Before discussing the importance of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, it is important to understand that the Jewish holidays are not the tradition of one particular nation or people. They are rather symbols of unique spiritual states where we attain a common quality of love and bestowal in higher levels of our connection among each other and with nature.
If we attain a certain level of unity that is latent in nature, then we celebrate such an event. When we rise a little further to the next level of connection among each other and with nature, then we again attain a new degree of a unified perception and sensation of nature, and celebrate such an event.
Our own decision making plays no role in determining the holidays. Instead, we celebrate the attainment of certain levels of equivalence of form that are omnipresent in nature. We thus cannot change these holidays.
Nature is an interconnected and interdependent network of altruistic forces. It is a unified system where its every part is completely interlinked. We humans, on the other hand, are the only parts of nature that oppose and resist it with our egoistic desire to benefit ourselves at the expense of others and nature.
If we—humanity or at least a critical mass within humanity—will start undergoing a process of changing our egoistic quality into an altruistic one that is similar to nature’s, then we will approach nature’s unified form.
A key step in such a process is called “recognition of evil.” It means that we need to first reach a recognition of our inborn egoistic nature holding us back from experiencing the wholeness that exists in nature. In order to then change our egoistic nature into an altruistic one that is similar to nature’s force of love and bestowal, we require a deep inner scrutiny, which is called “prayer.” In Hebrew, to pray (“Lehitpalel”) means to “incriminate” (“Lehapil”) oneself. That is, we must incriminate ourselves, and such a confession leading up to Rosh Hashanah is called “the month of Elul.”
During such a scrutiny, we view our current low egoistic state in comparison to the exalted and whole altruistic state of love, bestowal and connection, which we wish to reach. The immense chasm between those two states give rise to a prayer, where we judge ourselves and express a great desire to change our egoistic intention into an altruistic one that is similar to nature’s.
We find how our egoistic nature turns us into criminals together with the discovery of an overpowering and much greater force above our egoistic powers, the altruistic force of nature, to which we wish to advance.
That state is called “Rosh Hashanah,” the beginning (“Rosh”) of our change (“Shinui”). It is the beginning of a new cycle of states through which we progress in order to become more and more like the loving and bestowing force of nature.
#roshhashanah2023 #jewish #holiday
Based on “A New Life” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 14, 2014. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Photo by Igal Ness on Unsplash.
Posted on LinkedIn Newsletter, The Times of Israel, Facebook, Quora