Day 23 - A New (School) Year

Pictures of our children on their first day of school - since this is a public blog, their faces are blacked out for their privacy

Do you remember what it was like on your first day of school? It was likely a mixture of excitement and anxiety. If you went to a new school, you were looking forward to making new friends, and, at the same time, you were anxious about making new friends! If you were trying out for a team or club, you were excited to try out, but you also held the thought, what if I don't make it? The new school year holds different anxieties for parents, especially this year. You are excited for your kids to be with other kids, to grow and learn, to leave the safety of your home so they can be challenged; but you also hold the anxiety of the potential of your child being hurt. This year, we are thinking about our children's health as they return to school during a pandemic that is seemingly out of control.

Rosh Hashanah is meant to mirror this very scenario. Mishnah Rosh Hashanah begins with a paradoxical teaching:

אַרְבָּעָה רָאשֵׁי שָׁנִים הֵם

There are four new years...

How can there be four new years when there is only one year?!? The Mishnah goes on to name the four new years, the first of Nisan, the first of Elul, the first of Tishrei, and the first (or 15th) of Shevat. Each new year serves a different purpose for members of society, and yet, it is a new year for the entire nation. For example, the 1st (or 15th) of Shevat is the new year for the trees, but the new year for the trees affects us all. So too the new school year affects us all, but in different ways. Rosh Hashanah though is the New Year for everyone, but not just because it is the anniversary of humanity's birth. The Mishnah goes on to say, "On Rosh HaShana, all creatures pass before God like sheep [benei maron]..." All of us are judged on this day. The journey from the womb to the world is not exactly tranquil and painless.

Elul is akin to being in the womb. On Rosh Hashanah, we are born again. 

Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl (1730-1797) wrote: 

That is why it is called: Today the world is pregnant (Harat HaOlam). For it is in the stage of pregnancy that mercy was hidden (he’elem), like a fetus in pregnancy. But now it must be awakened by the shofar, that it should be revealed in actuality. This is the meaning of “In Tishrei the patriarchs were born”. That is to say: the mercy that was in the stage of pregnancy, but now have been born and revealed. So too “In Tishrei the world was created” – for it is always the renewal of creation."

The mercy of the womb (rechecm) can follow us into the new year (rachamim).

Writing Prompt

Reflect back on a personal 'New Year' of the past in your own lives. It could be the start of a new job, a new school year or school, and/or a new relationship. What were you feeling before the experience, and what did you feel after? How were you hurt, how were you comforted, and how did you grow?