Rosh Hashanah Forgiveness

 

What is Rosh Hashanah? 

Rosh Hashanah, meaning "head of the year" in Hebrew, is the celebration of the Jewish New Year. During Rosh Hashanah, Jewish people around the world ask God for forgiveness for mistakes they’ve made over the past year and remind themselves not to repeat those mistakes in the coming year.

Today marks the beginning of the Jewish High Holidays and as you can see Rosh Hashanah involves introspection, asking God for forgiveness, and commitment to a different path, While this is an important Jewish celebration those of us who are not Jews might ask what this means for us in terms of the persistent anti-Jewish sentiments and hatreds which continue to plague our societies. 

There is is disturbing evidence all around us that anti-Semitism continues with sometimes blatant, sometimes more guarded words and actions. Added to this is the conflation of Judaism as a practiced religion, Judaism as a cultural identity, Zionism as a movement, and the state of Israel as a national entity. Sorting through all this can be confusing yet it is important to do so. 

Jesus, the Jew, understood the power of hatred and enjoined his followers to chose love. This is an important message today and every day. We can examine our own hearts and minds and seek forgiveness for stereotypes but also for indifference.