Apart from being the scene of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Tales of A Wayside Inn, Sudbury is a small Massachussetts town that doesn't make headlines. But the Jewish New Year comes in all the same here, so the local Chabad representatives are making all the difference in how Sudbury's Jewish community welcomes Rosh Hashana.
Return to your roots: The call of the High Holiday season took on a vibrant tone at the Jewish New Year Fair hosted by Chabad of Sudbury, MA.
120 participants some who came from as far as two hours away, buzzed about the 300-acre Boy Scout reservation on Sunday. In this once rural district, now populated by Boston-bound commuters, the meaning of Rosh Hashanah came to life in an engrossing way that explored Rosh Hashanah’s central symbols – shofar horns and honey – taken from natural product to ritual object.
“When we teach about Judaism in this way, it becomes exciting for children and adults,” said Rabbi Yisroel Freeman who started Chabad of Sudbury with his wife a year and a half ago. “Once everything becomes hands on it takes on new meaning.”
Animal horns, tough and unattractive, became objects of desire at the fair. In the hands of the little children who clamored for them, and quite a few adults, the horns were sanded, drilled and polished into usable shofars. Rabbi Freeman demonstrated a few blowing techniques. Sounds of raspberries, spluttering and a few squeaks were tooted with enthusiasm from the lips of the novice blowers.
In another corner of the hall, a local beekeeper brought in a hive with Plexi-glass separating the honey-makers from the honey eaters. A cluster of those who may have thought the sweet golden stuff actually came from a squeezable plastic bear gathered quickly around the apiary expert.
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