Rosh Hashanah

All kings and queens throughout history have had a responsibility toward their subjects; to appear with regularity and declare the affairs of state.  It is a regal event with all the pageantry and majesty that would accompany such an event, as if it were lifted out of story book.  Gilt covered carriages pulled by massive horses and glinting swords strung from the waist color the day.  Then the coup de grace; a glimpse at the magnificent jewels adorning the monarch.

Rosh Hashanah is the coronation day of the Holy One, blessed be He.  As the Lord sits with the crown on His head, he casts His gaze over the universe.  It is the moment of judgment.  This is the new beginning with all the accompanying majesty and awe.

According to Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon, Rosh Hashanah is the time for the reckoning of years.  A jubilee or date of a festival could not officially start until judgment had been rendered.  Only then would the calendar advance another digit.  And the harvesting of the first fruits of the three-year-old trees would be decided and commence on Rosh Hashanah.

In the starry heavens late at night on the way home from shul, a new moon the companies us toward quiet homes. A new dress, recently shine shoes, candles ablaze on the table, all of these things give a sense of calm and joy. The date portends new possibilities, new choices, and new decisions to old conundrums. One cycle is finished. We begin again.

It is said that the Gates of Heaven are open wide. Is it to give us a glimpse of the King of Kings and adorned in regal splendor? Or is it to give the One-Who-Rules a more perfect view of humanity? Everyone is judged according to some unknown, impenetrable scale of justice. It will be decided who will be granted another year of life and who will be assigned death.

If we are deemed worthy of life, is this a new beginning. If it is the end of life, it is also a new beginning….for the living, survivors, as well as the dead.

I look forward to a full, good year with you, if it is God’s will. No doubt we will cry together, dance at the same weddings, share the same magnificent joys and pains that life affords.  It is a new beginning for us all.  We join together in drinking from the cup of life

An anonymous figure in history once penned, “This is the beginning of a new day. God is giving me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important because I'm exchanging a day in my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something I’ve traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it.”

Is the wisdom, vision and inner strength to grow and have no regrets about tomorrow. However you may choose to say it, Gute Yontif, Shanah Tovah, May God be good to us.