We stand on the threshold of a new school year. As a priest, each year of my life’s work has been an involvement in
Sundown on Friday, September 15 is a Great Sabbath for our Jewish neighbors and friends; September 15 is not only the Sabbath, it is also Rosh Hashanah (literality “the head of the year” — New Year).
It is the first of the High Holidays or ”Days of Awe,” ending 10 days later with Yom Kippur.
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day festival that marks the anniversary of human creation — and the special relationship between humans and God, the creator.
Rosh Hashanah begins with the sounding of the shofar, an instrument made of a ram’s horn, proclaiming God as King of the Universe, just as a trumpet would be sounded at a king’s coronation. Recall the coronation of King Charles III. Multiple trumpet blasts announced the coronation. Rosh Hashanah is described in the Scriptures as Yom Teru’ah, a day of sounding (the Shofar).
The sound of the shofar is also a call to repentance —to wake up and re-examine our commitment to God and to correct our ways. Thus begins the “Ten Days of Repentance” which ends with Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement.”
Rosh Hashanah – the “head of the year” marks a time of new beginnings; the embracing to the coming year as a time of God’s favor, a time to start fresh. We all need “new beginnings”, we do not have the energy or resilience to carry all of yesterday into today.
Remember to pray for your Jewish neighbors on September 15.
Fr. Steve Adrian
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