Why Christians Should Celebrate ROSH HASHANNAH

Why Christians Should Celebrate ROSH HASHANNAH
September 9, 2021

ROSH HASHANNAH, The Jewish observance of the religious New Year, is, as the prayerbook says, is THE BIRTHDAY OF THE WORLD. As such, it celebrates, among other things, the first day of Creation.

The TORAH [Bible] starts out with the phrase, "In the beginning". In Hebrew the word is BERESHIT. The Hebrew letters which form this word can be scrambled to produce the phrase, "Day 1 of the Hebrew month TISHREI." So the Bible itself proclaims the first day of Creation ought be celebrated by people, not only Jews but everyone.

Most days of Jewish religious observance are relevant to the ethnicity of Israel. But ROSH HASHANNAH is a Universal
day of remembering, and it introduces people to YOM KIPPUR, the Day of Atonement, which falls ten days later. Since Christians honor the Ten Commandments along with Jews, each of us, Jew and nonJew, can reflect on and remember, during the ten days of the New Year, one of the Commandments each day.

On ROSH HASHANNAH, we remember the things that God has done for us and our communities this past year and we also remember any promises for self improvements we have made to attain a more enriching relationship with people and God. Note that we Jews first want to take care of our obligations to other people before we strive to honor our obligations to God.

ROSH HASHANNAH is a time for remembering the wrongs we have done to our neighbors, friends and family members over the past year and it is a time for us to ask forgiveness for those wrongs. In our current day, many people have difficulty with apologies due to the fact that it is hard for some of us to strive for humility which is required to be able to ask forgiveness. ROSH HASHANNAH is a time for us to stop desiring to be right and to desire to be loved. That can only come with acknowledging that we have sinned against those whom we should hold dear. But ROSH HASHANNAH is also a time for US to forgive our debtors, those who tresspass against us. These things are more universal than strictly Jewish ideas.

Obviously no one would expect Christians to celebrate the holiday in the Jewish way. Christians are not Jews. But they can create their own unique way. They can create their own liturgies and spend the day away from the everyday working world. So they would not blow the SHOFAR, for example But they would use other instruments as a way to call out to God to remember them and their wishes for a new year.

This idea has just occured to me as a result of having a wonderful holiday with people whom I love and who feel affection for me. Therefore I have not worked out in my mind a complete design for a Christian ROSH HASHANNAH. I sincerely hope that some of you who read this note will come up with ideas that they can share.

May you all have a good and sweet new year!
SHANA TOVAH UMETUKAH

Shlomoh