SEPTEMBER 14, 2017/23 ELUL 5777 ■
JEWISH OBSERVER
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Ethiopian Rosh Hashanah blends unique customs with a yearning for Jerusalem BY ADAM ABRAMS JNS.org Despite relative isolation from their
Jewish brethren around the world for millennia, Ethiopian Jews have coveted the same dream of celebrating Rosh Hashanah
At left: Ethiopian Jews were greeted by family members as they arrive at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, as part of an aliyah flight arranged by the Jewish Agency for Israel and sponsored by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, in June 2017. (Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90)
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Sephardic Minyan at the Jewish Community Center WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 Erev Rosh Hashanah 6:45-8:30 pm THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 Rosh Hashanah day one Morning services 8:30 am-2:30 pm No Mincha or Maariv FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 Rosh Hashanah day two Morning services 8:30-2:30 pm No Mincha or Maariv FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 Kol Nidre service 6:30-9 pm SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 Yom Kippur – 8 am, all day Havdalah – 7:30 pm All services and meals take place at Chabad House, 825 Ostrom Avenue, Syracuse WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 Erev Rosh Hashanah Candle lighting 6:47 pm Services 6:40 pm Dinner 7:30 pm – reservations required THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 Rosh Hashanah day one Services 9:15 am Shofar 11:45 am Lunch 1:30 pm – reservations required Tashlich 6:45 pm at Thornden Park Rose Garden – meet in the garden Candle lighting 7:45 pm Services 8 pm Dinner 8:30 pm – reservations required FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 Rosh Hashanah day two Services 9:15 am Shofar 11:45 am Lunch 1:30 pm – reservations required Holiday ends 7:57 pm Look for “Have shofar, will travel” around campus both days of Rosh Hashanah FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 Shabbat Shuvah Candle lighting 6:44 pm Services 7 pm Dinner 7:30 pm – reservations required
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other Jewish communities meant many Ethiopian Jews, up until about 20 years ago, lacked some basic knowledge about major episodes in Jewish history.) In 1991, at age 15, the aliyah for Malessa and her family officially began when Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency privately smuggled the family out of Ethiopia’s capital city to the Jewish homeland by way of Italy. The family arrived in Israel just a month before the Mossad conducted a massive clandestine airlift operation, dubbed “Operation Solomon,” which saw some 14,000 Ethiopian Jews secretly airlifted out of Ethiopia aboard 35 non-stop flights See “Ethiopian” on page 12
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 Rosh Hashanah day two Morning service (office closed) 10 am FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 Shabbat service 6 pm SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 Woodlawn Cemetery memorial service 12:30 pm FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 Kol Nidre 8 pm SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 Yom Kippur Morning service (office closed) 10 am Children’s program 10 am Children’s service 11 am Study session 1 pm Afternoon service 3 pm Havdalah and break fast 6:30 pm
Chabad House
“next year in Jerusalem.” Though unique, the Jewish New Year festivities in Ethiopia bear many similarities to the holiday’s observance in the broader Diaspora. Limor Malessa and five of her siblings were born and raised in a small Ethiopian village near the Jewish community of Gondar. She left the village at age 13 and traveled to Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa, along with her parents and five siblings, in anticipation of emigrating to Israel – the “promised land” that Ethiopian Jews longed to return to for thousands of years, unaware that the holy temple in Jerusalem had long since been destroyed. (Gaps in access to modern technology and their distance from
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 Shabbat Shuvah Services 10:30 am Torah reading 11:45 am Lunch 1 pm – reservations required FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 Erev Yom Kippur/Kol Nidre Candle lighting 6:31 pm Fast begins 6:45 pm Kol Nidre 7 pm SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 Yom Kippur Services 9:30 am Yizkor memorial service 12:30 pm Mincha 5:15 pm Neilah closing service 6:15 pm Shofar 7:25 pm Break fast 7:35 pm
Hillel at Syracuse University
Happy Rosh Hashanah from ASTHMA & ALLERGY ASSOCIATES P.C. 4402 Medical Center Drive, Suite 402, Fayetteville
Elliot Rubinstein, M.D
Mariah M. Pieretti, M.D.
Rizwan Khan, M.D.
Joseph Flanagan, M.D.
Stella M. Castro, M.D.
Julie McNairn, M.D.
Shaan Waqar, M.D.
Pediatric & Adult Allergists • Hay Fever • Asthma • Sinus • Food • Coughing • Sneezing • Wheezing • Ears Popping • Red, Watery Eyes • Drippy, Stuffy Nose • Itching/Insects For more information and appointment 1-800-88-ASTHMA or allergistdocs.com
Reservations are required for all meals. Visit suhillel.org to make a reservation before September 13. For more information, contact Rabbi Leah Fein at lfein@ suhillel.org or 315-443-4836. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 Erev Rosh Hashanah Combined community services 6:15 pm, Hendricks Chapel Dinner 7 pm, Winnick Hillel Center, reservations required by Thursday, September 10 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 Rosh Hashanah day one Combined community services 10 am, Hendricks Chapel, Main Chapel Services 6:30 pm, Hendricks Chapel Main Chapel Dinner 7 pm, Winnick Hillel Center, reservations required FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 Rosh Hashanah day two Combined community services 10 am, Winnick Hillel Center, Lender Auditorium Tashlich 4 pm. Meet at Hillel and walk to the pond in Thornden Park. Hillel will supply the bread. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 Shabbat Shuvah services and dinner 5 pm, Winnick Hillel Center, regular Shabbat service reservations required FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 Pre-fast dinner 5:30 pm, Winnick Hillel Center, reservations required Kol Nidre service 6:30 pm, Hendricks Chapel, combined community service (service features the annual faculty d’var Torah, given this year by Dr. Irving Raphael) SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 Yom Kippur Services and Yizkor 10 am, Hendricks Chapel, Main Chapel Mincha text study and singing 6 pm, Winnick Hillel Center Neilah service 7 pm, Winnick Hillel Center Break fast – 7:30 pm – Winnick Hillel Center – free, no reservations required
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