Newsletter Weekly Guest Statement
Rosh Hashanah Message – Danny Hochberg and Larry Lockshin, Co-Presidents UPJ
I am always challenged by writing about Rosh Hashanah. I feel as if I should defer to a Rabbi given the significance of the High Holy Days, and the reality of my lack of learnedness. Most chagim are easy to create commentary around: Pesach is the Freedom Festival; Shavuot is the Torah Festival; Chanukah is the Miracle festival. Each of these have strong stories associated with them, or are connected to the land of Israel, the calendar, etc.
But Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are more introspective. It’s more about the individual than the community. The High Holy Day liturgy is full of personal development, personal repentance, personal relationships with God, and the divine judgement of individuals. Serious stuff.
But even in our individual journey of repentance, we are brought together in prayer in our Synagogues. We ask for forgiveness together:“ashamnu, bagadnu” (we have trespassed we have prayed). We sing about being a nation in the plural and not the singular. We stand side by side together. We spread our tallit to create a shelter across our family or for those without.
The challenge is to be an individual while holding the importance of the collective.
In the shadow of October 7, this has never been more important.
Each of us has had very different experiences. We have had to carry the pain of loss, grief, fear and anger within us, as Israel has had to fight its just war, and we have endured the consequences of the rise of antisemitism.
Painful divisions have emerged across ideologies, generations and around views of Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.It is tempting to shun community, rather than deal with our individual differences.
The challenge is to hold both sides of the tension-to be individuals in a collective.
That requires us have faith in our Jewish peoplehood, to renew our commitment to Israel, to have empathy for all those that are caught up in the conflict, while respecting each other’s differences. Let’s not give up on each other. Let’s seek the strength that community brings us.
Rosh Hashanah is the opportunity for renewal, of ourselves and the world around us. Many people choose to create resolutions, like the secular New Year. Such pronouncements commit us to grow, to set goals, and to improve who we are.
These High Holy Days my resolution is for the return of the hostages, safety, peace and healing to Israel, the whole Middle East, and all of Klal Yisrael. May we find strength in community, and may it sustain us as individuals.
May we all be subscribed in the book of life, and may we never know a year like the last two have been.
