On Sunday Eve, some of you, just as myself, will gather with friends and family, to welcome a Jewish New Year.
There are so many rituals and traditions I cherish about this holiday such as baking with my kids – sweet round challah, cookies (well, that happens almost every week), apple cake, honey cake, cooking a hearty matzah/chicken/vegetable soup…..dipping apples in honey for a sweet new year….listening to the CALLING sound of the SHOFAR – a ram’s-horn trumpet, used by ancient Jews in religious ceremonies and a warning call before battle, and these days, in a calling to gather, to pray, to reflect on a year past and to welcome a new version of ourselves into a new year.
Rosh Hashanah comes shortly after Fall Equinox, with a change in the weather, the smell of chai tea, pumpkin spice and apple picking. It is a time to start scanning our inner world and go IN. For me, Rosh Hashanah is a lot about relationships; between myself and GD and between myself and the people around me. It is the relationships we all relate to through the communities we are part of, the causes we hold dear, the “fights” we choose, the values we guard … it is about what we do and with whom which both define and sustain us.
If you celebrate, please reflect on these and try to go through this holiday with a clearer mind of what is truly important to you. When in services, how do you pray and to whom? What is the message coming from the inside out when you tune in to the roaring of the shofar??? Remember, there are no lyrics used in the shofar sound, right? The message it has is designed for the individual listener, each of us with the things we are still holding onto; with the blessings we seek, with the intention in which we listen.
When around the table, give gratitude to all the food items served, to those who labored to make them for you and for the sound of kids and grandkids running around … haaaaa the best sound of my childhood …
If you do not celebrate, go for a hike, place your bare feet on the ground and EARTH your intention into the soil, for a new year. Go watch the lake and set your wishes into the water – BLESS YOURSELF AND YOUR PEOPLE FOR A SWEET NEW YEAR, JEWISH OR NOT!!!!
From my family, from the roar we take in together in the studio, I send a warm loving gratitude to you and an intention for only good things ahead, AMEN!!!
. I’m sure soon enough, you would too…). I do hope you enjoy it and if it ever gets you through the day, drop a comment and let me know.