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Rosh Hashana reflections
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Anonymous user Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:35:02 PDT
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0 responses 0 comments Picture yourself standing in a holy place and space, a moment in time, where you can go beyond yourself to truly hear the call of the Divine. 
Each fall on the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, Jews have this very opportunity as they hear the call of the shofar.  
This ancient instrument, a trumpet fashioned out of a kosher animal’s horn, harkens back to the days of the Bible. The shofar is traditionally shaped from a ram’s horn and refers back to the story of the binding of Isaac when the ram was used as a sacrifice in place of Abraham’s beloved son.
In recognition of the ram’s sacrifice we use this horn as a symbol of the High Holy Days. The shofar acts as a reminder of God’s mercy and calls for the Jewish people to repent.
This Rosh Hashana, as I have since I was 18, I will once again serve as a baal tokeiah, a shofar blower, readying the ram’s horn to once again sing out to the Jewish community. 
Over the years, I have been privileged to serve in almost every Jewish religious role, yet in many ways, this simple act of blowing the shofar evokes my greatest sense of connecting to God.
Each year as I stand in front of the congregation and we all rise together as one, I am filled with a sense of awe. The effect of simply listening to the shofar is a truly humbling experience. That moment of harkening to the piercing sound, the kol shofar (voice of the horn), is said to awaken our souls, reaching out to the very fiber of our being. We are reminded that on this day, we all stand before God in the divine court and are accountable for everything we have done in the past year. 
Be it good or bad, simple or complex, every single act a person does is recorded into the Book of Remembrance. On Rosh Hashana, the anniversary of the sixth day of creation, when the world was complete, we stand before God seeking forgiveness and mercy for all that we have done. Yet no one person can stand before God’s judgment alone, instead our prayers and confessions are written in the plural, recognizing that while we are all responsible for our own actions, every single person also bears responsibility for their fellow human beings. 
So this year as we stand again as one community, I will listen to the call and hope and pray that God will grant us another year, another chance to serve our Creator.
I wish everyone a sweet, healthy and happy New Year! Shana Tova!

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