26 | SEPTEMBER 26 • 2019

Jews in the D

W

hile we often think
of the High Holy
Days as the days
of awe and judgement, we also
reference Rosh Hashanah in
a very different
way. When
we blow the
shofar, we’
ll all
sing together:
“Hayom Harat
Olam,” “[Rosh
Hashanah] is
the birthday
of the world.” But what kind
of birthday party is this? It
seems more like a time when
we confront our mortality,
recognize our frailty and hear
the alarming sound of the sho-
far, reminding us to be better.
Where’
s the cake?!
To consider what birthdays
really mean, perhaps we can
take a lesson from an unex-
pected source: Pharaoh. In the
lone example of a “birthday
party” in the Torah, we find
a peculiar party trick: “And it
was on the third day, Pharaoh’
s
birthday, that he made a
feast for all his servants … he
restored the butler … and he
hanged the baker ...” (Bereishit
40:20-22). Why would
Pharaoh use his birthday as a
time to dictate the fate of his
previous workers?
Perhaps we can suggest that
a birthday — or any anni-
versary — is a natural time
to reflect on the process of
one’
s life during the previous
year. We recall and recognize
the positives and negatives

of our actions and resolve to
do better. For Pharaoh, that
meant analyzing how his ser-
vants behaved. Rav Shmuel
Mohilever, one of the early
religious Zionist pioneers,
explained this episode as being
a pitfall of many people on
their birthdays. They spend the
celebration judging others —
what has this person done for
me lately? What gift did that
person give me this year? As
Jews, however, the focus of our
birthdays turns inward: What
can I do better? Where in the
past year have I missed oppor-
tunities? What can I do in the
coming year that I’
ll be able to
celebrate this time next year?
As we embark on the world’
s
birthday, Rosh Hashanah,
we’
re reminded of what we
have to celebrate. We appreci-
ate the immense blessing that
Hashem has bestowed upon us
in the past and how that allows
us to consider what we can do
to increase it in the future. To
take a page out of Pharaoh’
s
book, we ask ourselves: What
parts of our lives should we
promote more, and what oth-
ers should we “hang up?” Our
job on Rosh Hashanah is to
throw a birthday party; not
one where we play God and
judge others, but one where we
appreciate our past so we can
celebrate our future.
Happy birthday and shanah
tovah.

Shaya Katz is rabbi at Young Israel of

Oak Park.

Rabbi Shaya
Katz

How to Party on the
World’s Birthday

continued from page 24
2019

Rosh Hashanah

5780

May the New Year
bring to all our friends and family
health, joy, prosperity and
everything good in life.

— Pam & Mike Smith —

2019

Rosh Hashanah

5780

May the New Year
bring to all our friends and family
health, joy, prosperity and
everything good in life.

— Steven, Merle, and Michael Band
—

2019

Rosh Hashanah

5780

May the New Year
bring to all our friends and family
health, joy, prosperity and
everything good in life.

— Marcia and Stan Freedman —