The blowing of the shofar, traditionally done on Rosh Hashanah. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year of 5787, will be launched at a timeof severe social polarization – underscoring personal accountability and additional critical values:

• Family and community bonding;
• Roots commemoration and strengthening;
• Accountability (assume responsibility), moral stock-taking and recalibration;
• Renewal (desisting from autopilot behavior);
• Relationships-mending;
• Modesty and humility enhancement;
• Repentance;
• Fending off complacency and instant-gratification; and
• On a national level, the centrality of the Land of Israel and Jerusalem.

Rosh Hashanah initiates a wake-up call of 10 days of self-examination and repentance, which are concluded on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). This self-examination is guided by morality-driven tenacity, humility and faith, re-studying moral values, and avoiding past errors.

The root of the Hebrew word Shanah is “repeat” (every year) and “change.” Rosh Hashanah is an annual reminder that morality should be the central value of our life, which should guide — not transcended by — success, fame, power, and monetary wealth.

Rosh Hashanah commemorates the sixth day of Creation, when the first human-being, Adam, was created. Adam is the Hebrew word for a human-being (אדמ), which is the root of the Hebrew word for “soil” (אדמה) – a metaphor for humility.

The Hebrew word Rosh (ראש) means first/head/beginning and Hashanah (השנה) means the year. Rosh (ראש) is the root of the Hebrew word for Genesis (בראשית), which is the first Hebrew word in the Book of Genesis.

Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the first day of the Jewish month of Tishrei – “The Month of The Strong Ones” (Book of Kings A, 8:2) — when the three Jewish Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and the Prophet Samuel were born.  Tishrei means beginning/Genesis in ancient Acadian. The Hebrew letters of Tishrei (תשרי) are included in the Hebrew spelling of Genesis (בראשית), that includes the first two letters in the Hebrew alphabet (אב), a middle letter (י) and the last three letters (רשת) — representing the totality of the Creation.

The late Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, the iconic Talmudic scholar, compared the calendar year to a human body, consisting of the head/brain, the heart and the liver. Thus, on Rosh Hashanah (head/brain) one contemplates the vision of the coming year, while the rest of the year facilitates the implementation of the vision in a balanced coordination between the head/brain, heart and the liver of the year.

Rosh Hashanah is announced and celebrated by the blowing of the (bent/humble) Shofar, which is the horn of the humble and determined non-predator ram.  The initial blowing of the Shofar is indicated in Leviticus 23:23-25 and Numbers 29:1-6: “a day of blowing the shofar.” The Hebrew spelling for Shofar שופר)) is a derivative of the verb to enhance and improve שפר)). The sound of the Shofar was used to alert people to physical challenges (e.g., military challenges). On Rosh Hashanah, the Shofar alarms people to spiritual challenges.

On Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to eat seeds of pomegranate, which is one of the seven Biblical species of the Land of Israel (wheat, barley, grapes, dates, figs, olives and pomegranates), representing health (high in iron, anti-oxidants, anti-cancer, enhances cardiac and digestion systems), righteousness, fruitfulness, fertility, longevity, learning, and wisdom.

Finally, Rosh Hashanah meals include honey, sweetening the coming year. The bee is the only insect which produces essential food. It is a community-oriented, constructive, and a diligent creature. The Hebrew spelling of bee (דבורה) is identical to “the word of God” (דבור-ה’), and Deborah דבורה)) who was one of the seven Jewish prophetesses, as well as a distinguished military and political leader.

The author is a commentator and former Israeli ambassador.