Bob Schwartz

Tag: Rosh Hashanah

September 13, 2026

Rosh Hashanah: Nothing by Marcia Falk

From The Days Between: Blessings, Poems, and Directions of the Heart for the Jewish High Holiday Season by Marcia Falk:

Nothing. You began as nothing and you will end as nothing. And in between— everything, and nothing. In between—joy and sorrow, beauty and decay. Everything is yours to partake of, yours to bear. Yours to see, to know, to give birth to—and to let go. None of it is yours to have.

Not even you is yours to have. You belong to a wholeness so great you cannot even conceive of it.

No, it is not a belonging: nothing owns you. You are simply part of it. You came out of it and you will return to it. You do not ever leave it, you are part of it forever.

And this is your moment to be alive.

–Marcia Falk

3.
Whenever I am in the company of others,
May I regard myself as inferior to all
And from the depths of my heart
Cherish others as supreme.
Langri Thangpa (1054–1123), Eight Verses for Training the Mind

It is easy to regard yourself as inferior to God. The High Holidays remind us of this insistently.

It is harder to regard yourself as inferior to other people, or as Langri Thngpa recommends in his foundation text for training the mind (lojong), inferior to everybody.

You can understand inferiority to God, supreme and all powerful. But inferiority to others—all others—is another matter. First, because you think yourself demonstrably superior in a number ways to a number of others. Second, what exactly is the point of regarding yourself inferior to others? Isn’t there literally a psychological disability called an inferiority complex?

Inferiority is a way to learn absolute equality. To be knocked down a level or levels from where you believe you are. Only then, among all those others, can you live the directions of these holidays. As nothing “this is your moment to be alive.”

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September 11, 2026

5787: The Jewish New Year of Compassion

May I be a guard for those who are protectorless,
A guide for those who journey on the road.
For those who wish to cross the water,
May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year 5787, begins this evening.

For what it’s worth, I have declared 5787 a Year of Jewish Compassion. This requires explanation.

It is not to suggest that Judaism and fellow Jews, together and individually, are not compassionate, in thought and action. That would be wrong.

Instead, it may lead to questions. Have we been compassionate enough and often enough? Have we been unconditionally and universally compassionate? How can we cultivate compassion in ourselves and others?

Of the major religious traditions, Buddhism maintains a particular focus on compassion. Hundreds of teachers, beginning with the Buddha, and thousands of texts ask this of us, in thought and action.

Here is just one text, excerpted from The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva (685-763), with an excerpt from commentary by the current Dalai Lama:

May I be a guard for those who are protectorless,
A guide for those who journey on the road.
For those who wish to cross the water,
May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.

May I be an isle for those who yearn for land,
A lamp for those who long for light;
For all who need a resting place, a bed;
For those who need a servant, may I be their slave.

May I be the wishing jewel, the vase of plenty,
A word of power, and the supreme healing;
May I be the tree of miracles,
And for every being the abundant cow.

Just like the earth and space itself
And other of the mighty elements,
For boundless multitudes of beings,
May I always be the ground of life, the source of varied sustenance.

Thus for everything that lives,
As far as are the limits of the sky,
May I be constantly their source of livelihood
Until they pass beyond all sorrow.

The Way of the Bodhisattva, Chapter 3, Verses 18–22

These last two lines are very powerful, are they not? The lives of a great many beings depend on the presence of the five elements, so let us think: Just like the earth, may I support beings as numerous as the sky is vast….Consider that we are surrounded by all the beings in the universe and generate compassion for them….

Now that we have taken this vow, we should try to be good human beings in our daily lives. We should not, for example, pretend to be very nice while we are in this tent and start fighting with each other as soon as we get out! We should from now on try to have a positive and kind mind: we are going to be happy in life. I really think that the future depends on the quality of one’s mind, on a good mind. So we must try to be good people and be good examples for those around us. The initiative to be like this has to come from each one of us individually.

For the Benefit of All Beings: A Commentary on The Way of the Bodhisattva, Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

Shana Tova! May you have and give a good and sweet year!

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September 24, 2025

Rosh Hashanah 5786, the Jewish New Year. Shana Tova in postcards!

Rosh Hashana 5786, the Jewish New Year, began on the evening of September 22. The High Holidays, the Days of Awe, end on Yom Kippur, October 2.

Following are some of the Rosh Hashanah postcards created over the last century. You may specially note the last two, one that appears to be a Pop Art version, one that wishes a good year by sitting on a sofa, mustached and open shirted, lasciviously open groping a short-skirted friend. I’m not sure that’s a kosher way of greeting the holiest days of the year, but who knows? God knows!

Shana tova! A good year!

