The Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashanah – lasts for two days and begins this year at sundown on Sun. Sept. 16.
IKAR – a spiritual Jewish community in Los Angeles took to the city’s streets to blow the traditional shofar (ram’s horn) to wake people up in time for the High Holy Days of both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) and to wish them a Shanah Tovah - a Happy New Year.
The tekiah sound mentioned in the video refers to one of the four sounds blown on the shofar and the tekiah is a single long blast of sound. The other mentioned in the video is the tekiah gedolah - the large or great tekiah, a strong, single blast that is held as long as possible. The other sounds - not mentioned in the video are the shevarim - a "broken" sound of three short blasts and the teruah - which sounds like an "alarm" and consists of at least nine very quick, staccato blasts.
Filming for the video took place in and around the greater Los Angeles area including the Starbucks near Rimpau and Pico in mid city; the LACMA rock; the La Brea Tar Pits; Venice Beach (including the graffiti monument, the skate park and the boardwalk); Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood; Cornerstone on Demand’s offices and water garden in Santa Monica; AMF Bay Shore Lanes in Santa Monica; the 2nd Street tunnel in downtown Los Angeles; a downtown bus stop on Wilshire Boulevard; the Mexican Market in Alameda; Corner Barber at Pico and Orange Grove; downtown LA’s Chinatown by the dragon arches and downtown Olvera Street.
"We call them the High Holy Days, but Yamim Noraim can best be translated as "Days of Awe," IKAR writes in an official statement. “These are days in which we step out of our daily routines and wake up to the mysterious gift of life itself. The message of the High Holy Days: everything is possible. Things don't have to be as they are. We don't have to be the people we have become. We can repair, redirect, reframe the contours of our relationships and our lives. Reflect deeply, dream boldly, and discover a renewed sense of wonder and purpose."
