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Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah The Jewish world is privileged, for we can celebrate our renewal at least twice; in the spring, during Nisan, we celebrate the liberation from Egypt, the birth of the Jewish people on the road to a covenant with God. In the seventh month, Tishri, we observe a New Year of Teshuvah, of turning toward that God by addressing our misdeeds and repenting for the failure to act decently and respect one another. The Torah describes this holy day as a special Shabbat, the seventh month, like the seventh day, having within it a time of rest and renewal. The Book of Leviticus tells us that "In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, there shall be a solemn rest for you, a sacred convocation proclaimed with a Teruah, a blast of ram's horns, you shall not do any work..." The shofar's shrill and wild calls, Tekiah, Shevarim, Teruah, still announce the sacred day, but much has been changed and much more added. Days of Judgment, Days of Awe, renewing life or a sentence of death, these are the themes that the rabbis developed as time and history created a demand for new meanings for ancient traditions. By the period of the Mishnah, the Rabbinic tradition had determined that the first of Tishri was not only the anniversary of the creation of the world, but was also Yom Hadin, the day that God sat in judgment, inscribing human beings according to their deeds into the Books of Life and Death. We find this imagery expressed in the Unetaneh Tokef prayer: "On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed - Who shall live and who shall die." This theme of divine judgment, seemingly harsh and unrelenting, unites with the themes of return and reconciliation, for we are told that Teshuvah (Repentance), Tefilah (Prayer) and Tzedakah ( Contributions to charity or acts of Righteousness) can temper the harshness of judgment, in other words, that the gift of life is our choice. The goal is lashuv, to turn toward each other and God. The Talmud states that Rabbi Meir used to say, "Great is repentance, for on account of an individual who repents, the sins of all the world are forgiven..." (Talmud Bavli, Yoma 86b) The expectation and hope during these days is one of compassion from a loving God, for the teachings of the rabbis assert that the gates of prayer and the gates of repentance always remain open. This sense of expectancy is expressed in the prayer Avinu Malkenu, when the congregation implores "Our Parent, Our Ruler, be gracious and answer us, even though our deeds don't merit it, treat us charitably and with loving kindness and so save us." The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, the Ten Days of Repentance. During this time we are supposed to continue the hard work of self examination begun during the month of Elul, to determine how to change in the new year. According to the Talmud, repentance means having the ability and the opportunity to repeat our wrongful acts and to refrain from doing so. We are also required to seek out those we may have hurt by word or deed, to redress the wrong, and ask their forgiveness. Our tradition teaches (Mishnah, Yoma 8.9) that the Day of Atonement atones for transgressions against God, but for transgressions of one human being against another, the Day of Atonement does not atone until peace has been made and conciliation achieved. Maimonides states that if the injured party is unwilling to forgive, that person is to be entreated until forgiveness has been obtained, but that it is forbidden to bear a grudge and refuse to forgive, and the one who refuses to forgive is now the sinner. The shaking loose of the sins of the past year through prayer and action is also symbolically expressed in a ceremony called Tashlich, which in Hebrew means "you will cast". On the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah (if it does not fall on Shabbat), participants assemble at a body of living water to watch their sins float away in the form of bread crumbs or other substitutes cast there. Psalms are sung and these lines from the prophet Micah: "Who is like you God, pardoning iniquity, overlooking the transgressions of the remnant of Your heritage, who does not hold onto anger forever, who desires kindness. God will again be merciful to us, God will suppress our iniquities, You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." I recommend the Hudson River for this ceremony, gathering with friends, family, perhaps your chavurah, to offset the day's solemnity and congregational worship with private moments of reflection and ritual. "L'shanah tovah tikkateyvu v'tichatemu. May you be written and sealed for a good year."
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