SPECIAL
COMMENTARY

SDOM

576 O

The Cry Within

osh HaShana begins the
most intense period of the
Jewish calendar, a day of
fear and trembling. At least
we hope it is.
Because without
fear and trem-
bling there can be
none of the joy of
the New Year.
The staccato terua
blasts of the sho-
far remind us of
something being
JONATHAN B. shattered — our-
ROSENBLUM
selves and the
Special to
ingrained patterns
the Jewish News
of our past — so
that we can begin
anew. In that
breaking of the shackles of the past
there is joy.-
No day is so imbued with the
potential for growth than Rosh
HaShana.
Though it is actually the sixth day
of Creation, Rosh HaShana is referred
to as the first day. Adam, the first
human, was created on the sixth day.
Everything before that was a prelude.
Man alone gives purpose to the cre-
ation by recognizing and entering
into a relationship with his Creator.
And just as the first man was created
on Rosh HaShana, so too can we
recreate ourselves on this day.
The judgment of the day is not on
our past sins, ones not even men-
tioned in our prayers. And the judg-
ment takes place on the first day of
the new year, not the last day of the
previous year.
It's because before we can conceive
a future different from the past —
which is the promise of Rosh
HaShana — there is no hope of
removing the taint of our past fail-
ures. Rosh HaShana has thus been
likened to the removing of our soiled
garments and Yom Kippur to the
cleaning of those garments. Until I
remove those garments, until I can
conceive of myself apart from my past
actions, I am not yet able to deal with
the effect of those actions.
The first day's Torah reading
describes Ishmael's expulsion from
Abraham's house and how "God
heeded the cry of the youth as he was
at that moment." The Midrash relates

R

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L'Sha

oval.

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FRED S. LAFER

ADAM B. KAHAN

President

Chairman of the Board

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SHELDON GREEN

President, Michigan Chapter

Development Director

I

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Jonathan B. Rosenblum, a
Jerusalem-based biographer and lectur-
er, is a monthly columnist for the Jew-

ish News.

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Detroit Jewish News

9/10
1999

49