There’s an old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” Considering the times we live in, it looks like we’re all cursed.
Could the world be any more turbulent?
A spectacularly important election — arguably the most decisive in American history — looms. The financial bedrock of our nation and the industrialized world appears on the verge of collapse, with the proposed cure perhaps worse than the disease. War and rumors of war press ever onward.
Yet despite all the tumult, with the High Holy Days and the New Year 5769 approaching, we Jews now must begin the important work of turning inward.
Though at this time Jews around the world gather as a people, so much about these holidays is solitary work. During the Days of Awe, we tune out the noise and haste. We set aside, as the poet William Wordsworth termed it, all the “getting and spending.” Instead, we must each take stock and seek to reconfigure our lives.
What a testament to the genius of Judaism that we are commanded to do this. For so many of us, beset by the concerns of everyday life, it does not come easily to pause and reflect. And certainly not for a whole week.
Yet there it is, the sound of the shofar’s blast commanding our attention; the melody of “Avinu Malkenu” stirring us to scour our hearts. We begin the journey once again.
There’s a long-standing Rosh Hashanah custom among Ashkenazi Jews that helps illuminate the holiday’s meaning. On that day both clergy and congregants dress in white. Why white? In addition to symbolizing a cleasing of sins, there is another more judicial explanation. In most of the world’s courts, judges wear black. But on our holy day of judgment, we instead choose to wear white.
It is an outward signal that Jews have unimpeachable confidence in the God of the Torah, and that God will grant us favor, mercy and favorable judgment. On this solemn day, we still manage to celebrate.
So with that in mind, we wish you, our readers, a very meaningful High Holy Day season. We wish you a happy and healthy New Year, and another year inscribed in the Book of Life.
And above all, this Rosh Hashanah we wish you the luxury of self-reflection and teshuvah (often translated from the Hebrew as repentance, but more accurately meaning “turning”).
In the quiet bower of these holy days, may we all turn our lives around and make them better.
Shanah tovah to all.