What’s Happening! September, 2007
Rosh Hashanah – More than just a New Year
By Rabbi Meir Moscowitz
Throughout the year, the Jewish calendar is filled with holidays commemorating key historic milestones. Passover recalls our flight from Egypt; Shavuot, receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai; Purim, our deliverance from the threat of annihilation. As Rosh Hashanah approaches, one might wonder, what happening, what key event in Jewish history do the High Holidays celebrate?
The Talmud tells us that Rosh Hashanah is not the anniversary of the creation of the world, it is the anniversary of the sixth day of creation, the day G‑d created Adam. Rosh Hashanah thus does not actually celebrate the creation of the physical world, rather it celebrates the creation of mankind.
Mystical thought explains that this is a great lesson to us. The date of the Jewish New Year emphasizes the role of people rather than the world in general. G‑d didn’t create the world to have static and lifeless planetary matter. He wanted a dynamic changeable environment whose material crassness could be transformed into a dwelling place for Him. This is achieved by the actions, thoughts and words of people. Our divine mission is to change the world for good, and make it into a place where G‑d and G‑dliness is welcome.
Furthermore, our sages teach us that the reason Adam was created a single being (unlike other species which were created in large numbers) is to demonstrate how even one person is as valuable to G‑d as the whole world. Every single individual has the capacity to attain the highest degree of fulfillment for his/her self and the rest of the world.
When Rosh Hashanah arrives, we commit ourselves to a more intense bond with G‑d, and to a more meaningful and deeper relationship with Him. We don’t need a specific historic event to be the focus of Rosh Hashanah, for the holiday commemorates the very purpose of our being.
And so, as Americans nominate their choices for presidential leadership, Jews the world over this Rosh Hashanah will be “convening” in our own special way to nominate G‑d for another year-long term. With simple acts of devotion, goodness and kindness, and belief in His ultimate rule we issue our vote of confidence in the Creator and in return receive another year of life, blessings and the opportunity to draw ever closer to Him.
May we all merit to be written and sealed in the Book of Life for a happy, healthy and meaningful 5768.
Rabbi Meir Moscowitz is director of Lubavitch Chabad of Northbrook. He also directs the Northbrook Jewish Learning Institute (JLI).