happy new year...it's Rosh Hashanah

today is the jewish holiday of rosh hashanah. the jewish new year. a time to reflect and begin again. a time to look back over the past year and see where we've fallen short and repent and a time to renew with God in his love and forgiveness. the kids in our neighborhood have the day off today. as i drove to wallgreens last night i saw families, children, parents and grandparents dressed in their best, walking to temple for the service that began at dusk.
i wished i had thought to join to them. i'd love to worship with them and hear the shofar (the rams horn) blown.
i'm all about new beginnings and "do overs."
i believe God is a God of grace and mercy and that he designed the calendar, the holy days/holidays to remind us of his love and help us remember who we are and that we are his people. we need help to remember all of this because we so easily forget!

one of the customs/traditions of rosh hashanah is to put bread crumbs in your pocket and then go to a stream, river, creek...some moving water and clean out your pockets...the bread crumbs are symbols of your sin and the river/flowing stream is God's love washing them away, cleansing you. that would be a great thing to do as a family today...to remind us of the new beginning!
i'm thinking it could even be done over the bathtub if you don't have a stream nearby...allowing the bread crumbs from your pocket to go into the tub as the water runs and talking about giving our "dirt" to jesus.

another traditon of Rosh Hashanah is eating apples and honey. and honey on braided challah bread.
the honey is symbolic of the sweetness and newness of the new year. and for me it is a symbol of the forgiveness of God.

for more info check out:judaism 101 and leviticus 23:24-25 and here

and last year i found this on line but i'm sorry i don't know what site:

"Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, marks the anniversary of the creation of man. Elul, the month prior to Rosh Hashana, is designated as a time of inventory, a time to take stock of what was and what we want to perpetuate into the new year and what we want to let go of.

It is noteworthy that the Hebrew word for year -- shana -- has a dual meaning. It implies both "change" and "repetition," underscoring the task at hand of deciding what should be changed in the coming year and what behavior is worthy of repetition. This is the critical time on the "ship" between the world of yesterday and the tomorrow when we are given the opportunity to redefine or, if you will, "recreate" ourselves. When we appear before the heavenly tribunal on Rosh Hashana, that is both the birthday of man and the day of judgment, the brief we present should reflect a plan for the coming year that is an improved version of what was in the past.

The Almighty created us as unique beings replete both with our individual strengths, weaknesses, struggles and challenges. Only the Almighty who "strung us together" knows what we could be. Only He, by virtue of His personal investiture of potential into our person, has a true image of what we could be, and that is the benchmark for our accountability and God's judgment of us.

so happy new year! why not get some apples and honey and some challah and celebrate the new year with our jewish friends and family. psalm 33 and 130

Comments

[keshavdube]

"----stream is God's love---"
HAPPY NEW YEAR.

[Nikol]

That's all fine. What, however, do you think about Obadiah Shoher's criticism pf Rosh Hashanah as aholiday that has nothing to do with New Year? Here, for example http://samsonblinded.org/blog/petty-paganism.htm