Mishmarot
It is an ancient custom of the Community of Rome (as of other Communities) and it consists in gathering on the eve of circumcision to read and study biblical passages and liturgical compositions from a specific formulary.
This meeting also takes place for the Bar and Bat Mitzvà and for all weddings, and takes the name of Mishmarà (study wake, Limud).
In the Jewish Community of Rome the Mishmarà – Limud also took place on the seventh evening of Pesach to commemorate the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea.
Special meetings also take place on the first evening of Shavuot, in order to commemorate the event of the Revelation of the Law, on the evening of Hoshannà Rabbà, to ask the Eternal – at the end of the penitential period -for a happy and prosperous year, and on the evening of Rosh ha Shanà lailanot, to remember – with the fruits that grow particularly in the land of Israel – the Eternal creator and regulator of nature.
