Shana Tova, which translates to “have a good year,” is the traditional greeting for Rosh Hashanah.
On Sunday evening, Jews around the world welcomed in the year 5780 with start of Rosh Hashanah, the two-day holiday that marks the start of the new year. It is a joyous holiday, like New Year’s, symbolizing hope and promise for new beginnings.
At services on Sunday evening at Temple Israel of Hollywood, Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh, a Hancock Park resident, told the story of a young man who was a hundred days away from his father, the king. His friends told him that his father wanted to see him and he should go to his father. But the young man didn’t know how to get there. He didn’t know what road to take or how to even begin the journey. Eventually, word of his struggle to get started reached his father. The king sent back this message to his son: “start your journey, walk as far as you can, and I will meet you there.”
As we start this new year, we struggle to begin the journey to find our better selves, explained Missaghieh, suggesting that if we simply start the journey, we may find our way. For Jews, Rosh Hashanah is the opportunity for a fresh start to a new year in which we try to become our best self, or at least better than last year, added Rabbi Jocee Hudson, who, along with Rabbi Missaghieh, led Sunday’s service.
The holiday offers an aspirational message regardless of one’s religious tradition. Allowing the opportunity for another chance to get it right, resonates with all of us.
Rosh Hashanah continues through sundown on Tuesday, October 1st. The sounding of the shofar (an instrument made from a cleaned-out ram’s horn) marks the end of the holiday.
