Renewal and Reflection in the New Year

Mississippi River at Itasca State Park,
taken by Sister Laura Suhr

Rosh Hashanah ended tonight (September 20) when the sun went down. It was a two-day celebration of the Jewish New Year which flows into Yom Kippur next week. These are the holiest days of the Jewish year.

This morning, Shira and I walked along the Cumberland River. We came to renew our friendship as well as share the Jewish ritual she introduced me to and I brought to our Christian community several years ago.

But first, this is a season of chesbon hanefesh. It is a time, all over the world, that Jews take time to reflect on the past year. It is more like a Jesuit Examine that lasts two days than a party, though there is time for celebration. The Jews take this New Year to reflect on relationships and especially their relationship with God. Time is spent recalling what went well and where they missed the mark. An important part of this reflection is to try to make amends with persons one might have hurt knowingly, or unknowingly, during the year.

For the ritual we brought bread to the river, broke it into pieces, and threw it into the water. It is symbolic of throwing away all we have done which is sinful and hurtful. We each shared something we’d like to get rid of during the New Year and then we prayed from Micah, “…cast all our sins into the ocean’s depths…” The intent is to return to the creation God intended, or become our true selves for the first time. Tashlikh means “to cast away.” The water has to be moving water, and Jews have become quite creative in making that happen if they don’t live by a body of water. The whole idea is that the ducks/fish eat the bread and it goes back to the earth fertilizing new growth. We ate an apple on the way back to the farm as a symbol of the sweetness given to us by God through life.

The Jewish New Year is not at all like the New Year Americans traditionally celebrated with parties, dropping the musical note in Nashville, fireworks, champagne, confetti and kissing strangers in Times Square. New Year’s Eve in the United States is quite a contrast to the way Jews begin their New Year which is an introspective and holy time. With the pandemic, I truly felt the need to be and do something different even though our New Year celebration is a couple months away. Sharing the Jewish New Year today helped me look to the future with hope.

I’m wondering if the pandemic will change the way the New Year is welcomed in on January 1, 2021, across the world? What do you think?

Pat Pickett, OblSB