Today is the celebration of Rosh Hashanah; the Jewish New Year. Happy New Year! 5779 years since creation. The exact day Rosh Hashanah is celebrated changes each year because the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles. That means the year may be 354.4 days or it may be a little longer. Before you let this muddle your mind, remember our solar based Gregorian calendar is actually 365.25 days long. This is why we have leap years.
Traditions
This is one of the two “High Holy Days” of the year; this and Yom Kippur. No, Chanukah is not one of the High Holy Days, in fact it is a minor celebration in the Jewish traditions. These weeks in September are dedicated to reviewing ones life. I love that! Have you taken time to review your own life? To see if you a living a life that is worthy of the gift you have been given? I had the honor of leading a memorial service for a Jewish friend recently, and though it was a sad time, it was also a joyous experience because I learned about the tradition of doing a Mitzvah.
My friend made it a conscious practice to “do a Mitzvah” every day. Mitzvahs are acts of kindness such as showing love to someone around you, giving to charity, making an interest free loan, honoring your parents, visiting the sick, returning a lost object, consoling a mourner, refraining from gossip and slander, you know, just being kind.
I learned so much as I went about the process of preparing that service for Ron Rosenblatt. As we observe Rosh Hashanah it would be a wonderful time to ask ourselves if we do a Mitzvah every day.
The prayer
The prayer for today is: May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year. Happy New Year!
