Awe in the new year (Rosh HaShanah Day 1, 5783/2022)
Let’s start by taking a vote on a very important issue. We are voting on the correct way to refer collectively to these days of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. Option #1 is to refer to them as the “High Holidays” - 2 words. Option #2 is to refer to them as the “High Holy Days” - 3 words. <VOTE> There are various ways to address this question. You can do a Google search and you find that “High Holidays” - 2 words - has 1 million 600 thousand hits, whereas ‘High Holy Days’ - with 3 words - has a paltry 692,000 hits. So the people have spoken: “High Holidays” with two words is vastly more popular than “High Holy Days” with 3 words. And yet -- “the people” are completely wrong. (In my humble but correct opinion.) High Holy Days is correct - and I will show you why. The Hebrew words upon which this expression is based are Yamim Nora’im -- often translated as “Days of Awe,” because “ nora ’’ is a Hebrew word for “awe.” Yamim is “days.” If your preferred phase is “High
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