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For many, dreidels, menorahs, latkes and other traditional trappings of Hannukah are as much a part of the end of the year as Christmas – but for members of the Jewish faith, the most important time in the religious year isn’t in December at all.

The Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur take place the first two weeks of September, and the holidays – a start to the Jewish new year and a day of atonement and repentance, respectively – hold a significance that many outside the faith may not realize.

“It’s not a well-known holiday because Hannukah gets all the attention – Hannukah occurs at or around the time of Christmas every year,” says Howard Stiller, Albany attorney and member of Temple B’Nai Israel in Albany. “What is not known is that of all the Jewish holidays, Hannukah is probably the least significant of any of them…and these two are the most important.”

This year, the High Holy Days begin on Friday night, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, and end on Sept. 16, Yom Kippur. The two holidays are intertwined, linked by a 10-day period of reflection, atonement and meditation.

“Rosh Hashanah begins the process of encouraging Jews to repent and achieve atonement, which culminates 10 days later on Yom Kippur,” explains Dr. Dana Evan Kaplan, rabbi at Temple B’Nai Israel.

Originally one of four new year’s holidays in the ancient Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah is now the primary celebration, Kaplan says.

Kaplan, who is also a professor of Jewish history at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, will be celebrating his second year of High Holy Days at Temple B’Nai Israel. But for the congregation, observing the holidays is timeless.

“We ask forgiveness…we make right with the world, and pray that we have a good year,” says Peggy Posnick, a member of the synagogue.

And for most, Posnick says, even if they haven’t been to synagogue in a while, it becomes a high priority to attend on the holidays.

“If you’re Jewish, you’ll do anything to get to synagogue then,” she says. “For Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we have to put out extra chairs.”

What it all boils down to, Kaplan says, is an urge to identify with others and with spiritual heritage.

“A lot of these people want to connect,” Kaplan says, “just once a year, maybe, but they want to connect.”

Another focus is on preparing for the holidays by turning inward and concentrating on getting ready for the coming year.

“When it gets to this time of the year, a few weeks before Rosh Hashanah, I become more introspective,” Stiller says.

At the same time, for many believers the holidays have become such a part of their lives that they’re simply part of the natural rhythm of the year.

“It’s so much a way of life that you don’t think of it in special terms,” says Cypora Silfan, who grew up in Israel but arrived in Albany after years of life in New York. “Part of growing up in Israel and New York is that you take so much of this for granted, you don’t think twice – it’s like getting up in the morning.”

Still, she says, there’s nothing unconscious about the meaning of the holidays, and emphasizes that there’s more to observing them than simply going through the emotions.

“On Yom Kippur you fast, but you do think about it, too,” Silfan says. “These are the major holidays, where, according to tradition, you are judged by God as to how you were the whole year, and if you’re going to be 9inscribed in the Book of Life…On Yom Kippur, it’s decided which way it’s going to go.”

During these ten Days of Awe, as they are known, believers attempt to right the year’s wrongs in the hope that they’ll continue to live, and live a good life, the following year.

“During that 10-day period, we have the belief that God decides who is going to live the next year, and who is going to die – it’s directly from the Old Testament,” Stiller says. “But it’s not a matter of who’s going to live forever, because we know we won’t.”

This year, with the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, such acceptance of mortality acquires new significance – as well as a reminder that life’s uncertainty is a good reason to make peace with others, Kaplan says.

“The killing of so many innocent people reinforces themes of the High Holy Days, that we want to be as good as we can to our friends and family and everyone – among other reasons, because we can die any moment,” he says.

One way of reconciling the fragility of life with the importance of Jewish tradition is through the symbolism of the services held during the High Holy Days. Traditional aspects of worship – such as sounding the shofar, a ram’s horn trumpet, which occurs 100 times on the morning of Rosh Hashanah and once on the evening of Yom Kippur – remind congregants of the meaning of the ceremonies.

“It’s a very ancient custom…an awakening process,” Kaplan says of the shofar’s sound. “We also connect the sound of the shofar with the creation of the world and the sacrifice of Isaac. When Isaac was not sacrificed (in the scriptural story), there was a ram sacrificed instead – and so this is the same ram.”

Other aspects of the services include the wearing of white, to symbolize the promise and purity of the new year, and the recitation of a 44-line prayer called the Al-Chet, which states repentance for the past year’s transgressions.

Outside the synagogue, other traditions are also part of the holidays, such as eating the traditional braided challah bread and serving apples dipped in honey, symbolizing warm wishes for the yew year.

“Have you ever dipped an apple into some honey?” stiller asks. “It’s a very, very sweet thing. That’s why we do it: We’re wishing for ourselves and everybody else to have a good, sweet new year.”

The challah bread is also different for the High Holy Days, taking a round shape instead of the usual loaf shape.

“If you go to the bakery at Publix, sometimes during this time of year you will see round challahs,” Stiller says. “You only see them this time of year. It’s symbolic of the world being round, that it is one world and the fact that there is one God, as well.”

Stiller says that the symbols are good reminders of both his outward and inward commitments to faith and tradition.

“It’s a visual reminder, and it is a reminder of all the happy times previously in my life – because ever since I was old enough to remember, I’ve seen these symbols.” He says.

Passing such symbolism down through generations – whether in the form of family customs, forms of worship or sacred symbols – is evidence of Judaism’s importance over the centuries, Kaplan says.

“It highlights the tremendous historical power of Judaism, that a lot of elements in our liturgy…connect every individual Jew in the synagogue with a historical tradition that stems back almost 4,000 years.”

Keeping the Faith