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While there are many rituals associated with the holiday, which often involve apples, pomegranates, nuts, and honey, at its essence, Rosh Hashanah (which means "head of the year") is the celebration of humanity's relationship with the world, with God, with the All of existence: it is an anniversary of sorts, as a new year begins. This is in keeping with our theme this congregational year of A New Chapter in UUCMC History, and also with our September theme of Welcome. For, during these Jewish High Holy Days, we welcome in the "Days of Awe" stretching until Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), days in which we are asked to reflect on the past versions of ourselves, make some restitution, ask for and grant forgiveness, and start again, anew.
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman writes, “The most important renewal of life is that which occurs on Rosh Hashanah. Because that is when all life of the previous year returns to its essential source and a new life, such as was never known before, emerges from the void to sustain existence for an entire year.” Sometimes, the hardest part of forgiveness is forgiveness of self. I offer a poem in which the poet struggles with doing Rosh Hashanah "right":
Secular Jewish New Year
Melissa Cahnmann-Taylor
Gathered last minute in a weeknight kitchen,
no commitment, arriving late
to not-enough forks or chairs, forgotten
traditions, mismatched plates,
no one knowing the full, Hebrew prayers.
All we know is that the broom doesn’t worry
if it’s broom enough to sweep apple cake crumbs;
wine glasses don’t apologize, sorry
they’re only “half” a glass or that they never attended
wine school. Even silver nutcracker prongs
retired in their velvet cushioned drawer
might have forgotten, gone
to work on the holidays, as always,
in the walnut bowl.
When have you stressed out about not doing something "right"? How does thinking about the broom being "broom enough" help you to understand that you, yourself, are "enough"?
Do you have beautiful plates or glasses or nutcracker prongs that you are waiting to enjoy when the "right time" comes along? How is that going for you?
Should the wine glasses apologize, given the mandate of the holiday time? Or is the bliss of the prongs, which have "forgotten," a way to live unfettered by expectations? What do you think the message of the poem is?
This past week, looking out on a full Earth Room, smiles on faces, kids with backpacks, folks clutching precious water for our ritual of Water Communion, I had a real and beautiful sense that we are ready, we are prepared to enter into this new year together as a congregation. How wonderful, then, that Rosh Hashanah begins this Friday evening, reminding us that, while it is never a bad time to think on our lives and turn towards more meaningful living, why not now?
Be with us on Sunday to hear the shofar blown, join in the sung prayers, and embrace a spirit of renewal that the Jewish High Holy Days of Awe provide. And I hope you'll consider being together on Thursday afternoon for Tea Time, when we check in with one another and discuss our lives, along with our thoughts on the weekly poem.
L'shanah tova (a good year!),
Rev. Craig
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