Mikveh

Q: Does the Mikveh have any purpose other than to make one pure?

A: The water from the Mikveh is call Mayim Hayim (living water) as it is flushed through the processes of nature.

Many people bring their new dishes to the Mikveh to ensure that they are fit to use.  Others will use the mikveh to kasher their dishes when they have become treif (unkosher).  And still others go to the Mikveh as a point of transition in their life.  It may be that they want to place a barrier between what has happened in the past and where they are headed.

Food on a Yahrzeit

Q: Why do some people serve refreshments in the Synagogue on the yahrzeit of their parent?

A: This custom is becoming less and less practiced among our people.  Yet it is an old and staid part of our tradition.  Two reasons are given for supplying food on the yahrzeit.  They are:

1.     It is an act of tzedaka.  And as is well known among our people, "tzedaka saves from death.”

2.     People say berachot over the food.  Thus the sponsor brings about praise to God at the memory of the deceased.

Minyan

Q: What happens when we cannot get a minyan (ten adult Jews) to pray?

A: We have the custom, which comes from the Torah, that ten adult Jews make a minyan.  The genesis of this practice is based in the Torah episode of the spies.  Ten of them were called a “congregation.”  From this we learn that ten is the minimum number needed to form a community.

Yet, at times it is difficult to assemble ten.  We may only achieve nine. In our congregation we accede to counting ten and number among us, God, as the final member of our minyan.  This is based on the word, v‘aron (and the ark) (vav, aleph, resh, vav, nun) are an acrostic for the words V'Echad Ro'eh V'eino Nereh, One who sees but cannot be seen. This obviously refers to God.

Yahrzeit

Q: Why do we observe the anniversary of the death of parents (yahrzeit) each year?

A: There are a few reasons why we recall our dead on their yahrzeit.  The most obvious of them is the idea of remembrance.  The yahrzeit forces us to remember their life, going over our moments spent together.  We recall the things they gave to us – life, education, clothes, morals….

A lesser-known reason for the yahrzeit rests on the belief that the souls of the dead are judged by the Heavenly Tribunal.  As their souls come before judgment, they are either permitted to ascend or are denied.

Children of the deceased thus pray for their loved ones.  The living can acquit the dead.

On the yahrzeit we vow to undertake acts of tzedaka on their behalf.  If one believes in memory as the primary motivating factor behind prayers, then tzedaka is practicing the morals the dead taught us.  As their soul so judged our charity pleads to tip the scales in their favor.

Test Your Hebrew Vocabulary

Some Basic Hebrew Vocabulary that Every Jew Should Know:

Ehad,  one

Shma,  Listen

Amar,  said

Amein,  Amen

Atah,  you

Barukh, bless

Avot, Fathers

Ben, son

Bat, daughter

Gadol, big

Hallel, Halleluya, praise, praise God (same root)

Hayim, life

Tov, Good

Yisrael, Israel

Yerushalyim, Jerusalem

Yom, day

Rishon, first

Shabbat, Sabbath

Shalom, Peace, Hello, Goodbye

k’vod, honor

Melekh, King

Layla, night

Torah, Torah

Shem, name

Mayim, water

Olam, world or universe

Am, people

tzedaka, charity

tzedek, righteous

kodesh, holy

rachamim, mercy

Elohim, God

Elohaynu, our God

Tov, good

Zachor, remember

Kohen, priest

Levi, Levite

Greeting on the High Holy Days

Q: What are we supposed to say on the High Holy Days to one another?  There are so many expressions!

A: On all holy days, including Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it is permissible to say, “Gute yontif” (also Americanized as Good Yom Tov).  Yom Tov literally means “good day.”

More specific, less generic, are the following four expressions:

L’Shana Tovah Teekatayvu, “May you be inscribed for a good year.”

L’shanah tovah tikateyvu v’teihateimu, “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.”

K’teeva v’hatimah Tovah, “May you merit a good inscription and sealing.”  This is the phrase most frequently used as it can be used on Rosh Hashanah and the days leading up to and including Yom Kippur.

G’mar hatimah tovah, “May you have a favorable sealing.”  This is generally just reserved for the holy day of Yom Kippur as it reflects the final judgment.