Rosh Hashanah: A Zen Holiday of Waking Up

(This post is based on one previously published by the author on another website in September 2017)

Rosh Hashanah is one of the most special and sacred holidays in the Jewish liturgical calendar. It is the Jewish New Year and the beginning of the Jewish High Holidays, but what is it really about? And how do we understand this special and most sacred new beginning?

Rosh Hashanah is a holiday of waking up. We awaken from the deep slumber of selfishness, conceit, and putting ourselves above others—perhaps one way of understanding traditional notions of sin—and awaken to something different.

On Rosh Hashanah, the Divine calls out to wake us up from the darkness of ignorance and to open our eyes and hearts to the truth and awe that is always surrounding us—this day to day, ordinary life.

Rosh Hashanah is the first day of ten days in the Jewish High Holidays called the Days of Awe, or Yamim Noraim, and culminates at the end of this ten-day intensive time of deep introspection and reflection with the holiday of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement.

The Yamim Noraim are a time when we can experience the grandeur of life, realizing that we can never possibly understand or possess it. These ten days—which are also called the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, or the Ten Days of Repentance and Return—are a time for quiet, settling down, and paying deep attention. Each day, and with each breath, we return to ourselves and arrive home to our life.

For some of us, the wake up call is a jackhammer. For others, it is a whisper. One is not better or worse than the other. What is most important is setting aside your valuable time to care for and attend to your life.