Making an Ancient Ritual Relevant to Kids on Rosh Hashanah

Students at joined Jews around the world in their preparations to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year that started Wednesday at sundown and marked the start of the High Holy day season.

They crafted their own shofars, which are wind instruments made from ram's horns. In doing so, they had discussions about the tradition of "sounding the shofar" and its meaning in their everyday contemporary lives.

"While they were making their shofars, they had lots of questions about the horns, which were real rams horns from Africa," said Sara Wolf, director of the Hebrew School on Railroad Avenue in Bedford Hills.

"One student asked, did you have to kill a ram to get the horn? And we had an interesting conversation about morals and values, and the kinds of choices we all make—the kids were fascinated and it made an ancient ritual relevant to them," she said.

The blowing of the shofar is also meant to be a wake-up call, Wolf said, a call to action and consciousness about living lives meaningfully. To help teach this message, the school created a "Be Your Best" theme for making New Year's resolutions. Students made commitments to being more helpful, sharing and kind to one another.

"That's the beauty of Rosh Hashanah—you can live your life on auto pilot, but the holiday gives us time to pause, to focus on keeping our relationships alive and reflecting on our potential," she said.

The message of mindfulness was also one Rabbi Arik Wolf planned to impart to adults, during his Rosh Hashanah sermon.

"It transcends age and all economic levels," he said. "In uncertain times, the one constant we come back to is that we each have a unique role to play, no one else can contribute what I or you can contibute to the world. There is no greater source of self-esteem than knowing that each person can make a difference."

Chabad of Bedford has about 150 students in its Hebrew School and draws nearly 500 people mostly from Bedford, Katonah and Pound Ridge to its holiday services, held at the Holiday Inn in Mt. Kisco.

For more information, visit their website.