Not the Jewish New Year!

The countdown timers to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are ticking…

Question for dinner-table conversation: If a stranger were to ask you in an elevator, “What’s Rosh Hashanah,” what’s your elevator-pitch answer?

+ + + + + + +

The Talmud is unequivocal on this point: Rosh Hashanah is not the Jewish New Year.

Don’t act so surprised—if you already knew everything about Rosh Hashanah, you wouldn’t need this book. But it may reassure you that the vast majority of Jewish People—including those raised with a good Jewish education—are confused about this point. Because even though the Talmudic teaching on Rosh Hashanah is unequivocal and unambiguous, most of us have fallen into the non-Jewish way of thinking. After all, we live in a pluralistic, tolerant world where everyone has “their” tradition. Since this is “our” tradition, it must be “our” New Year.

The better online articles about Rosh Hashanah state more accurately, “Rosh Hashanah is the New Year in Judaism.” That would be true. According to our tradition, it is indeed the New Year for all of humanity.

That is to say, the meaning, message, and potential of Rosh Hashanah are relevant to each and every human on planet earth.

And what is that meaning, message, and potential?

Quite simple: Rosh Hashanah is an annual opportunity to reset your life trajectory.

You don’t love where your life has been going? Use Rosh Hashanah to reboot. The next chapter will tell you how. But before getting into the how, understand the why.

+ + + + + + +

Excerpted from our new book, Restoring the High Holidays, the latest not-for-profit project of JSLI.

(Available in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Sweden, Italy,  France, Spain, Japan, etc. and in Russian.)

Second dinner-table question: Can you name the four High Holidays?

May you and yours be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.