At sunset this Wednesday, September 8th, Jews worldwide will be celebrating their New Year, called Rosh Hashanah, marking 5771 years since the creation. This day also marks the birth of Adam, the father of all mankind.
A highlight during the New Year is the sounding of a ram’s horn. The horn is called a shofar and is one of the oldest wind instruments used by man. The shofar’s blast symbolizes a king’s coronation, as found in the Jewish liturgy prayer “remembering the Almighty Father, the King, who created heaven and earth.” There are many more reasons listed in Jewish tradition.
For some, the call of the shofar is the call of transcendence, marking man’s departure from a bad year to a better one. The sound of the shofar inspires and empowers oneself to have more faith and fortitude.
It is on Rosh Hashanah that I visit people who can’t come to the synagogue. After services I have a custom to visit hospitals or retirement homes and sound the shofar for them.
Once, during Rosh Hashanah services, I looked at my congregants and noticed that two elderly ladies, a mother and her daughter, were not in the crowd. They came once a year, on Rosh Hashanah. I also looked for an older widow who used to come to services just to hear the shofar. Making a mental note of the missing members I thought of them as I blew the holiday shofar.
Later that day I went to visit Kaiser Hospital. Stopping at rooms with Jewish patients I blew shofar, to the delight of the patients and staff.
On one of the floors I was told that there were no Jewish patients. As I was leaving, I suddenly heard a voice cry out, “Rabbi! Is that you?” Sure enough it was Goldie, the widow. She was crying, thinking of how sick she was, and was missing the call of the shofar. She suddenly heard and recognized my voice in the hallway and her prayers were answered. I proceeded to blow shofar for her. A pretty fortuitous event, I thought.
The next day I went to perform my chaplaincy at the Harbor General Hospital. As I entered the hospital I found two elderly ladies, one who was now blind and being comforted by her daughter. I introduced myself as the visiting Rabbi for the New Year and asked if I could be of any help. “We have a Rabbi”, I was told. “He has a synagogue in the South Bay and he prays for us.” Little did they know, I was the Rabbi they were talking about. “Well that’s great” I answered.
Both stories taught me an everlasting lesson. God forgets no one. If a person has hope then they may and can expect Divine intervention. I was fortunate to be a messenger in fulfilling God’s answer to these people. How humble one becomes when he recognizes the acts of God. I remembered my teacher’s lesson taught to me as a child – God makes no mistakes. He puts you at a certain time and place for a reason.
When studying creation, we realize that the last thing created was man. He was created on the sixth day, Rosh Hashanah. I believe that the Jewish New Year’s celebration is everybody’s birthday. The Jewish people do not have a monopoly on celebrating this holiday.
May I suggest that all of us celebrate this event, the birth of man, by allowing God to enter our hearts and homes.
As for me, I will be in synagogue with my congregation blowing the shofar. After the morning services, I will visit as many places as possible to blow the shofar – at hospitals, retirement homes, etc.
So this New Year, follow the old Jewish tradition of dipping an apple in honey and pray for a sweet year.