“High Holdiays Begin Sunday”

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High Holidays Begin Sunday THE RAM’S HORN (SHOFAR) will be blown by Rabbi Manfred Rabenstein (center) for New Hope Congregation, 1625 Crest Hill avenue. Lesley Appel (left) and Jeffrey Kahn will assist with the prayers. Jews in Cincinnati and throughout the world will celebrate Rosh Hashanah beginning at sundown Sunday with prayers and soul-searcing in synagogues and temples. The Hebrew greeting “L’Shana Tova Tikatevu,” which corresponds to our “Happy New Year,” will be exchanged among Jews during the solemn observance of the holidays which will continue through Monday and Tuesday. Hebrew tradition says that on the Jewish New Year, God inscribes in His Book of Remembrance the fate of every human being for the coming year. The heavenly decision of whether an individual is to have a year of happiness or misery depends upon his conduct during the preceding year. Pious Jews pray that God will forgive their sins and grant them a happy new year. The keynote of Rosh Hashanah is personal responsibility expressed by intense soul-searching and a passion for self-improvement. The highlight of the New Year service - the 5725th of recorded Biblical history - is blowing of the Shofar, the ram’s horn which in ancient Israel heralded the approach of important national occasions. The horn is now a clarion call to the Jew’s conscience. In the home, the tradition dessert of apples dipped in honey is served with the meal to symbolize the hope of a sweet new year.