.
Round challah, apples in honey, a new fruit, a fish head, and the nuts everyone leaves off — the whole meal is a set of edible requests.
The Talmud calls it one of the two most joyful days of the Jewish year. That is not a typo, and it is the key to the whole day.
What to do the day before, what the five restrictions actually are, and how the twenty-five hours are laid out.
Who fasts, who doesn't, what children do, and how to handle medication — the answers you want settled before the holiday, not during it.
It isn't a prayer. It's a legal declaration, said before sunset, three times, with the Torah scrolls out of the ark — and it has the most famous melody in Judaism.
A short prayer, four times a year, in which the living can still do something for the dead — and what to do if it's the one part of the day you come for.
There is no such thing as a question that's too basic here. Ask Rabbi Sholom directly — by email, or by grabbing him after services.
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