Beyond 8100 Stevenson: Rosh Hashanah
Rabbi Deborah Wechsler
This is how Rosh Hashanah began for me.
The first card of the season came from Lorraine. She made a donation to the sisterhood, wrote a personal wish, and this told me that it was time to buy stamps so that I might respond with similar expressions to friends and family.
The first recipe of the season came from Miriam. She left me a copy of a delicious sounding dish containing pomegranate seeds with a handwritten note that Rosh Hashanah was coming soon. This told me that it was time to plan my meals and my menus so that my family will not be eating take out from Yaffa.
The first shofar of the season came from Isaac and Abby. They taught my children to sound each of their four different shofarot, showing them how to keep their cheeks from puffing out and get a nice clear sound. This told me that it was time to take out the ritual objects, the toy shofars, the honey dish, the fancy hallah cover so that my home would be infused with the anticipation of Rosh Hashanah.
You’ll notice that I am not speaking about sermon ideas, and writing sessions. Today we want to speak about the other Rosh Hashanah, the one that happens in my home and yours. The ways in which we observe the festival beyond the bounds of the synagogue and the how those observances might infuse these days with meaning and a connection to God.
This is not always easy because the reality is that the focal point for our observance of Rosh Hashanah is here in shul rather than our homes.
If there would be one theme to Rosh Hashanah observance that would be hakarat ha tov, acknowledging the blessings in our lives and expressing gratitude for them. This stems from the answer to the question of why Rosh Hashanah comes before Yom Kippur. It would make more sense intuitively to first observe Yom Kippur, repent for our sins, be forgiven for them, and then to begin the year anew. Yom Kippur would work better as the last day of the year, rather than the 10th day. But obviously that’s not the case. The traditional answer is that Rosh Hashanah comes first because before we ask god to forgive us and give us another year of life, we have to first appreciate what we do have. Only after recognizing our gifts is it appropriate to ask for more of them.
The theme of hakarat ha tov winds its way throughout the wide array of Rosh Hashanah observances, especially those observed outside the synagogue. This morning we are going to focus on two particular home observances, new fruits and the Rosh Hashanah Seder.
Now is the time to go to the Farmer’s market under the JFX to find a cherimoya or guava or star fruit. Thursday night, the second night of Rosh Hashanah presents a halakhic conundrum. We want to say the shehehiyanu blessing thanking God for enabling us to reach that moment, but there is no occasion to do so. You might think that Rosh Hashanah is two days long, but in the rabbinic imagination it is in actuality one very long day.
The rabbis call Rosh Hashanah yoma arikhta, which differentiates it from the other festive days which are two days only in places outside of the land of Israel. Yoma arikhta means that Rosh Hashanah is two days whether you are in Israel, Baltimore, or Melbourne. The rabbis devised a legal fiction to allow us to say the shehehiyanu on the second night of Rosh Hashanah even though technically it is just a continuation of the previous day. We create another occasion for which the shehehiyanu is mandated beyond the day itself – such as wearing a new article of clothing or eating a new food. In this way our spiritual need to express gratitude on the second day of Rosh Hashanah is given voice at our holiday tables.
The sage Abaye in the Talmud speaks of a Rosh Hashanah Seder, but this Seder one is even better than the other one because you can eat Hallah and real cake with it. Just as the Pesah Seder is observed with foods that are laden with metaphor and meaning, so too is the Rosh Hashanah Seder. Each food comes with a wish for the New Year that is based on its Hebrew or Aramaic words. It is playful and joyous and a really lovely manifestation of the way that Jews infuse food with meaning. By us, food is never just about food. So on Rosh Hashanah we eat dates, tamar, so that evil should end yitamu. We eat pomegranate so that our year be as full of mitzvot as the pomegranate is of seeds. We eat pumpkin, so that the evil decree be torn away from us. We eat a fish head so that we have a year in which we are at the head and not at the tail. We eat beans, rubiya, so that our merits increase yirbu. These are just a few among the ceremonial foods for Rosh Hashanah. In this way the ritual expression of our wishes at the New Year find their way home from the synagogue.
The questions of why we observe Rosh Hashanah is the more intriguing one. You could say that it is because Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the world but that would be like answering the question of why are we going out to dinner and having cake by saying because it is your birthday today. That is merely the occasion that is being celebrated. Just as we go out to dinner and eat cake and give gifts because we want to show someone that we love them and appreciate them, we are grateful for the gifts that they have brought into their life and this milestone is meaningful for us, we observe Rosh Hashanah for similar reasons.
We want to express our gratitude for everything in the world and that the world has given us. It is meaningful for us to pause once a year and acknowledge the profundities of our lives.
