Happy New Year

Shanah tova- Happy New Year! This must be a typo, you may be thinking—why is the rabbi wishing us Happy New Year in September? Well, that is because in just three weeks from now, the members of our Jewish faith around the world will celebrate the coming of the new year, according to the Jewish calendar. Specifically mentioned in Leviticus 23:24-5 and then later in Numbers 29:1-6, these biblical references describe Rosh Hashanah as a day of rest, when we sound the shofar, the ram’s horn, to declare the new year.

Interestingly, Rosh Hashanah does not occur on the first day of the first month of the year, but the seventh month of the year. In the Jewish calendars there are several “new year” commemorations.

In the first Hebrew month, Nisan, we celebrate Passover, the historic remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, but also the coming of Springtime. Near the end of winter, in the eleventh Hebrew month called Shevat, we celebrate the new year for nature, specifically trees, when the growing season commences in Israel. Another of these “new year” holidays is Sukkot, occurring fifteen days after Rosh Hashanah, which is both an historic reminder, and a natural time of the year. Historically, it reminds us of the forty years of wandering of the ancient Hebrews after leaving Egypt, when they lived in temporary dwellings, called a Sukkah. Now we build those temporary “huts” in our yards or synagogues for eight days, fulfilling the Biblical injunction found in Exodus 34:22, which marks the end of harvest season in ancient Israel.

An additional “New Year” occurs in early summer, the holy day called Shavuot, which occurs 50 days after Passover. If this sounds familiar to you, it is similar to the Christian holiday of Pentacost, commemorated fifty days after Easter. Described in Exodus 34:22 and Leviticus 23:15-21, Shavuot is celebrated in the Hebrew month of Sivan, recognizing the spring harvest and end of the wheat and barley harvest, but religiously, commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments by God to Moses, and through Moses to the Jewish people.

Rosh Hashanah is a time of joy and celebration, as we begin a new religious year, 5786, but it is also a serious time of reflection and spiritual renewal. For most Jewish people it is a time to attend worship services with their friends and family, share unique and beautiful liturgy and music, hear the blowing of the “shofar,” the ram’s horn, and, of course, enjoy apples dipped in honey, special ritual foods symbolizing our hope for a sweet new year

And if you meet Jewish friends and neighbors, what do you say? Well, “Happy New Year” is appropriate, and if you are adventurous, you could say “Shanah Tova” a good year! And if you are really brave, you might say “L’Shanah tova u metukah,” for a good and sweet year!” Regardless, our new year is not a time of parties, noisemakers, and the ball dropping in Times Square, it is a time to draw closer to our people, our neighbors, our faith, and to God.

Let me wish you a healthy, happy year, whatever our faith tradition, from all of us at Temple Oseh Shalom in Bluffton!

Rabbi Ken Kanter currently serves the local Jewish congregation at the Temple Oseh Shalom in Bluffton, SC.