With the High Holy Days nearly upon us, one might expect an occasional nip in the air, a brisk northerly breeze to remind us that autumn has arrived.
Nope. It’s been the usual sunny and hot “Indian Summer” across the Bay Area this week. Summer decided to cling like beach sand between the toes, and no one seems ready to put away the sunscreen and flip-flops.
But as we know, each season eventually moves along, inexorably giving way to the next. So now we turn to the season of reflection, repentance and redemption. We turn to the season of turning.
Erev Rosh Hashanah, which this year heralds the new Jewish year 5772, falls on Wednesday, Sept. 28. There’s no event on the Jewish calendar that evokes the feeling of this night. Together with fellow congregants, some of whom we may not have seen for months, we assemble in our holy places for a solemn purpose. And yet there is much joy and anticipation.
The hard work of Yom Kippur is still a week off. On Erev Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate our survival, both individually and as a community.
Yet we must acknowledge that Rosh Hashanah this year comes at a time of deep anxiety in the Jewish world.
Israel faces the prospect of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, courtesy of the United Nations General Assembly. No good can come from this usurpation of the long-standing commitment to direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Should this declaration come to pass, many observers on all sides fear ensuing violence and chaos, especially once the Palestinians realize they will have gained nothing from this charade at the U.N.
Israel’s deteriorating relations with Turkey and Egypt similarly heighten regional uncertainty. The Arab Spring has turned into a winter of discontent for those who hoped democracy might improve ties between Israel and her Arab neighbors.
In this country, we still feel the aftershocks of the economic downturn. Jewish institutions across the country have downsized, while the need for services from Jewish charities, especially those that serve the poor, the elderly and the infirm, has skyrocketed.
The Jewish people have been down similarly rocky roads many times before. We have navigated them all, no matter how many stumbling blocks are placed before us.
This diffcult time, too, shall pass. That’s not naiveté or wishful thinking: It’s settled law for the Jewish people.
We wish all our readers a meaningful Rosh Hashanah and High Holy Days season.