Rosh Hashana Begins Period of Joy, Reflection

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, is the first in the series of High Holy Days for which the Jewish community of Orange County is preparing in the coming weeks.

The challenge of the season, in this rabbi’s humble opinion, is not figuring out what to wear, which synagogue to visit or how to prepare the best meals for before and after the Yom Kippur fast. Rather, it is committing to the necessary self-examination and correction of past failures and mistakes.

Think about it: The opportunity to clean one’s slate, to start each new year truly clear of sin and subsequent guilt is a precious gift. In order for it to be real, it requires an honest and hard look in the mirror.

Rosh Hashana will begin this year on the eve of Sept. 10 and conclude with the setting of the sun on Sept. 12. It marks a period of both joyous thanksgiving for the sweetness of life and the blessings we encounter and great solemnity for the mistakes we have made and our efforts to correct them in the year ahead.

As Jews, we welcome the new year into our midst with prayer, the sound of the shofar, or ram’s horn, and the sweetness of honey served in cakes, as glaze on challah, or with apples. We bring in the new year in community, in our synagogues and with extended hospitality, inviting one another into our homes to share festive meals.

Immediately after Rosh Hashana, the High Holy Days continue with the Days of Awe. These are the intermediary days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. During this time, we Jews are called upon by our faith and tradition to engage in self-evaluation of our character and conduct. We examine how we behaved during the past year in business and politics, how we treated family members and friends, and even strangers, whether or not we were responsible citizens and neighbors, if we cared enough to try to make the world a better place. And as we measure our strengths and weaknesses, we consider how we will right wrongs of the past year and will do better in the coming year.

Our tradition states that on the Day of Atonement, God atones only for those acts of wrongdoing against God. Failures to act appropriately or justly with other people must be atoned by the individual who has erred. These Days of Awe are a time for reconciliation with alienated family members, colleagues and neighbors.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins on the eve of Sept. 19 and concludes with the setting of the sun on Sept. 20. It is a day of quiet reflection, solemn prayer and petition for atonement, fasting and abstaining from frivolity and excess. Jews gather again in community, in synagogues, to hear the beautiful and stirring chanting of Kol Nidre, the prayer that begs release from all the vows of the past year that were left unfulfilled.

We recite confessions of inescapable wrongdoing as a collective entity and as individuals, physical creatures ruled by desire and confined by finite strength and well-being. Finally, we commit ourselves to behaving differently in the coming year. We make new promises to God, to family members, and to ourselves for better thinking, better conduct and better living.

From Yom Kippur and the entire period of the High Holy Days, Jews hope to emerge with a clean slate, absolved of the previous year’s failings and energized, confident and inspired to do better in the coming year. In this manner, even the solemnity and hard work of Yom Kippur is a joyous and uplifting religious experience.

It is easy in organized religion to be a good synagogue attendee or church attendee, and thereby consider oneself a good religious person. The High Holy Days’ prayers, lessons and sermons all point to the real obligation of the season and religious living, and that is the inner work. Our integrity must be rooted in a willingness to recognize our own failures and our own wrongdoing and then respond appropriately with apologies and honest commitments for change and growth. Otherwise, participation in our respective faiths is only an act.

Judaism demands that we individual Jews count ourselves among the communities of our people wherever we live. But Judaism demands at the same time that it is not enough just to be counted. We must be accountable for our lives, the choices we make and our conduct.

One of our ancient sages taught his students that above all, we must make ourselves accountable for our actions at least by the very day before our death. Of course, his students asked how it would be possible to know which day will be the one before our death. He responded to them with a big “Aha!”

You see, not knowing when it will be too late to correct our behavior, to finish all our unfinished business, to reconcile with loved ones from whom we’ve drifted or abruptly separated, makes it all the more important to take responsibility sooner rather than later.

The truth is that most of us don’t engage in this reflective and corrective behavior every day. We’re busy. We have families to feed, children to cart off to school and soccer practice, aging relatives to care for, demanding bosses, the hungry to feed and the homeless to shelter. High Holy Days are like a cosmic alarm clock waking us to the opportunities for growth, fulfillment, satisfaction and integrity if we would take the time and effort to put our lives and relationships and responsibilities in order. I think this is God’s will and I pray that it is our will.

On Faith is a forum for Orange County clergy and others to offer their views on religious topics of general interest. Submissions, which will be published at the discretion of The Times and are subject to editing, should be delivered to Orange County religion page editor Jack Robinson.