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October 2, 2024

Form of Prayers for the Feast of New-Year (5668-1907)

I have a small collection of older High Holiday machzor (prayer books), including ones used by my grandfather and father.

The jewel of that collection is the one pictured here. It is called Form of Prayers for the Feast of New-Year With English Translation, published by the Hebrew Publishing Company on Canal Street, New York in 1907. The book, with ornate metal clasp, is 3.5 inches x 5 inches.

The cover is mother of pearl and metal. The centerpiece is a carved decoration inscribed with the numbers of the Ten Commandments—in Roman numerals! I think this looks something like a hamsa—a spiritual amulet shaped like a hand, popular in Jewish and other traditions. Maybe not.

I would like to share more pages, but the book is delicate, having been lovingly held together with taped binding during the past century plus. The pages I’ve included below are from the concluding service on Yom Kippur, the Neilah. This offers a tiny idea of what this precious book is like.

Shana tova. A sweet and peace-filled New Year.

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October 1, 2024

Confession for the Jewish High Holidays 5785/2024

Ashamnu
אָשַׁמְנוּ
nahn maswuwlun
نحن مسؤولون
We are responsible

Bagadnu
בָּגַדְנוּ
nahn nakhun
نحن نخون
We betray

Gazalnu
גָּזַלְנוּ
nahn nasriq
نحن نسرق
We steal

Dibarnu dofi
דִבַּרְנוּ דֹפִי
nahn nahtaqir
نحن نحتقر
We scorn

He-evinu
הֶעֱוִינוּ
nahn natasaraf bishakl munharif
نحن نتصرف بشكل منحرف
We act perversely

V’hirshanu
וְהִרְשַׁעְנוּ
nahn qusa
نحن قساة
We are cruel

Zadnu
זַדְנוּ
nahn nukhatit
نحن نخطط
We scheme

Chamasnu
חָמַסְנוּ
nahn eanifun
نحن عنيفون
We are violent

Tafalnu shaker
טָפַלְנוּ שֶקֶר
nahn alaiftira’
نحن الافتراء
We slander

Ya-atznu ra
יָעַצְנוּ רַע
nahn nabtakir alshara
نحن نبتكر الشر
We devise evil

Kizavnu
כִּזַבְנוּ
nahn naqul al’akadhib
نحن نقول الأكاذيب
We lie

Latznu
לַצְנוּ
nahn naskhar
نحن نسخر
We ridicule

Maradnu
מָרַדְנוּ
nahn naesi
نحن نعصي
We disobey

Ni-atznu
נִאַצְנוּ
nahn nasi’
نحن نسيء
We abuse

Sararnu
סָרַרְנוּ
nahn natahadak
نحن نتحداك
We defy

Avinu
עָוִינוּ
nahn nufsid
نحن نفسد
We corrupt

Tzararnu
צָרַרְנוּ
nahn eadaayiyuwna
نحن عدائيون.
We are hostile

Kishinu oref
קִשִׁינוּ עֹרֶף
nahn eanidun
نحن عنيدون
We are stubborn

Rashanu
רָשַׁעְנוּ
nahn ghayr ‘akhlaqiiyn
نحن غير أخلاقيين
We are immoral

Shichatnu
שִׁחַתְנוּ
nahn naqtul
نحن نقتل
We kill

Tiavnu
תִּעַבְנוּ
nahn nufsid
نحن نفسد
We spoil

Ta·inu
תָּעִינוּ
nahn nudil
نحن نضل
We go astray

Titanu
תִּעְתָּעְנוּ
nahn naqud alakharin ‘iilaa aldalal
نحن نقود الآخرين إلى الضلال
We lead others astray

The Jewish High Holidays 5785/2024—the ten Days of Repentance and Awe—begin with Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, on the evening of October 2, and end with Yom Kippur, the Day of Repentance, on October 10.

Confession is a centerpiece of the holiday. In the liturgy, Vidui includes two confessional prayers, Ashamnu and Al Cheit. Ashamnu is the shorter list of transgressions. Al Cheit is a longer detailed list of particular wrongdoings.

The past year has been one of tragedy, suffering and war in Israel, Gaza, the Middle East, and the Jewish world. Whatever our faith, status, history, ideology, grievances, or rationales, we are reminded now that none of is above responsibility, none of us as above the need for confession.

Above is my adaptation of Ashamnu. In Hebrew it is an acrostic, the first letter of each line in alphabetical order. English translations of those words vary, but all are admissions of conduct to be fixed in the year ahead. I’ve changed the common translation of the first word, Ashamnu. Often translated as “we have trespassed” or “we are guilty”, I have borrowed from Abraham Joshua Heschel. He famously said about his early protest of the Vietnam War: “In a free society, few are guilty, but all are responsible.”

