High Holiday Message from Rabbi Harrison

…Ba-chodesh ha-sh’vi-i b’echad la-chodesh y’hi-ye la-chem sha-ba-ton zichron t’ru-ah mikrah Kodesh. (from Lev. 23:34)

The Torah declares the first day of the seventh month as a solemn day of rest, a memorial proclaimed by the t’ru-ah, the blast of the shofar, a holy convocation. It isn’t until the later Rabbinic period that this first day of the seventh month, the first of Tishri, becomes known as Rosh Hashanah, literally the Head of the Year. It is in the Rabbinic period, too, that Rosh Hashanah becomes intimately connected to Yom Kippur by the period of yamim ha-nora’im, The Days of Awe.

Interestingly, the Jewish calendar has several new years. The first of the first month of the Jewish year, Nisan, for instance, is the new year of kings and for the counting of our festivals. Tu Bishvat, the 15 of the month of Shevat, is the new year of trees, a day for accounting when the fruit of a tree can be harvested. The first of Elul was once used as the new year for the reckoning of tithes for animals. But it is Rosh Hashanah that is considered THE New Year, a day we view ourselves as moving from one year to the next, this year from 5785 to 5786. It is the day we mark as a day for personal renewal, when we begin the process of cheshbon ha-nefesh, the introspective accounting of our souls and deeds.

How appropriate that Rosh Hashanah falls on the first day of the seventh month. The echoes of Shabbat are palpable. The month of Tishri can be viewed as a period of rest and renewal following the first six months of calendar, months that are filled with major, community altering events. The first month of the year, Nisan, is one in which we mark redemption and celebrate the transition from bondage to freedom. In the months that follow Pesach, we are busy marking our journey to Sinai and through the midbar. We have received Torah and built a Tabernacle. There has been manna, but there have also been conflicts and challenges in the journey. Now, at the start of the seventh month, the blast of the shofar calls upon each of us to pause, to take time for consideration and reflection as we work to, chadeish yameinu, renew our days with a look not only towards the past but for informing how to move forward into the future.

I look forward to sharing another High Holiday season with our Temple Beth Hillel-Beth Abraham community. May this time of reflection and renewal be enriching for you and yours. Shanah tovah, metukah, u’vri-ut – Wishing each of you a new year filled with sweetness & health,

Rabbi Rhoda J Harrison, PhD/LSW