A Shofar Showdown
A national Jewish organization has borrowed a page from "American Idol" in an effort to attract unaffiliated Jews to High Holiday services next month.
In an event called the "Great Shofar Blast Off," contestants will play the shofar, or ram's horn, and a panel of judges will evaluate them based on musicality and performance, according to Religion News Service.
The shofar is traditionally blown on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and officials with the National Jewish Outreach Program said they are sponsoring the contest to pique the interest of the estimated 50 percent of U.S. Jews who don't attend services on those holidays.
Five finalists chosen from videotaped entries will be flown to New York City for a Sept. 22 "showdown in Herald Square," said Rabbi Yitzchak Rosenbaum, the group's associate director. The winner will get a trip for two to Israel.
Last year, the organization held a contest for the best chicken soup.
Celebration
This Month's Spotlight Shubun No Hi
Date Sept. 23
Description The name of this Japanese national holiday translates as "Autumnal Equinox Day." Although the actual date of the fall equinox changes from year to year, the holiday is always observed Sept. 23. During the week, Japanese visit their family tombs to pay respect to ancestors, leaving flowers, incense and ohagi -- sweet rice balls covered with soybean paste. Tradition holds that the ancestors' spirits prefer round food.
Religion 101
When did churches begin using grape juice for Holy Communion?
Most Protestants use grape juice for Communion, a practice that started in 1869. Inspired by the temperance movement, a Methodist dentist named Thomas Bramwell Welch applied the pasteurization process to Concord grape juice to produce an unfermented sacramental wine for members of his church in Vineland, N.J., where he was the Communion steward. He founded Welch's Grape Juice, and his son eventually left dentistry to focus on marketing the product commercially.
Have a question on religious traditions or practices? Send an e-mail to religion@washpost.com .
-- Compiled from staff and wire reports
