Happy new year to all! This is a time of reflection and forgiveness, as a new day is upon us and we can once again refresh ourselves in the new sunlight. The way I see it, Rosh Hashanah feels like a really good shower for the soul. You know when you come home after a long day in the cold or after a tough game in the hot, muggy sun and you just take the most glorious shower? It usually lasts anywhere from 10 minutes to a legitimate hour; you may even forget to use soap, you just stand there with a zombie-esque look on your face. You're probably drooling but there's no way of knowing, much like tears in the rain (movie reference, anyone?) That's the jewish new year. There are no parties, no ball dropping, no popping bottles in some basement, just a pleasant service and tossing some breadcrumbs in a river. To me, it's the spiritual new year, and January 1st is the bodily new year--and both are important. If you don't give yourself a day to look back at your sins and accomplishments, what do we ever really learn? Atonement on a daily basis gets monotonous and loses its sincere essence, but once a year is a good number in my opinion because it allows me to really think about how I can improve myself as an intellectual and ethical human being.
I especially enjoyed the fact that I was spending a high Jewish holiday in a once Nazi-occupied city. As we stood along the riverside and sang our songs of a better tomorrow, all I could think of was how my people made it through the darkness. I looked around to find myself surrounded by old couples, young families, foreign students, and even new born babies attending the service. Although there were only about 20 people there, at least 4 generations of Jews were in attendance, which to me symbolizes the hope that Rosh Hashanah aims to instill in all sects of Judaism. It made me feel very hopeful, witnessing first hand that the boots of hatred could not stamp out the faith of my people, and that decades after the Holocaust, I could pray on the very cobblestone that Nazis once ruled.
Enough insight, it is Saturday night after all. Time to go make my first mistake of the year! :D
This explains my high water bills.
ReplyDeleteI love this. "A shower for the soul...the boots of hatred could not stamp out the faith of my people... If you don't give yourself a day to look back at your sins and accomplishments, what do we ever really learn? Yes, yes and yes. We learn through the interplay of action and reflection. That is how we revise ourselves. And the observation that you celebrated Rosh Hashanah with 4 generations in a once Nazi occupied city brings to mind a quote of Martin Luther King's: "The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, but It Bends Toward Justice”
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