This year, the two days of Rosh Hashanah are Thursday and Friday (beginning Wednesday night) which end just as Shabbat begins. So practically speaking it creates a set of 3-days in which work is prohibited and they are filled instead with prayer and festive holiday meals – commonly referred to as a 3-day YomTov. This will happen three times this month, as Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and the Simchat Torah weekend all begin on Wednesday night and go until Friday Night, when Shabbat begins.

As we begin the first of a 3 sets of a 3-day YomTovs, two opposite stories come to mind.

A) THE REBBE’S LETTER

A few summers back, we were down on Long Island doing a series of alumni visits, driving back and forth between various areas according to the appointments and meet times we set up. We were on our way to Rockville Center and there was some time to the drive, so Raizy took out the upcoming year calendar and took a look at the holiday dates. That year was the same line-up as this one, three sets of 3-day YomTovs! We weren’t thrilled. 3-day YomTovs means 6 meals in a row at Shabbos House which translates into a lot of food prep and a lot of cost. It’s much easier when the holiday falls on Shabbat, so we “kill two birds with one stone” and have less Shabbat/Holiday meals to prepare for, and cuts down on cost. As we were going through the dates and crunching the numbers we arrived at the home in Rockville Center.

This alumni couple moved to Israel not long after their marriage, and we enjoyed the special opportunity to go see them when they would be in New York visiting their parents. We went in, embraced, saw their kids, caught up on the latest, and then the alumnus showed me a stack of papers, copies of letters that the Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote to his boss in Israel. Our alumni friend works for an organization headed by a well-known Rabbi Grossman that helps troubled youth. His co-workers were aware of his Chabad connection from Albany, and so they gave them copies of these letters. Most were written in Yiddish so he asked me to help translate it for him.

The gist of the first letter? That year, too, began with Rosh Hashanah on a Wednesday night, and a 3-day YomTov. The Rebbe extolled the merit of starting the year off with so much holiness and spiritual opportunity, and for this to be repeated 3 times, is a Chazakah of holiness! (A Chazakah is a Talmudic legal term for the strengthening of legal standing, or of a behavior once it is repeated 3 times). The Rebbe went on and on, about how significant and wonderful this blessing is, and that the start of the year with 3 sets of 3-day YomTovs has a lasting lingering effect on the entire year.

Wow – just as we were bemoaning the 3-day YomTov on the car ride over! This is typical of the Rebbe’s style and viewpoint in general, but for us, gave us perspective and meaning to the 3-day holiday marathon of meals and prayers.

B) AT THE CANDLES WITH A KNAPSACK

The second story goes back to the late 1980’s or maybe early 1990’s. The Schreibers ran Shabbos House at the time, and I (Mendel) came up to lead the Orthodox high holiday services as a teenager. The Schreibers used to light candles with oil and floating wicks, I remember it set-up in the north-east corner of the old Shabbos House. We were getting ready to walk to campus for Kol-Nidrei, and a girl came in. She had a knapsack on her back (maybe not typical Yom-Kippur garb) and went to the corner to light the candles. The girl sat there quite a while, looking at the candles, deep in thought, I think I remember her a little emotional. Then she left, knapsack on her back, not to services but someplace else. To the best of my knowledge she didn’t come to the services that Yom-Kippur.

These two stories have opposite messages, both true.

Rosh Hashanah is one of the holiest days, and we ought to make the most of this spiritual experience and opportunity. As the Rebbe says regarding a 3-Day YomTov, having such a full, enriching and uplifting extended opportunity is amazing. But then there are those, who for whatever reason don’t have the full experience, yet even they can make the most of the aspects/times they do have, and make it a most memorable Rosh Hashanah.

Whether we will be here for all the meals and prayers, or just for one, let’s make the most of it, so it can last and linger within us in a most memorable way.