Rabbinic tradition states that on Rosh Hashanah the Lord opens the books of life and death and enters into judgment with his people. The wholly righteous are immediately inscribed into the Book of Life, and the utterly wicked are written into the Book of Death for the coming year. However, most people are neither wholly righteous nor wicked and thus have ten days to gain their place in the Book of Life before Yom Kippur. This is done by three acts: repentance, charitable deeds, and prayer. The hope is that these actions would move God's heart of compassion and so grant the person another year of life. On Yom Kippur, the person’s fate is sealed, and the books are closed until Rosh Hashanah of the next year.
During this time, continue to keep the Jewish people in prayer, as this is when the Jewish community is concentrating on the fact of sin and the need for atonement. Pray for the Jewish community to see the light of Jesus the Messiah as they seek atonement for their sins.
Please also pray for the safety of the Jewish community
. In the past decade, anti-Semitic incidents have increased in the United States, including vandalism and graffiti, cemetery desecration, and public harassment. This year alone
, there were 193 reported incidents during the 11 days of violence between Israel and Hamas, including a Jewish individual being beaten in Los Angeles, protestors chanting, “Intifada!” in front of a synagogue in Skokie, Illinois, and a trending social media phrase, “Hitler was Right.”
Those who hate the Jewish people sometimes target their attacks during the High Holy Days. In 2019, a synagogue in Brooklyn, New York, had windows broken during a Rosh Hashanah
service, and a Holocaust memorial park was vandalized
on the eve of Yom Kippur in a New York suburb. In 2016, a Jewish cemetery was vandalized
with spray-painted swastikas during the Days of Awe in upstate New York.
