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By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Sandy Barzilay sewed a new white cover for the Torah to be
used next weekend at the Jewish New Year service at Temple
Emanu-El. It contains a strip of koa, significant because it is
wood of the acacia family, and acacia wood was used in the
Ark of the Covenant, which carried the tablets of the
Ten Commandments thousands of years ago.

Jewish New Year
observances begin

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Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

WHEN celebrants from Temple Emanu-El head for the beach after services Oct. 1, it won't be just an escape from the intense weekend of synagogue services, but rather an exercise that symbolizes the Jewish High Holy Days, which begin Friday.

"When we throw bread on the water, it's symbolic of casting our sins away," said Rabbi Avi Magid, describing the Tashlikh observance. The congregation will gather at Magic Island on Oct. 1 to toss -- "tashlikh" is Hebrew for "cast" -- bits of bread into the water.

It's their recently revived ancient tradition, which has visual and tactile effects that "the kids just love," he said.

Children will take part in another traditional special effect, blowing the shofar -- ram's horn -- as a call to awaken slumbering souls throughout the 10-day period that ends with the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur.

Although children join in, the celebration ahead for Jews throughout the world reflects the maturity of their relationship with God. It's a time of repentance for wrongful acts. Jews seek to atone and thus insure their names will be inscribed in the Book of Life.

Worship services include recitations of sins of omission and commission as individuals and as a community. Individuals carry the theme into their personal lives, asking family and friends for forgiveness for deliberate or unintentional acts.

"It's an introspective time but there's a festive sense," Magid said. "You're there at a time when the Book of Life is opened."

At sundown Friday, Jewish congregations will begin the observance of Rosh Hashanah, the New Year 5761 on the Hebrew calendar which, tradition holds, began with God's creation of the world.

Instead of the secular wish for a happy New Year, the traditional greeting Jews will exchange is "Have a good New Year ... in terms of your expectations and God's expectations of you," the rabbi said.

It's a time when even Jews who seldom visit a synagogue are likely to return. They come expecting familiar Torah readings and the peak of liturgical music, and temples often bring in a cantor for the event.

The devout will fulfill the arduous finale, fasting from sunset to sunset on the final Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur services include the Yizkor, a memorial service for the dead.

Magid said that Jews visiting from anywhere else in the world would find local services comfortably familiar.

"They probably would be surprised at the sheer numbers who participate," he said. About 80 Temple Emanu-El members will have roles in the services there. Magid will lead the Reform Jewish services. Netanel Barzilay will lead Traditional Jewish services in the adjoining Weinberg Learning Center.

Instead of star cantors from afar, the Nuuanu synagogue taps the talent of its members, who this year will include Howard Wolff, Aileen Grill, Beatriz Hazmer and her daughters Rachel and Malkah.

A visitor might also be surprised at the Hawaii acceptance of diversity reflected in the plans for services next door.

The Conservative congregation of Sof Ma'arav, which regularly meets at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, has invited its Protestant neighbors to join the Rosh Hashanah services in the shared sanctuary.

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Celebration of Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah on Friday begins l0 days of Jewish High Holy Days leading to Yom Kippur.

Jewish congregations will mark the New Year 5761 next weekend. The celebration of Rosh Hashanah begins the High Holy Days, a 10-day period leading to the holiest day of the Hebrew calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Services planned include:

CHABAD OF HAWAII

Ilikai Hotel, 735-8161
Friday: 6 p.m. (Reservations required for community dinner following service.)
Saturday: 10 a.m., Rosh Hashanah; 11:30 a.m., children's service; 7 p.m., evening service.
Sunday: 10 a.m., Rosh Hashanah; 11:30 a.m., children's service.
Oct. 8: 6:30 p.m., Kol Nidre.
Oct. 9: 10 a.m., Yom Kippur; 11:30 a.m., children's service; 1:30 p.m., Yizkor; 5:30 p.m., Neilah, followed by break-the-fast meal.

CONGREGATION SOF MA'ARAV

(Conservative)
2500 Pali Highway, 595-3678
Friday: 8 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Sunday: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Oct. 8: 6:30 p.m.
Oct. 9: 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., 4:45-7 p.m.

TEMPLE BET SHALOM

1212 University Ave., 395-4760
Friday: 7:30 p.m.
Saturday: 10:30 a.m. Rosh Hashanah.
Oct. 8: 7:30 p.m. Kol Nidre.
Oct. 9: 10:30 a.m. Yom Kippur; 3 p.m. afternoon service; 3:45 p.m. Yizkor; 4:30 p.m. Neilah.

TEMPLE EMANU-EL

2550 Pali Highway, 595-7521
Friday: 6:45 p.m., Traditional; 7:30 p.m., Reform.
Saturday: 9 a.m., Traditional; 9:30 a.m., Reform.
Sunday: 9 a.m., Traditional.
Oct. 8: Kol Nidre, 6:30 p.m., Traditional; 7:30 p.m., Reform.
Oct. 9: Yom Kippur, 9 a.m., Traditional; 9:30 a.m., Reform; 2 p.m., Reform children's service; 3 p.m., Yizkor and Neilah.