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128:15 We wash our clothes and cut our hair on Erev Rosh Hashana in
honor of the festival. Hair should be cut before midday1 One (also)
immerses in a mikveh2 We wear our Shabbat clothing3 on Rosh Hashana to
show that we are confident of G-d's grace, and that he will judge us
favorably.4
1) Halachic midday, ''chatzot,'' is calculated by totaling the number of minutes from dawn (''alot ha'shachar'') until the appearance of 3 stars (''tzeit ha'kochavim''), and then dividing it in half (some say from sunrise to sunset) 2) One should not immerse until at least one hour before ''Chatzot'' (Mishna Berurah 581:26) 3) The Mishna Berurah writes that one should tone down a little on what one would wear on another Yom Tov, so as to remain in awe of the gravity of the judgement that is taking place (Ibid. 581:25) 4) The Tur says (O"H 581) based on the Midrash: ''What other nation is like this one, that understands the personality of its God !...The accepted custom of one who faces judgement is to wear black, to wrap himself in mourning, neglect his hair and fingernails - for he dreads the unknown results of the judgement. But not Yisrael ! They wear white, wrap themselves in white, groom their hair and fingernails, eat and drink and rejoice on Rosh Hashana, knowing that the Holy One will perform a miracle for them ...'' The Maharshal comments on the above Midrash: ''Then why not wear embroidered and colorful clothing? ...That might imply that he does not fear the Day of Judgement at all and is insensitive, but wearing white demonstrates awareness of the day of death...'' |
מכבסין ומסתפרין בערב ראש לכבוד יום טוב ויש ליזהר לגלח קודם חצות היום וטובלים ולובשים בגדי שבת בראש השנה להראות שאנו בטוחים בחסדו יתברך שמו שיוציא לאור משפטנו |
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128:16 It is customary to annul our vows1 on the day preceding Rosh
Hashana. There is a Biblical allusion2 to this ''He should not break his
word at all'' the final letters of the words (spell out) Elul. One who
does not understand what he has to say in Hebrew, should say (the
declaration) in another language which he understands.
1) The annulment of vows is done in the presence of three adult males, who form a Bet Din. 2) Numbers 30:3 | נוהגין לעשות התרת נדרים בערב ראש השנה והרמז לא יחל דברו ככל סופי תיבות אלול ומי שאינו מבין מה שהוא אומר בלשון הקודש יאמר בלשון אחרת כמו שהוא מבין |
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129:1 In every Kaddish said from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur, the
word ''above'' is repeated, that is, one should say ''above, above..''
(and not with (the letter) 'vav', as in ''and above''). Since the
Kaddish must contain twenty-eight words, and during the rest of the year
one says, ''He is beyond any blessing'', now we say ''He is beyond any
blessing''.1
1) We have added the extra word ''le'eilah'' and so we change from ''min kol birchatah'' to ''mi'kol birchatah'' which has the same meaning but is one word less. | בכל הקדישים שאומרים מהראש השנה עד יום הכפורים כופלין תיבת לעילא דהיינו שאומרים לעילא לעילא ולא בוא''ו ולעילא וכיון שבקדיש צריכין להיות שמונה ועשרים תיבות ובכל השנה אומרים לעילא מן כל ברכתא עתה אומרים לעילא מכל ברכתא |
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