Ringing in the Jewish New Year

Photo By Vaughn Larson | Navy Chaplain Rabbi Seth Phillips prays over the Kos L'Kiddush, or Kiddush cup, before a Shabbat dinner at the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay residence of Jeff and Kathy Einhorn, Sept. 26, 2008. Phillips, a chaplain stationed at Naples, Italy, is visiting Guantanamo Bay for a week to help celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year which began, Sept. 29, 2008. JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detained enemy combatants, including those convicted by military commission and those ordered released. The JTF conducts intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination for the protection of detainees and personnel working in JTF Guantanamo facilities and in support of the Global War on Terror. JTF Guantanamo provides support to the Office of Military Commissions, to law enforcement and to war crimes investigations. The JTF conducts planning for and, on order, responds to Caribbean mass migration operations.  

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

10.03.2008

Story by Spc. Megan Leuck 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

By Megan Burnham
Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay residents of the Jewish faith welcomed Navy Chaplain Rabbi Seth Phillips, Sept. 26, 2008, as he helped Gitmo chaplains provide Jewish services to celebrate the Jewish New Year.

"It is the way and how the Navy and the Chaplain Corps work that if you don't have a chaplain of a particular religion, you try to get one to meet the needs of the folks," said Phillips.

As soon as Phillips landed here, he began preparing for a weekly dinner gathering called a Shabbat. This dinner is the seventh day of the Jewish week, which is their day of rest.

"Friday evening to Saturday evening is a time of community, a time of prayer, a time of fellowship, and a time of rest and relaxation," said Phillips. "The dinner ritual is to remind us of God's graciousness to us as well as opportunities to rest and be restored."

The services of the Jewish New Year are known as Rosh Hashanah, meaning "head of the year," that start at sundown the night before and continue for 24 hours. The first service began the evening of Sept. 29, 2008, with a ceremony of dipping apples in honey to symbolize a sweet new year.

The day of the new year started with a synagogue service at the Fellowship Hall at the Naval Station Chapel, and the final service at Cable Beach here where bread was thrown into the water to symbolize casting away sins into the depths of the sea. A ram's horn, known as "Shofar" in Hebrew, was blown as a spiritual alarm clock.

"Blowing the ram's horn calls us to repentance, calls us to remember who we want to be in the new year," said Phillips.

While Phillips' duty here has been accomplished, rituals of the Jewish New Year continue. Ten days after the day of new year is the Day of Atonement.

"This day is the first and very important opportunity of the new year to get right with God," said Phillips. "But equally, if not more important, this is the time to apologize for the past year and ask for forgiveness from our neighbors, family members, co-workers, shipmates, and battle buddies."

Phillips was able to tour the base and keep up his running regimen as he trains for the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C., Oct. 26, 2008.

"My biggest challenge here, as I keep up my training, are the hills and the humidity," said Phillips. "But I've kept to my running schedule despite it all."

When asked what he was most impressed by in his visit to Gitmo, Phillips replied, "It was the sense of shared hardship, the sense of reasoning, the sense of the mission, the sacrifice and the support I felt while sitting in meetings and talking to the Troops here."

• Date Taken: 10.03.2008
• Date Posted: 10.06.2008 15:21
• Story ID: 24585
• Location: GUANTANAMO BAY, CU