Blow A Horn, It's A New School Year!

Put on your yarmulke, it's time for... 
Rosh Hashanah? 

Maybe that should be...Get out and blow your Shofar, it's time for Rosh Hashanah! 

Didn't you get the memo? Tomorrow begins the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah is to be celebrated from sundown on September 4 to nightfall on September 6.

Rosh Hashanah literally means "head of the year." It symbolically marks the completion of God's creation of the world. It also is the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days, or Yamim Noraim, the "Days of Awe", and is followed 10 days later by Yom Kippur, the "day of atonement." 

As followers of Christ, we don't celebrate traditional Jewish Holy Days. Most of them have been translated to fit our Christian heritage and traditions. That being said, I find it interesting that Rosh Hashanah lands, almost every year, as we begin a new school year. This too is the "head of the year" for many, especially parents with children, teachers, and students of all ages.

Have you noticed how January no longer seems like a beginning. Maybe that is why we have such a hard time starting fresh in January and why New Year's resolutions lack the change desired as February rolls around. It simply isn't anything new - actually we are half way through the school year, and if we made it to January that means we survived the Christmas season. Also, I don't see too many pictures on Facebook of kids prepared for the New Year like those cute kids with backpacks and new shoes filling the web as school begins in August or September.

The reality is that the school year has begun to dictate the structure of life. It pronounces the end of summer for most families. Time to get back to a routine that has been lost, and a time for vacations to exotic places, road trips to the coast, and camping adventures to seize.

Our local stores began our preparation for this "new year" almost the day summer started with "Back-to-School" sales, class supply lists, and racks filled with the local trends for the fall that every student will want to wear to impress their friends. It is like Hallmark rolling out the Christmas ornaments in July.

Yet, if we looked at the beginning of a new school year more like Rosh Hashana, we might simply start off another year on a better foundation. See, the Hebrew people are encouraged during this season to make amends with anyone they have wronged and to make plans for improving during the coming year.

In our day and age, a good number of children fear returning to schools because they allow bullying. During the summer months, some have been intentionally away from relationships that were hurtful. And some children simply need a clean start. The truth is, this is probably true for teachers and parents as well.  Summer gives us all an opportunity for a "time out."  The reality is we must return. We cannot avoid relationships and living life together - even though we all would like to stay on vacation for life...that is not reality.

I think we all could use some time to mend relationships, learn to have better conversations, to communicate more effectively, and improve ourselves. It doesn't matter if we are children or adults, we all need Rosh Hashana as we begin the school year.  

As well, Rosh Hashana has traditionally been about making peace in the community and striving to be a better person. With all the rumors of war in Syria, and all the strife that violence and bullying in schools presents to our American lives, I think it might just be the right time to join our Hebrew sisters and brothers in celebrating Rosh Hashana and face reality. Even though this new beginning was originally to focus on one's life and death, I believe it can be a holy day for us filled with hope for a new school year. Remember, not only Jews, but Christians alike, believe that God is compassionate and just, and that God will accept their prayers for forgiveness.  So let us bow our heads in prayer as we begin this new school year.

As for tomorrow, I will be blowing the Shofar with the students of our Christian school. (According to the famous Jewish philosopher Maimonides, the sound of the shofar on Rosh HaShanah is meant to wake up the soul and turn its attention to the important task of repentance.)  I am sure it will wake up the souls of our kids, but I hope it will inspire in all of us a new year of less bullying and more cooperation, less trying to do it on your own and more relationship building and team work, less strife and more peace.

I think we could all use a little of these in our lives this school year, don't you?