Celebrating differences and similarities

The Levine family of East Windsor is an example of the diverse ways in which people of the Jewish faith celebrate the High Holy Days.

By: Michael Arges
   EAST WINDSOR — It is a chance to repent and begin again for thousands of area Jews, including the Levine family of Oxford Drive in East Windsor.
   From sundown Sept. 17 to sundown Sept. 27 there will be a 10-day period of penance that begins with the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana (literally "the head of the year") and ends with Yom Kippur, a solemn day of penance that is regarded as the last chance for Jews to repent before entering the new year.
   Paul and Dina Levine, their daughter Keren, 15, and son Eitan, 13, illustrate the great diversity of Jewish experience of these Jewish High Holy Days that goes along with a fundamental unity of experience. For many years the family had attended synagogue only on major holidays until about a year ago, when they began attending regular Sabbath services at the Chabad of the Windsors.
   Ms. Levine grew up in Israel, and the High Holy Days have always been prominent in her experience. Mr. Levine, on the other hand, comes from a very non-religious background, and did not really discover Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur until adulthood. And Ms. Levine is from the Sephardic tradition, the Spanish branch of Judaism that is prominent in Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Levine is from the Ashkenazic, an eastern European tradition that is more common in the United States.
   But they are united in a sense that the High Holy Days represent a chance to make a good start to the new year that will carry over throughout the year.
   "Rosh Hashana is the beginning of a new year, so you start over and you try to ask forgiveness for everything you’ve done in the past," Keren said. "You think about what you want for the future, and you just want to be sealed in the good book."
   But Yom Kippur is clearly the more important of the two holidays, in the view of Ms. Levine.
   "You understand that this is your last chance, that you are stamped and sealed in the book," she said.
   For Mr. Levine it is the 25-hour fast undertaken at Yom Kippur than underlines its special significance.
   "It’s a moment when you are really hungry and thirsty; you’re really in a situation when you can’t help but understand that Yom Kippur is the big one," Mr. Levine explained. "It’s about 2 o’clock on the afternoon of the day of Yom Kippur, after you’ve come back from services, that you start to get a headache — not that you really feel weak. It’s a about a two-hour mental process when you’re really suffering.
   "After the fast is broken, you’re almost not hungry," he said. "You can’t sit down to a big meal."
   For Ms. Levine, this High Holy Day season is especially poignant, because of the recent violence in her homeland.
   "My thoughts are all the time with my family in Israel," Ms. Levine said, "especially now that it is not so safe for them."
   For Ms. Levine, the High Holy Days have always been a highlight of the year.
   "I’ve always looked forward to the high holidays," she said. "I grew up in Israel, where so many of the people are Jewish, and there was always such a feeling of expectancy. In Israel it is something very special; everybody is preparing for the holidays."
   In Israel the High Holy Days are about the excitement of planning festivities and looking forward to family visits, but it is also about the praying and reflection associated with such sacred days, Ms. Levine said.
   "It’s very holy; you go to the synagogue and you pray all day," she explained. "And when you pray, you ask for forgiveness and you wish for everything.
   "You send cards and you wish people a happy new year, and you ask forgiveness if you have hurt someone," Ms. Levine added. She said she feels that if one has wronged another, he or she needs their forgiveness as well as that of God. "God cannot forgive you — if you have done something to your friend, he is the one who is going to forgive you."
   By contrast, Mr. Levine did not begin really to take the High Holy Days seriously until he was working in Cairo, Egypt, and discovered the tiny Jewish community there.
   "Actually one of the very first times that I went to synagogue on Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashana was in Egypt," he noted.
   Friends in Egypt urged him to come to services so that he could help make up the minyan, the quorum of 10 adult Jewish men needed to recite certain special prayers. He was impressed with the commitment of those Egyptian Jews and by what they must have gone through to survive and keep their faith as Jews in an Islamic nation.
   Perhaps reflecting her father’s experience, Keren emphasized that she feels very fortunate that it is so easy in this community to keep her Jewish heritage. She is grateful that her school closes for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur — especially since she estimates that she and her Jewish friends represent only about 20 percent of the enrollment.
   Keren’s friends seem to be respectful of her beliefs.
   "If I start talking about it, they’re anxious to know more," she said. "They understand that it’s a special time of year and that we just have to be on our best behavior so we can have forgiveness from God."
   This year’s High Holy Day season is especially significant for Eitan, who has just recently come of age in the Jewish faith.
   "I just had my Bar Mitzvah in March, and I am taking on the responsibilities because I’m mature now," Eitan noted. One of those responsibilities is the obligation to fast on Yom Kippur. Eitan now can also have the honor of being called up to read from the Torah.
   In addition to the Yom Kippur fast, there are also special foods at Rosh Hashana to mark the special nature of the season. For example, it is traditional to eat apples dipped in honey, so that the holiday and the new year will be sweet, Mr. and Ms. Levine noted.
   "There is also the tradition that is followed a lot by people of placing the head of a fish on the table and eating parts of the head of the fish, so that you will be a head and not the tail, as the saying goes," Mr. Levine added. If you have made a good start at the "head" of the year, a good year will likely follow, he explained. "It’s because your head is supposed to provide good thoughts for you."
   The food traditions of the holiday are one way in which the differences between the Sephardic and Ashkenazic traditions are evident. An example is the special bread baked in the Sephardic tradition for Rosh Hashana.
   "Her family has the tradition of eating a Challah that is round," Mr. Levine said of his wife’s family. "The round shape is symbolic of completing a circle of the year."
   This special bread has an egg baked inside. In Jewish tradition the egg is a reminder of rebirth and, like the round bread, its roundness is a reminder of the cycles of life. In general, Sephardic cooking is spicier, Ms. Levine added.
   The differences in Jewish traditions are also noticeable in the music for worship, Mr. Levine said.
   "To people who have not experienced one or the other, it’s a great shock to go to a Sephardic service versus an Ashkenazic service," Mr. Levine said.
   These varied traditions are evident at the Chabad services, where Jews of many different traditions and nationalities are represented.
   "There are certain melodies that we all relate to, certain songs that are sung very similarly," Mr. Levine observed. "There are many songs that have absolutely different melodies, but the same words, same prayers."
   The Levines are very appreciative of the special openness they have found at Chabad services, and this has encouraged them to be much more regular in their religious observance.
   "I’ve been to synagogue more times this year than I have in a lifetime," Mr. Levine noted. He also is attending Talmud class on Wednesdays.
"It’s a place that is very comfortable. There are a number of people who come from different backgrounds," Mr. Levine said. In the services, Chabad director Rabbi Sholom Leverton does a great job of working with people from very different levels of Jewish experience, from "first-timers" to those who know the language well and are steeped in tradition, Mr. and Ms. Levine emphasized.