Rosh Hashanah - The Jewish New Year

The New Year
by Isidor Kaufmann

Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on September 28 this year. Rosh Hashanah is a time of judgment and remembrance, on which God reviews and judges a person's deeds in the past year. It is a time of prayer and penitence. All debts from the past year are supposed to be settled before Rosh Hashanah.

It marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year and covers two of the 10 High Holy days that conclude with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

SYMBOLS

The food eaten and shared during Rosh Hashanah is very symbolic.

• Apples dipped in honey - A wish for a sweet year.
• Fish Heads – The desire to be on top, not the bottom of life in the New Year.
• Pomegranates -  Health, happiness and plenty because of their numerous seeds.
• Challah – Bread made with honey and raisins are another symbol of a sweet and happy year. Some decorate the Challah with birds, such as the dove symbolizing peace. It also symbolizes the cycle of the year.

The above information was gathered from the following websites:

http://www.akhlah.com/jewish-holidays/roshhashanah/rosh-hashanah-crafts/rosh-hashanah-stuffed-round-challah/ http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/rosh-hashana

I offer you some resources to help you celebrate the Jewish New Year.

STORIES

Capturing the Moon – A story from Chelm. One of my favorite stories to share.

http://www.jhom.com/topics/money/moon/helm.html

Fetzer Institute - Nine Jewish folktales high lightening generosity of spirit.

http://tinyurl.com/3fo2qod

Jewish Fairy Tales and  Legends by Gertrude Landa, 1919.  “This book is based on tales from the Talmud and Midrash. While some of the themes are familiar from fairy-tales and folklore from other traditions, the stories in this collection are infused with the perennial Jewish struggle for survival and dignity, as well as a large helping of gentle humor.”

http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/jftl/index.htm

The Golden Mountain by Meyer Levin, 1932. “This is a collection of tales of the Eastern European Hassidic Jews, centering on the holy men Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlaw.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gm/index.htm

Storybug.net - Since apples are an important symbol in the celebration this link will lead you to a previous blog post on apples with stories, lesson plans and more.

http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2008/09/that-night-was-turning-point-in-season.html

BOOKS AND VIDEOS

Annotated Bibliography of Jewish Story Collections -
An extensive PDF file of resources compiled by Penninah Schram.

http://www.jewishstorytelling.org/node/3

The Best Kids Booksite – Lots of wonderful book suggestions to share with your students and children.

http://www.thebestkidsbooksite.com/thispartictopic.cfm?BookTopic=2583

Sources for Jewish Folktales and Stories

A PDF bibliography of books and videos for adults and children.

http://darimonline.org/links/sources-jewish-folktales-and-stories

CRAFTS

Perpetual Preschool - Easy crafts for preschool and up.

http://tinyurl.com/428t79g

Akhlah.com – Six crafts from simple to a little more challenging.

http://www.akhlah.com/holidays/roshhashana/roshhashanah_crafts.php


CURRICULUM

Akhlah: The Jewish Children’s Learning Network  – Amazing website with information and resources on all of the Jewish holiday and High Holy Days.

http://tinyurl.com/3s37ghy

Crayola.com – Lesson plans, crafts and coloring pages.

http://tinyurl.com/3qj8uqr

SONGS

Rosh Hashanah Songs
http://tinyurl.com/3vaqck5

Karen Chace

© 2011

This blog post was painstakingly researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my newsletter via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.

Public Domain III - Folktales, Fairy Tales, Legends and Myths

Scheherazade
by Edmund Dulac

This is the third in a series of blog posts offering books that are now in the public domain. Some are found on the particular websites, others via Google Books. You may download many of them directly to your computer and in some instances to your Kindle or e-reader. I will be sharing more in the future but for now, on your mark, get set, read!!

The Algonquin Legends of New England by Charles G. Leland, 1894.  “This work contains a collection of the myths, legends, and folk-lore of the principal Wabanaki, or Northeastern Algonquin, Indians…” http://tinyurl.com/3d2b5nk

Among the Meadow People by Clara Dillingham Pierson, 1901 .http://tinyurl.com/yyzcgbk

Chinese Wonder Book - Meet The Nodding Tiger, The Man Who Would Not Scold, among others in these fifteen stories from Norman Hinsdale Pitman, c. 1919. http://tinyurl.com/3jzdjmf

Cossack Fairy Tales and Folktales by Robert Nisbet Bain, 1902 – Bain collected these folktales from Ruthenian, the language of the Cossacks, a language intermediate between Russian and Polish. http://tinyurl.com/2uklns8

Danish Fairy Tales – Forty-six tales collected by J. Christian Bay, 1899 –  “May this train of Danish Kings and queens, wise men and fools, princes and beggars…may they all be kindly welcomed…” http://tinyurl.com/6kso9qf

Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations by Edmund Dulac, 1916. Some of the stories will be familiar to storytellers but others are new gems. The illustrations make the reading even more enjoyable.

"This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net .”
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25513/25513-h/25513-h.htm

The Fairy Tales of Marie-Catherine d´Aulony -Marie-Catherine lived in France during the time of Charles Perrault but her tales were shared in a more conversational style and usually featured a female protagonist. Many of her works were collected by Andrew Lang in his Fairy Books. http://tinyurl.com/ydh2hfe

The Golden Mountain by Meyer Levin, 1932 -  “A collection of tales of the Eastern European Hassidic Jews, centering on the holy men Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlaw…these magical realist stories of the Hassidic rabbis are encoded with deeper levels of meaning similar to Buddhist, Sufi, Celtic, and other spiritual traditions.” http://tinyurl.com/4j952xp

Green Willow and other Japanese Fairy Tales by Grace Adams, 1910 – Thirty eight stories from the Land of the Rising Sun, complemented by the gorgeous illustrations of Warwick Goble. http://tinyurl.com/4rzy5pg

Indian Why Stories – Sparks from War Eagle’s Lodge-Fire – Twenty-two stories collected by Frank B. Linderman, 1915. http://tinyurl.com/63sovcu

More Australian Legendary Folktales by Katie Langloh Parker from 1898. http://tinyurl.com/yczxfms

Myths and Legends of Our Own Land by Charles M. Skinner, 1896
http://tinyurl.com/ya9ko3n

Persian Tales by David Lockhard Roertson Lorimer, 1910 - Once upon a time there was a time when there was no one but God…so begins many of these wonderful stories from Persia. There is also a section vocabulary and pronunciation section at the end of the book. http://chestofbooks.com/fairy-tale/Persian/

The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children, by Jane Andrews, 1888

http://tinyurl.com/y8bof2z

Summer Legends by Rudolph Baumbach, Translated by Helen B. Dole, c.1888. Twenty-two legends to celebrate the season including The Legend of the Daisy, The Clover Leaf, and more.

http://tinyurl.com/6jxsqhc

Tales of Laughter from 1908. A collection tales from Ireland, Spain, France, Russia and other countries from around the globe. They are sure to have you smiling with delight!http://tinyurl.com/3mzd7pr

And if you missed the previous blog posts of public domain story collections go to:

http://tinyurl.com/3dwd25f
http://tinyurl.com/3mpoeqy

© Karen Chace, 2011