My version also adds a rough translation of each expression into Arabic. Not in the least literate in the language, I’ve relied on a digital translator. For any errors in this, small or egregious, my humble and sincere apologies.

The message is that all of us, from the heinous to the heavenly, are responsible. The High Holidays insist that we are imperfect in ways that we may not acknowledge or may ignore. Our hearts may be hard when they should be soft. Why else do we literally beat our chests as we recite each of our wrongs? So we can locate our hearts, reach in, and know what condition they are in.

Shana tova. A good and sweet New Year to all.

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz

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September 22, 2024

Days of Awesome: Jewish High Holidays 5785

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year 5785, begins on the evening of October 2. The ten High Holidays continue until Yom Kippur on October 12.

The High Holidays are known as the Days of Repentance or the Days of Awe.

These holidays are complicated. Like SweeTARTS.

We take an unvarnished look back at what we’ve done and who we’ve been in the past year. We confess our transgressions in excruciating detail. We make a solemn commitment to do better in the year ahead.

We also leave the past year behind for the better sweeter year to come. The better sweeter us. We eat apples dipped in honey as a reminder of that possibility.

The term “Days of Awe” reflects a few things.

There is a belief that all this occurs in the face of a God that is powerful, judgmental and merciful. Something to be in awe of and afraid of.

Another perspective is that when we set aside days to look at ourselves, at others, at our relation and connection to others and to everything, we are in awe of a wonder-filled existence. Awesome

That is why we may call these the Days of Awesome. When some of us think of awesome, besides thinking theologically and philosophically, we naturally think about The Lego Movie.

Above is an image of Emmet and Wyldstyle reading from the High Holidays machzor (prayer book). The message: Everything is awesome.

Some may think that mixing up this solemn time with SweeTARTS and Legos trivializes and even desecrates the holidays. Or maybe during those special days, everything really is awesome.

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October 2, 2019

Rosh Hashanah 5780: Re-Creating the World

Solomon ben Joel Dubno (1738–1813)

Every year, on Rosh ha-Shanah, everything returns to its very beginning. Creation is renewed. All that was created in the beginning comes into being again. Thus each Rosh ha-Shanah the world is re-created.
—Sefer Netivot ha-Shalom, commentary by Solomon ben Joel Dubno (1793)

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September 9, 2018

Rosh Hashanah 5779 – Abraham Joshua Heschel on Repentance

In the realm of spirit, there is no difference between a second and a century, between an hour and an age. Rabbi Judah the Patriarch cried: “There are those who gain eternity in a lifetime, others who gain it in one brief hour.” One good hour may be worth a lifetime; an instant of returning to God may restore what has been lost in years of escaping from Him. “Better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than the whole life in the world to come.” (Avot 4:22)
Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath

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September 23, 2017

Ohigan, Rosh Hashanah and Autumn: The Other Shore

“The goal of our life’s effort is to reach the other shore, Nirvana. Prajna paramita, the true wisdom of life, is that in each step of the way, the other shore is actually reached.”
— Shunryu Suzuki

These days in September, three celebrations coincide: Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year; Ohigan, the twice-yearly Japanese celebration of the equinox; the autumn equinox itself.

One way to harmonize these is to look first at Ohigan. The name literally means “other shore”, and is taken two ways. There are the ancestors honored who have crossed over to the other shore. And there is the crossing over to enlightenment, on the path of the paramitas (perfections): giving (dāna), morality (śīla), patience or forbearance (kṣānti), effort (vīrya), concentration (dhyāna) and wisdom (prajñā).

Then there is Rosh Hashanah, the Birthday of the World, the start of Ten Days of Awe, during which through teshuva (turning), tefilla (prayer) and tzedaka (righteousness) we emerge by the time of Yom Kippur on the other shore as newer people in a new year.

It is autumn again. Summer is left behind again. We can live with giving, morality, patience, effort, concentration, or wisdom, or not. We hope at least to arrive safely on the other shore of winter, maybe more enlightened or newer.

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September 21, 2017

Rosh Hashanah: Tashlich

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the custom of tashlich is to throw bread into a body of water, casting your sins away. (When no natural body of water is available, a well or even a bucket has been known to do.)

A passage from Micah is recited:

What god can compare with you; taking fault away,
pardoning crime,
not cherishing anger for ever
but delighting in showing mercy?
Once more have pity on us
tread down our faults
to the bottom of the sea
throw all our sins.
Micah 7:18-19, Jerusalem Bible translation

Fault, crime, anger, sins. Ourselves and others. Pardoning, mercy, pity. Hard for ourselves and others. And as delightful as ducks and fish eating bread on the lake.

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