A Sweet Year: Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur celebrated locally with family and services

Jerry Zar performs the Shofar during a Rosh Hashanah service this week at Congregation Beth Shalom in DeKalb. Traditionally, a ram’s horn is blown to mark the end of the fast at Yom Kippur, and at particular occasions in the prayers of Rosh Hashanah. SARAH RIVERS | For the Daily Chronicle

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For Barbara Kaufmann, the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are hard to explain, but what is clear is that it brings families together for celebration and personal prayer.

“It’s just something inside of you,” Kaufmann said following a Rosh Hashanah service earlier this week. She participates in the choir, bakes special meals and chants the Torah during services at Congregation Beth Shalom in DeKalb.

Her mother, Shirley Cohen of Silver Spring, Md., visited Kaufmann for the Jewish High Holy Days, which were observed during a 10-day period beginning at sundown Sept. 29 with Rosh Hashanah and ending Thursday with Yom Kippur.

“Even from childhood, this has been the most important holiday,” Cohen said. “Everyone visited one another. We still visit one another. That’s a nice thing.”

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated with family gatherings, special meals and sweet foods — like apples and honey.

“It’s our new year,” said Missy Garman, president of Congregation Beth Shalom in DeKalb. “We’re welcoming in the new year and we want to have a sweet year.”

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn day of the Jewish year. Kol Nidrei is a Jewish prayer recited at the Yom Kippur evening service meaning “All vows.” The cantor recites the Kol Nidrei quietly at first, then gradually increases the volume and intensity.

“It’s a very unique chant,” Garman said.

For the 10 days between these two holiest days of the Jewish faith, family comes together, and meals are a central part of the gatherings.

Challah, a braided bread, is traditionally eaten every Sabbath and holiday. On Rosh Hashanah, the challah is formed into a circle, symbolizing the life cycle of the year, Garman said.

Sweet foods are incorporated into meals like honey-glazed chicken, or desserts like apple cake and apple tarts.

The Jewish community in DeKalb is especially welcoming of people, like college students, who may not have relatives nearby, Garman said.

“Even when people don’t have families who are blood relatives, we are still a family, a communal family,” she said.

One custom that’s very important in the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is repentance. Jews pray that they don’t repeat mistakes, or transgressions, that were made in the past year.

The 10 commandments and the story of Abraham and how his faith was tested are also a central part of prayer, Garman said.

“It’s a special time for us to pray to be better people,” she said. “It’s a great thing to focus. We sometimes lose that focus. It’s especially important to focus during one week of the year when you know you’re really going to concentrate on improving the way you treat other people.”

Garman enjoys the more intimate gatherings the DeKalb area offers Jewish people. In large synagogues in urban areas, it’s not uncommon to have to purchase a seat for service, she said. Also, some synagogues discourage parents from bringing children to services.

“Here, in and out, is less formal,” Garman said. “Because we’re the only synagogue in town, it’s very important to us to make sure our children have a Jewish education.”

Garman also encourages people not of Jewish faith to join in services.

“To me, religion is the driving force of the world,” she said. “You understand more about people when you understand what they’re praying about.”