How Rosh Hashana Becomes Our North Star

As we rapidly approach the beginning of the new Hebrew year this coming Shabbat and Sunday, as usual there is good news and bad news.

The good news is, quite simply, we made it.  For those of us who stood in our synagogues last Rosh Hashanah and offered up prayers for another year of life and health, at least as of this writing, those prayers have been answered in the affirmative as we are still around, ready to restart the cycle for the new year, 5787.  For that alone we all need to be grateful.

Sadly, there is plenty of bad news as well.   It is difficult to remember a time since the end of World War II 81 years ago, when the world was in a more precarious situation vis-à-vis our future than it is now.  All one needs do is open one’s eyes and the challenges come into full view.

On the subject of peace in the world, it is obvious that that world is in a state of chaos.  The Russia-Ukraine war, which was going to be a quick slam dunk for the Russians, is now in its fifth year with no clear path to the stoppage of the fighting. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports total Russian personnel losses at approximately 1,497,980 as of September 2026, averaging over 1,500 daily casualties during recent intense fighting. International estimates place Ukrainian military deaths between 55,000 and 150,000, alongside over 14,000 documented civilian fatalities.

The US war of choice against Iran that President Trump predicted would be over in 4-6 weeks is now in its sixth month.  Estimates indicate that roughly 3,500 to 6,000 Iranians have died in the ongoing conflict, though exact numbers vary by source. 18 US military have died in the war as well.   Yet, other than the reduction in Iran’s defensive capabilities none of the objectives of the war have been realized and there is no horizon for its end.  Iran’s drone activity against its Gulf neighbors continues unabated, its support of regional proxies seems to be reasserting itself, their nuclear program while reduced in scope, has not been eliminated and the Hormuz Strait which was open to all before the war, is now virtually closed resulting in worldwide inflation and economic stress.

Here in Israel while we have successfully reduced the attack capabilities of all of our regional enemies, fighting continues in Gaza and Lebanon with threats of new hostilities with Iran being voiced daily even by our own politicians.

Add to all of this the smaller skirmishes like the civil wars in Sudan and Myanmar, the Syrian civil war and instability,  as well as insurgencies in the Sahel, with widespread violent extremism and jihadist actions destabilizing countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger and, well, the picture is anything but rosy.

In addition to war, climate change is generating catastrophic events of epic proportions almost every day, whether it is glaciers melting causing a mountain to fall and create a devastating tsunami in Nepal and Tibet, avalanches in Russia, flash flooding killing people across the US or hurricanes/tornadoes occurring with greater frequency and increased strength worldwide.  There seems to be no end.

Couple all of this with political leaders around the world whose word simply cannot be trusted, whose personal “truths” seemingly change on a daily basis, oligarchs who believe they have the right as a result of their success to dictate worldwide political policy, along with widening income equality coupled with food insecurity issues across the globe and it is hard to find the “north star” that will help us rise up from this morass of global physical and political rot.

Yet we Jews do have a “north star” that presents itself every year at Rosh Hashanah and reminds us that we are partners with the Holy One in the ongoing saga of creation.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a leading 20th-century Jewish theologian, framed Rosh Hashanah not as a passive courtroom judgment of our sins of the past year, but as an intimate, urgent encounter with the Divine. He taught that the holiday awakens “radical amazement”—a deep, piercing wonder at existence—and challenges us to realize that human actions matter profoundly to God, who looks to humanity as a partner in ongoing creation.

Heschel’s message was that life is not routine. Rosh Hashanah jolts us out of our casual indifference to existence, urging us to view our days with awe and gratitude.  Heschel postulated that God relies on human hands and moral choices to realize His will on earth.   Rather than reducing repentance to paralyzing guilt, Heschel emphasized yirat shamayim (awe of God) as an uplifting, life-altering realization of the grandeur and mystery of the universe.

Acknowledging our role as God’s partner then gives us the strength to commit to doing our part to live up to his expectations of us and then act to correct the ills of society.  That then becomes our north star that points us in the right direction.

May the new year be one of blessing for all of us and may all of our prayers be answered in the affirmative. Shanah tovah umetukah……a good and sweet year for all!!!!