Rosh Hashanah September 16, 2012 * 1 Tishri 5773

Rosh Hashanah

 September 16, 2012  *  1 Tishri 5773    

Rosh Hashanah is known as the “Jewish New Year.” Traditionally, it is also a time of judgment, when the Creator takes a reckoning of our deeds during the previous year. But according to Kabbalah, both these depictions of Rosh Hashanah are inaccurate.

Kabbalah teaches that the Force we call God does not preside over a heavenly court, deciding who will be forgiven and who will be punished. Rosh Hashanah actually occurs in the seventh month of the Hebrew Calendar, so it does not signify a new year.

Actually, science can offer us some insight into the true significance of Rosh Hashanah. A principle of physics states that for every action there is an equal reaction. Rosh Hashanah is built upon this foundation, one of the seven laws of the universe as stated in the Kybalon, … the law of cause and effect.

Though we may not be aware of it, when we behave in a contemptuous, uncivil, or rude manner we arouse negative forces. When we lie, cheat, steal, insult, or cause harm to others be it intentional or unintentional we contribute to negative forces. This collection of negative forces that surround us to to our bad behavior is behind all of those things that just happen to go so wrong in our lives. We attract what we are, so if we choose to be ugly and nasty then this is how we are perceived and this is what will gravitate towards us.

Rosh Hashanah affords us an opportunity to confront this negative energy that we have accumulated over the preceding year. We are in the court of the law of “Cause and Effect.” We can honestly evaluate our deeds, accept accountability, and make the necessary changes resulting in positivity in order to dissolve the negative energy we have accumulated. This self-confrontation is not exclusive to the Jews, the experience of cause and effect is shared by all humankind.

In a nutshell, Rosh Hashanah is returning to the very moment of humanity’s creation, before the seed of our personal and global karma, tikun, or correction took root. These two days (nightfall on September 16 & 17) reminds us that it is within our own power to rewrite the script of our personal movie for the year to come.

Shana Tova