Rosh Hashanah

Happy New Year!  So why begin the new year in September?  Is it because the middle eastern desert climate shrugs off the parching heat and heralds the life-giving winter rains?  Maybe, but it's not that simple.  

According to Paul Steinberg in Celebrating the Jewish Year, once upon a time the rabbinic sages identified four "new year" celebrations in the calendar: a. in February, on the 15th of Shevat, when trees bloom (Tu b'Shevat), b. in springtime, on the first day of Nisan, celebrating the dedication of the Tabernacle (Numbers 7:1) (this is technically month number one in the Hebrew calendar,)  c. in late summer on the first of Elul when tithing of the cattle was renewed (I guess this would be the fiscal new year), and d. in early Autumn on the first of Tishri, which marks the renewal of the seasons and is designated by Leviticus 23:24-25 as Yom Ha-Zikkaron, the Day of Remembrance, or Yom Teruah, the day of the sounding of the shofar.  The sages designated the first of Tishri as Rosh Hashanah, the official "Head of the Year," because of its spiritual importance as the birthday of creation and day of judgment.  A significant event from Israelite history on this day is Ezra's recitation of the Torah or five books of Moses to to the children of Israel after their return from exile in Babylon (Neh. 7:72-8:13).  Like King Benjamin's people,  Ezra's listeners were moved and changed by the words of the covenant.  They responded "Amen, Amen" and bowed themselves to the ground, then took action to observe the festivals ordained by God.

To prepare for Rosh Hashanah, the shofar, which represents a spiritual alarm clock inviting people to repent before it's too late, is blown throughout the preceding month, except on Sabbaths and the night  before Rosh Hashanah (click here to hear more about the shofar, and here),  and penitential prayers are added each morning, reminiscent of King David's prayers and psalms of contrition. The shofar blasts again on Rosh Hashanah as Jews worship in the synagogue, then eat pomegranates, apples and honey, and challah bread for a sweet new year.    

Want to make your own challah bread?  Find recipes and instructions here.  Round challah is especially popular at Rosh Hashanah, symbolizing the never ending cycle of the year and eternal life.

Understanding that the sweet new year they hope for comes from drawing closer to God and his commandments, Jews take an accounting of their life and seek to adjust attitudes and behaviors and cast off their sins.  Like the New Year's tradition of writing down one's bad habits on slips of paper and burning them, Jews often gather near bodies of water, preferrably containing fish,

 and symbolically shake out their sins so they will be cast ("Tashlikh") into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:18-19).  Even words spoken in the heat of the moment or casual statements worded as vows are taken into account, and some seek absolution among trusted friends in a ritual called "hatarat nedarim."  It is customary to visit graves of loved ones, give generously to charities, and send greeting cards. Through these outer and inner practices, minds and hearts prepare for forgiveness and renewal, striving to attain God's compassion and mercy.

Jews greet each other with "Shanah Tovah," short for "Le shanah tovah tikatevu"= "May God inscribe you [in the Book of Life].  The Talmud teaches that on Rosh Hashanah, the righteous are written and sealed in the Book of Life, the wicked are written and sealed for death [spiritually], and those in between, the "beinoni" are written but not sealed until Yom Kippur.  These ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement, are known as the Ten Days of Repentance or the Days of Awe.  Assuming most of the community to be in-between, some change the greeting to "gemar chatimah tovah," meaning "a good finishing seal [in the Book of Life]."  Others say "le-shana tovah tikatevu v'tichatemu" for "good year, may you be written and sealed."   This idea would resonate well with Latter-day Saints, who believe that redeeming ordinances must be performed by the proper authority--the priesthood--and sealed by the proper authority--the Holy Spirit of promise--dependent upon personal righteousness--in order to become eternally valid.

A quote from Arthur Green:
"This dream of restored wholeness is sounded out dramatically by the shofar blasts, the central symbolic expression of the teshuvah season...[It] cries out a hundred times on Rosh Hashanah: 'I was whole, I was broken, even smashed to bits, but I shall be whole again!'"

"But our restoration of wholeness is not to be achieved by prayer alone... [The] liturgy only brings us to the edge of the Jordan, but never takes us into the promised land.  For this, we need to add the deed to our holy thoughts and words.  Teshuvah and tefillah ("prayer") need tzedakah ("righteous doing") in order to be effective.  We restore the world (and God's name) to wholeness only by doing.  In fact, our entire contemplative effort has been pointed toward realization in the realm of action.  We are the bearers of compassion in the God-filled universe; so too are we the 'limbs of the Shekhinah,' [the divine presence] the ones who can make real in this world our vision of wholeness. "


Shana Tova!  Enjoy this YouTube video.  It's catchy.




Here's another Rosh Hoshana video .