Rabbi and Rebbitzen’s Corner September 2023
By Eric Carlson on September 1, 2023
Shalom Mishpocha,
Summer is passing by quickly! School is starting, hurricane season is in full swing, and though September is a transition month into fall time we still have 22 days of summer left until the Autumnal Equinox on September 23rd at 2:50 A.M. EDT-the first day of Fall. September’s name comes from the Latin word septem, meaning “seven.” This month had originally been the seventh month of the early Roman calendar.
Monday, September 4th is Labor Day. Labor Day is a Federal Holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. The three-day weekend it falls on is called Labor Day Weekend. Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor. “Labor Day” was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City. In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official Federal Holiday in 1894, thirty states in the U.S. officially celebrated Labor Day. As we do on all three-day weekends join with us as we pray there will be NO traffic fatalities in the Commonwealth of Virginia this Labor Day weekend!
Patriot’s Day is Monday, September 11th. By presidential proclamation, Patriot Day is observed in the United States on September 11, or 9/11, in memory of the thousands who lost their lives as a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States that involved four hijacked planes. The observance also honors those who came to aid in the aftermath. Each year on Patriot Day, the U.S. flag is flown at half-staff. Citizens are asked to observe a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. EDT (when the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center in New York City)! We are encouraged to devote the day to serving our neighbors and communities.
We begin our Esrog and Lulav sales today, Friday September 1st, 2023. They are $45.00 a set and are purchased from Israel! NO ONLINE SALES! Sales are for a short time so please don’t wait. Esrog and Lulavs are a commanded part of our Sukkot Celebration:
Leviticus 23:40. On the first day you are to take choice fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows, and celebrate in the presence of ADONAI your God for seven days.
Friday, September 15th at sunset the High Holy Days begin with the start and celebration of Yom Teruah! The greeting for Yom Teruah is L’shanah Tovah “May your name remain” in the Sefer Chaim, the book of life. These are days set apart from the norm, days that belong to God! They are His designated times, Moedim, divine appointments! God promises us He will be off the throne to meet with us and be with us on His Moedim, His appointed times!
Leviticus 23:23-25. ADONAI said to Moshe, 24″Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘In the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering,
(Shabaton zichron: Shabaton: Sabbath observance, of weekly Sabbath, sabbatical year. Zichron: memorial, reminder, remembrance a day of writing, to recall.)
a holy convocation (Mikraw: convocation, convoking, reading, a calling together, something called out, a public meeting, a rehearsal, sacred assembly) announced with blasts on the shofar. 25 Do not do any kind of ordinary work, and bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI.'”
Yom Teru’ah is thus a rehearsal of the return of the King, announced with the sounding of the Shofar. “A day of blowing the Shofar” (Num. 29:1) is in Hebrew, called Yom Teru’ah. The day that we Remember the soon return of Messiah with the Shofar as recorded in Matthew 24:31.
We pray you have a safe Labor Day Weekend as we prepare to enter in and celebrate the Fall Feast Days, the High Holy Days!!
Love and Blessings,
Rabbi and Rebbitzen Carlson!