In Loving Memory of Malka Z”L
The name Rosh HaShanah as it is used in the Bible (Ezekiel 40:1) simply means the beginning of the year, and does not designate the festival. The Babylonian name Tishri seems to derive from the root Seru, which means “to begin.” The ancient Semitic people thought of the year as the beginning of autumn, the time of the late harvest.
The Hebrew expression “be-zet ha-shanah” (at the end of the year) and “tekufat ha-shanah” (at the end-turning of the year), by which the Feast of Ingathering, or Sukkoth, (which is, in a popular sense, the equivalent of the priestly Day of Remembrance), is dated to Exodus 23:16 and 34:22 respectively.
Rosh HaShanah stresses a universalist motif. The prayers are not for Israel alone, but for the entire world ─ for redemption, for righteousness and truth, for Haolam Koolo, the whole world. This is the great plea for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, the Kingdom of righteousness and truth in the spirit of brotherhood, and the annihilation of lies, inequality and tyranny.
Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlov (1772-1810) used to say: to me the main holiday is Rosh HaShana. “For in no time at all the whole year passes…in the twinkling of an eye” (Si Hot he-Ran, No. 214).
Rosh HaShana New Year prayers are not for Israel and the Jewish People alone, but for the redemption of the entire world. The wonderful Hebrew cry from the heart for Hesh Bon Hanefesh, a “taking of stock” of our soul, is for an inner accounting, a judgement upon oneself, and is also a call for redemption of the entire world, Haolam Koolo, Shanah Tova u’mtuka, a sweet New Year 5776 to all!
(Baruch Cohen is CIJR’s Research Chairman)
