Jewish 'home away from home' ready for students
September 19, 2009
Brendan Kennedy
STAFF REPORTER
While the city's 175,000 Jews prepared to ring in the new year yesterday with sweet bread and honey, Rabbi Yishaya Rose was nervously getting ready for his first Rosh Hashanah service as co-director of The Chabad House at the University of Toronto.
"It's a big time to reach out to students and meet new people," he said a few hours before sundown, when the Jewish holiday officially begins. "It's a lot of work and little sleep, but it's very exciting."
Rose, 24, is originally from Toronto, but he has been living in New York City for the past few years. He returned to Toronto in May with his wife, Shira Rose – The Chabad House's other co-director – and their 2-year-old daughter, Shayna.
The house, on Sussex Ave. on the U of T campus, aims to provide "a Jewish home away from home," Rose said, for students from all of Toronto's downtown university and college campuses.
He was more nervous than usual this year because he will be meeting so many new students. "This is a moment when their hearts are open," Rose said, referring to Rosh Hashanah's literal translation as "the head of the year."
"It's going to affect their whole year and how they want to live their Jewish life on campus."
Rosh Hashanah, commonly known as the Jewish New Year, celebrates the creation of Adam and Eve, Rose said. But more than that, he called it "the renewal of the whole purpose of creation ... to reaffirm our connection with God."
This year marks the year 5770 in the Jewish calendar, which Rose said corresponds with the Hebrew words meaning "spread out," an important phrase in a Jewish parable about the coming of the Messiah. "This is an auspicious year."
Rosh Hashanah is one of two High Holy Days in the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur is Sept. 28.
Toronto Star