It is generally presumed that the holiday of Rosh Hashanah
(celebrated this year from sundown of October 3 until sundown of
October 5) is the Jewish New Year. Indeed the words Rosh Hashanah
mean “head of the year.” Yet this assertion is sure to puzzle
anyone with a working knowledge of the Bible, which notes on a few
occasions, of which Leviticus 23:24 is the first, that this holiday
takes place on the first day of the seventh month. How do you
celebrate New Year in the seventh month of the year?
The answer is that there are two Jewish calendars. There is the
calendar for all human history and the calendar for Jewish history.
The Jewish parochial calendar begins with the month of the Exodus
and the holiday of Rosh Hashanah takes place on the first day of
the seventh month. The Jewish “human calendar” begins on the day of
Rosh Hashanah, based on the tradition that Adam and Eve were
brought into human life on that day 5766 years ago.
Thus Rosh Hashanah is not the Jewish insider’s New Year. It is
the New Year of all humanity, celebrated by Jews on that day. But
the celebration is modified by a shadow of trepidation. It is a day
not without fear, since the belief is that each living person
undergoes a review on this day to determine whether he or she will
receive an additional year of life. This is why you will hear these
days referred to as the Days of Awe.
Some of the lines in the liturgy — “On Rosh Hashanah it is
written…who by fire and who by water…” — resonate powerfully
as fires burn in California and floods persist in Louisiana and now
Kansas.
Think about it. Here is a wonderful exercise, whether or not you
choose to accept the notion that your next full year of life is
being allotted on this day. Take the challenge, step up and offer a
plan for a year’s worth of achievement. You are asking for venture
capital, a year of life with which to accomplish various things.
Show us why you are a worthwhile investment. Show us what we can
expect by way of return.
You’re an expensive proposition, my friend. You’re knocking off,
what, thirty, forty chickens a year? A head or two of cattle? Not
to mention all that bread and salad and milk and eggs. We know that
you love those crispy tortilla chips and those gooey caramel bars.
Apple juice and orange juice and soda and tea and coffee and what’s
this other item? Oh, I see, adult beverages. Whew, hitting the
sauce a little heavy last year, you might want to watch that.
We have to deliver a whole mess of steel and rubber in the form
of a car or you’re going to be pretty annoyed. Riding a camel like
Abraham is not enough. How about a donkey like Moses? Still no
good. Not even a mule like King David will do. A lot of mining and
smelting and hot vats of molten steel and assembly-line machinery a
block long and a lot of harried-looking guys waiting for Michael
Moore to come around again for an interview: all this and more goes
into enabling you to zip hither and thither in ways that your first
5650 years of ancestors could not imagine. And if you get a flat
tire and are inconvenienced for half an hour, you whine as if your
birthright was stolen.
Then there is all your internal machinery. Eyes whirring in
rotation, ears juggling sound waves, noses breathing, mouths eating
in and talking out, a regular refinery processing the nutrients out
of your food and some complex piping to unload the waste. Heart
bumping, lungs thumping, brain firing neurons in all directions
(including a naughty thought or two, as I recall), arms churning,
legs turning and soul yearning. And I suppose that on top of all
that you will want your sexual equipment to work.
There is so much more that goes into making your life. Your
parents, if they’re still living, your spouse, your children and
grandchildren, your friends, your business associates, your
students perhaps. The people who work for you and see to your
comfort and health and security. An entire vast network of
interlocking details is devoted to your existence. Can you produce
sufficient to justify that investment?
I’m just kidding you, of course, just putting you on the spot. I
know how incredibly much you have to contribute to society. And I
wish you a wonderful year full of joy, with health and abundant
resources, so that you can throw your heart and soul into making
this world a better place.
