Rosh Hashanah

Last night began the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. It is their New Year. When Keith and I lived in Florida many know that we taught early morning seminary and of course part of that was the Old Testament. When we lived in Ohio we loved going to institute with Rebecca Stay who had studied Hebrew and Jewish Studies; she helped us get a deeper understanding of the scriptures especially the Book of Mormon with Jewish background and their traditions. With these two experiences, Keith and I became more familiar with Jewish traditions. Even living in South Florida everyone mistook us for being Jewish with Gold as the last name.

The Mishnah, the core text of Judaism's oral Torah, contains the first known reference to Rosh Hashana as the "day of judgment." In the Talmud tractate on Rosh Hashanah it states that three books of account are opened on Rosh Hashanah , wherein the fate of the wicked, the righteous, and those of an intermediate class are recorded. The names of the righteous are immediately inscribed in the book of life, and they are sealed "to live." The middle class are allowed a respite of ten days, until Yom Kippur, to repent and become righteous; the wicked are "blotted out of the book of the living.

Rosh Hashanah is very interesting to me because it is again their new year for people, animals, and legal contracts, but one of their traditions is that they have 10 days to go and repent, they have got to think about the last year and what they have done in the past year and forgive those who they have wronged. It was explained to me by one of the Jewish faith that you must go and tell someone you are sorry, and then it is up to that person to forgive you, whether they do or don't is up to them, you have basically done your part.

Forgiveness is an interesting thing. It is a wonderful process that our Heavenly Father has given us, we feel so much better when we can confess forgiveness, however short or long that may take us; and to be forgiven is a whole other process and sometimes it is harder for us to say that what someone else has done to us will be forgotten because we cannot turn our feelings off like a faucet. There was a Rabbi who died in 1880 and has spoken of forgiveness...

"Your forgiveness must be real and complete, so that no trace of rancour remains in you. It must be a genuine restoration of the old brotherly love; what has happened must be really obliterated. Do not deceive yourself. It is so easy not to perform this duty. If left to itself the mind long remembers insults and injuries, even after forgiveness has been asked, even after reparation has been made." Rav. (Rabbi) Hirsch

Heavenly Father gave us this world to be tested and tried, it is hard because we are all 'natural men', but our Father in Heaven loves us and we are blessed to have the Book of Mormon to know that every day we can be reborn and feel as clean as we did the day we were baptized (if my memory will allow me to think back that far). I love that some put aside 10 days to forgive one another, I just hope that I can be doing it every day with their passion and with their commitment.