This coming week celebrates the beginning of a New Year according to the Jewish liturgical calendar. In all traditions around the world—from Nowruz of Zoroastrianism in Iran to Losar of Bon Buddhism in Tibet, and from the return of the star Sirius in ancient Egypt to the return of the Pleiades for the Maori in New Zealand—the beginning of the Year is one of the most important celebrations, commemorating the beginning of time and the creation of the universe.

In this sense, New Year is the festival of remembering where we come from, who created us, and where we are going. This is true, too, for the Judeo-Christian traditions based on the Biblical festivals. While called Rosh Ha-Shanah (“Head of the Year”) in modern times, the Biblical name for it is the “Day of Remembrance,” Yom Ha-Zikaron, when the Shofar is blown to remind of the beginning of life, the spiral of time.

Naturally, on this day, the people pray for a good year to come with abundant blessings over all the families and lands of the Earth Eretz. But the deeper observation of Remembrance is expressed in the beautiful prayer of “B’Sepher Chaim” (“In the Book of Life”). It is the profound request to the Divine to remember us for in His Mind we shall have Eternal existence.

May all our coming years be filled with the memory of the power of the Creator!

B’sefer chayim b’rachah v’shalom ufarnasah tovah
In the book of life, blessing, peace, and proper sustenance
Nizacher v’nikatev l’fanecha, anachnu v’chol amcha beit Yisrael
May we be remembered and inscribed, we and all Your people, the house of Israel
L’chayim tovim ul’shalom.
For a good life and for peace.

Related:

Rosh Hashanah on Wikipedia

Cantor Azi Schwartz’s homepage

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