Yaakov Raskin | Bringing the Sabbath into every ordinary day?

Whenever New Year’s Day falls on a Friday or a Monday, people rejoice. A three-day weekend! Now, we can take a vacation, go to the beach, and turn what would normally have been two separate days off from work into one larger, more joyful holiday.

From September 11-13, Jewish people will observe Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This year, the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on a Saturday, the Jewish day of rest. This overlap creates a similar dynamic – heightening the spiritual experience and offering a celebration that’s greater than the proverbial sum of its parts.

So what is so special about two Jewish holidays overlapping, and how will that impact how the Jewish New Year will be celebrated this year?

First, a quick overview of what Rosh Hashanah means and how it’s normally celebrated. Like other Jewish festivals in the diaspora, Rosh Hashanah lasts two days. It is a joyous holiday marked with festive meals with friends and family, special holiday prayers, the blowing of the shofar (a ram’s horn), and a ceremony in which we symbolically cast away our previous year’s wrongdoings at a body of water. The Jewish new year is a time of introspection, where we reflect on how we can improve ourselves, and pray that G-d grants us peace and prosperity in the year ahead.

When this joyous celebration coincides with the weekly Shabbat, there are not one but two simultaneous holidays to celebrate. The candle-lighting ceremony which we hold on the eve of Sabbath and Jewish holidays is adjusted to acknowledge both sacred occasions. There are also other liturgical adjustments, such as the blessing over the wine, in which certain words are added that include mention of Shabbat.

However, the biggest difference is that the shofar, which is normally blown at least 30 times and as many as 100 times on each day of Rosh Hashanah, is not blown on the Sabbath. According to the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 29b), this practice dates back to Temple times, when the shofar wasn’t blown on Shabbat. The rabbis explain that the talmudic sages instituted this prohibition not because the actual blowing of the shofar violates the Shabbat, but out of fear that a shofar blower might accidentally break Shabbat by carrying the shofar beyond the permissible area.

So, what makes this so special? The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, once explained the significance in a letter. He explained that Rosh Hashanah literally means “head of the year” in Hebrew and, just as the head directs the body, the way the year begins shapes the entirety of the year that follows. Therefore, on a spiritual level, when the head of the year is Shabbat, the whole year takes on the character of Shabbat.

The day of Shabbat is referred to as holy in the Bible. It’s our day to praise G-d and reflect on the blessings He gave us. We celebrate not only through prayer and spirituality, but also through our physical pleasures – we eat a feast, we drink wine, we sit with family, we sing songs, and we rest. Holiness isn’t something that is contained in the four walls of the house of prayer. It’s something that is lived and breathed into our physical realities. We imbue the physical objects around us with holiness.

A year that opens on Shabbat asks us to carry that holiness past the synagogue and the holiday table and into the working week, into our homes and workplaces. We infuse the ordinary way we speak and spend, until the ordinary parts of life become holy too.

That is why I tell visitors who come to us in Jamaica to make their trip more than a vacation. You can relax under a palm tree and enjoy the ocean and still ask why you are here and what in this place can be made holy. We can infuse our entire lives with meaning, purpose and holiness by treating others with kindness, by ensuring that our presence uplifts those around us, and by staying connected to G-d the creator even in those mundane moments.

Not long ago, Jamaica’s minister of health and wellness shared five points for a healthier life. The one that stayed with me was the last one — to have a purpose in life. I wrote back to him that that point belongs at number one. It’s indeed possible to move through a whole day at work, the grocery store, and picking up the kids, yet never stop to ask what any of it is for. Yet, when you live with purpose, each of those things are done with a sense of ease and grace, and that’s when life begins to have a beauty and meaning to it.

When the head of the year is Shabbat, we are challenged to live our lives in that way. We are challenged to ask ourselves: Why did G-d give me this family, this work, these resources, this new morning? The question shifts from “what do I want to do with what I have?” to “what responsibility do I have?”. That shift is what a Shabbat year is meant to teach.

Customarily, Jewish communities will gather at a flowing body of water during the afternoon on the first day of Rosh Hashanah for the Tashlich ceremony – where we symbolically cast away our previous year’s sins by the beach. It’s a family-friendly experience where we are able to do exactly what was put forth earlier – using the natural world for a spiritual purpose. We recognise how, just as the sea washes away sand and earth, we can use it to cleanse ourselves of sin and past wrongs.

This year, if you would like to join Chabad of Jamaica for any part of Rosh Hashanah – a joyous holiday meal, the uplifting prayer services, or the Tashlich ceremony on September 13 – don’t hesitate to reach out. We look forward to spending the holiday with you, at a time where we can infuse our year with the power of restful awareness, meaning, purpose and joy.