ROSH HASHANAH - THE JEWISH NEW YEAR

Rosh Hashanah is the first of the festivals of Israel. It is a good opportunity to begin from here with explanations of Hebrew words connected with the festival. For those who are not used to the Hebrew language but wish to nevertheless understand the meaning of the Hebrew words, this is the place.

In this selection, we refer to a number of words which are constantly repeated in the prayer book, or in the special traditions of this festival, like the blessings recited on the night of the festival or in special ceremonies like Tashlich.

We begin with words taken from the festival prayer book for Rosh Hashanah.

åÀéÅòÈùÒåÌ ëÌËìÌÈí àÂâËãÌÈä àÇçÇú

“VEYE’ASU KULAM AGUDA ACHAT”

AND THEY SHALL ALL FORM ONE BAND

This sentence appears in the Musaf (Additional) Service on Rosh Hashanah several times. It appears in both the Sephardi and Ashkenazi versions. The worshipper asks Hashem (G-d) and also those around him, that they should all be as one group which acts jointly and simultaneously - to do the will of the Holy One, Blessed Be He.

Let us focus on the word àÂâåÌãÈä (aguda), whose equivalent in the prayer book in English is - band.

In Hebrew this word has many meanings, all of which express the central idea - joining.

Let us first go back in time to the final hours of the Children of Israel in Egypt, before the Exodus. Moses addresses the elders and orders them: “u’lekachtem agudat ezov utevaltem badam asher basaf...” “And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin...” (Exodus 12, 22). Moses wants the angel that passes over the houses to be able to distinguish between them and so Moses asks them to make a sign on their lintels. And how do they do it? They take àÂâåÌãÈú àÅæåÉá) agudat ezov), a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in blood. Moses asks the elders to take the hyssop and to make it into an àÂâåÌãÈä , a bunch, and to use the bunch like a paint brush.

Every Israeli is familiar with the famous Israeli bus company, àÆâÆã)Egged). This company has thousands of buses that travel from one end of the State to the other, unifying the whole country. However, it is also a úàâéã) ta’agid), an association of people, who joined together to establish one big company from several small ones. Those people set up an àÄâÌåÌã îÄ÷ÀöåÉòÄé) igud miktzoi), a trade union of drivers who worked even before the establishment of the State of Israel.

Let us not overlook the political aspect. The word àÂâåÌãÈä)aguda) is not so common in Hebrew. Few people use it. However, thanks to politics this word has a use. Among the Israeli political parties there is a party called , àÂâËãÌÇú éÄùÒÀøÈàÅì“Agudat Israel”, the Association of Israel. It is an ultra-Orthodox religious party. The party’s name indicates the wish of its founders to unite all the people of Israel into one association. This party is not so large, and its very title is exactly the opposite of a closely related word and concept. For whereasàÂâåÌãÈä)  aguda) indicates unity,îÄôÀìÈâÈä)  miflaga), party, means - division and argument. But who are we to engage in politics?

In Israel, sadly, we often need to discuss military matters. Among the various forces in Tzahal, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), we can find also the àËâÀãÌÈä) ugda), the division. The ugda is a huge army unit, comprising tens of thousands of soldiers. Here too we see that there is a group of people unified under one roof.

The root à.â.ã. can also be found at the office. The huge black files inside which we file away all kinds of papers are called àåÉâÀãÈðÄéí) ogdanim), folders. They bind together, îÀàÇâÌÀãÄéí) me’agdim), all the papers which we are interested in. Therefore you are invited, here and now, to take the pages before you, (ìÀàÇâÌÅã le’a’ged), to collect them into one àÂâåÌãÈä)aguda), bunch, and to put them into the àåÉâÀãÈï) ogdan).