Rosh Hashana 2024 – what are we praying for?

I am less than professionally qualified to write articles on prayer but still here I am. I am writing this because 11 months since 7^th October we are heading into the High Holydays and a time of reflection. Many thousands from all branches of Judaism will reflect during this period and experience sadness, anger, pain, loss, grief, suffering, hopelessness for some and possibly hope for others, many other emotions and possibly all of the above.

This year, more than any other in my lifetime, has been a stand out one for all the wrong reasons – literally the day that marked the end of the last holiday period saw the worst tragedy for the Jewish people since the Holocaust and we are still reeling. We are at war, many captives are still being held and many have been brutally slain, antisemitism has reared itself and we are disunited as a people.

I have lost people I know well, close relatives of friends and one of my kids has fought in some of the most sensitive places and missions on and after the 7^th October as a Special Forces soldier. Everyone has their own story and experience – many far far worse than mine – but Rosh Hashana is coming to us all soon and as I prepare to lead the service there are a number of aspects which I would like to highlight – to myself more than anything – that may give us some hope or direction as we struggle to deal with the enormity of this day in our time.

I will focus on 5 specific elements, but please be aware that these are just my thoughts – the prayers are expansive and hauntingly beautiful, and everyone should seek their own thoughts. This is not a halachic guide, just my view of some highlights that speak to me.

We not I

It is a very simple point but it has deep meaning. The prayers are about “We” and not “I” – they are about us as a people and as a world. Whether we like it or not, we are in it together. There are simply too many examples of the simple fact that we are judged as a collective.

As a Chazzan, I will be a representative of the community I lead in prayer but more than that I am praying for all of us. Our disunity is ripping us apart and people of all shades of Judaism are turning on the other.

We must find a way back from this abyss and it isn’t as simple as ‘they must follow my ideas’ – we are a nation based on debate and questioning but we must do so with respect for the other.

I don’t know how we do this – it seems beyond us – and this comes to my second point

God is King

For people who don’t believe in God, this may not ring true for you but for people of faith – whatever your level of observance and your unresolved questions – this inability to unite and the struggles we are having as a people lead us back to the fact that we don’t know all the answers and can’t fix everything ourselves. We are not alone – we live in a world with a True King and Rosh Hashana more than anything is about seeing through all the noise and recognizing that.

If we can find in ourselves the faith to know that we have an ultimately benevolent King whose desire is to seek our return to Him, and to be a united people, we may be able to have meaning in our lives.

The world appears to have gone crazy and the pain is immense. Whilst I am not, some may be angry with God for this and I hear it but there is hope. Judaism is explicit in the fact that God takes tough decisions – In the most famous prayer of Rosh Hashana – Untaneh Tokef – Let us Voice the Power –  we articulate that God will decide who will die, who before their time, who will suffer etc. God makes tough decisions for which we can’t necessarily understand on a personal level and as a people why, but I have to believe it is not random – that there is a method to the apparent madness and that God has a plan.

In the same prayer it says:

“To the very day he dies, You wait for him, and if he comes back, You welcome him at once”

Rosh Hashana is about reminding ourselves and ‘coronating’ our King. There are plenty of books and articles on Why God does what He does but Rosh Hashana is about recognizing this principle.

We all need meaning in our lives – As Victor Frankl – a man who lived through the horrors of multiple concentration camps including Auschwitz wrote:

“Man, however, is able to live and even to die for the sake of his ideals and values! … Man is never driven to moral behavior; in each instance, he decides to behave morally. … Man does not behave morally for the sake of having a good conscience but for the sake of a cause to which he commits himself, or for a person whom he loves, or the sake of his God ”

We have a positive cause and are a positive force of good for the world and under His Kingship we will ultimately prosper and continue to do His work of improving the world we live in.

Prayer from the heart – Hannah, the Shofar and a ‘still voice’

On Rosh Hashana there is a lot of text and prayer but it is for most of us impossible to take it all in – it is overwhelming. For me it is really important to focus finding the aspects that speak to me and that help me on my spiritual journey.

Three elements spring to mind for me which infuse the day of Rosh Hashana:

Hannah – We read about this extraordinary role model in the Haftara reading on the first day of Rosh Hashana. The way she prayed to God is the basis for much of our prayer today and was deeply emotional, intimate and passionate. It was from the heart and that is what we must strive for. If even for a moment we are able to spiritually connect with true intensity to the spiritual it is worth it.

The Shofar – despite all the prayer, the most powerful prayer for many is the haunting sound of the Shofar – it says what our mouths and prayers can’t – it calls out. Connecting to it and really speaking the things we can’t say connects us on this day.

“A Still Voice” – it is mentioned again in ‘Untaneh Tokef in the context that “A Great Shofar sounds and a still small voice is heard”. Sometimes it is not the loud, noisy, clapping that the Divine is found, but in the stillness and quiet voice of  as He connect with us.

As we deal with our current situation – we should find the time to connect – not just through the formality of prayer but through the quiet stillness, the sound of the Shofar and the passionate, and learning from the intimate prayer of Hannah.

Prayer is just one aspect

The solution for returning and reconnecting with God is stated in the Mussaf Prayer – “Repentance, Prayer and Charity avert the evil decree”.

Prayer is only one aspect of our path to reconnecting – it is a three pronged approach

1. We must try to resolve to be better people
2. We need to pray for ‘s help and forgiveness
3. We need to build our society and engage in the practical welfare of our people and world.

Rosh Hashana is a day for the second and to really focus on putting our energy into it – but it is only part of the answer – we must improve ourselves and our society.

Something we pray for 3 times a day not just on Rosh Hashana

I say it 3 or 4 times a day but rarely focus on it. In the prayer many say every day multiple times. We ask in the 2^nd blessing of the Amidah – “He supports the fallen, heals the sick, sets the captives free”

This is a prayer I will do my very best to focus as hard on this year. It is not just for Rosh Hashana – it is for every day – my greatest wish is that before the festival and even before this is published-  will set the captives free.

I have many prayers – for peace, for health, for an end to the war but I pray that my prayers and those of all of us will unite us as a people and bring the captives home.

And lastly…the opening prayer of my Mussaf for me and the most haunting – “Here I am, empty of deeds, in turmoil, fearing the One who sits enthroned on the praises of Israel. I have come here to stand up and plead with You for Your people who have sent me, even though I am not worthy or fitting to come”

I am not the right person to lead prayers, nor to write this article – I have my many sins and weaknesses and I am fundamentally flawed. To some extent we all are and we are all on a journey.

Our people are on a journey – this year it has been more than tough – but I pray that by turning to God and turning to each other we can defeat the terror that plagues us and emerge a stronger, more united, more faithful nation.

I am not here to force religion on people – many people have issues with it – and many aspects of our current implementation of the Jewish path troubles me too, and we must pray for this to improve as well. Faith is a personal matter. For anyone of faith however some of these messages may be helpful and universal.