Happy New Year?

As a greeting, “Happy New Year” tends to conjure up pictures of parties in public places and participants who have imbibed too lavishly of “wine that gladdens the heart of man.” (Psalms 104:15) Yet, as inappropriate as it is, with the festival of Rosh HaShana being observed this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, “Happy New Year” is exactly the greeting which will echo around Jewish houses of worship and other gatherings. Why is it an inappropriate greeting? Because the Rosh HaShana atmosphere is not bacchanalian but solemn; the Rosh HaShana theme is not inebriation but introspection.

Who doesn’t want a happy year? The problem is that there is no pill, or elixir, or bottle that will make us happy. We cannot meaningfully wish someone a happy day; we can certainly tell someone we hope that everything goes their way today. But even that does not guarantee happiness. Being happy is only a purposeful commitment we make.

Being happy is our decision and our responsibility. It’s not the responsibility of our parents, friends or family. It is not even up to God. Be happy, God commands us, regardless of circumstance. (Deuteronomy 16:15) Nowhere does He promise us that if we obey Him, we will be happy.

We are not done yet. Not only is the “happy” part of “happy new year” dubious, but so is the ‘new year’ part. On both occasions when the Torah mentions Rosh Hashana, it fails to speak of new year.

Speak to the Children of Israel saying, in the seventh month, on the first
of the month, you shall have a rest day, a remembrance with shofar blasts, a holy gathering.
(Leviticus 23:24)

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy gathering; you shall do no work; it is a day of shofar sounding for you.
(Numbers 29:1)

The day is identified only as a day for blowing the shofar, a ram’s horn.
The Rosh HaShana synagogue service revolves around one hundred blasts of the shofar. In general, Judaism seems to value sound above sight. Music is more esteemed than the visual arts.

In fact, the Torah warns against trusting eyes, much preferring what you hear to what you see.

…that you don’t detour after your heart and your eyes,
which incline you to go astray.
(Numbers 15:39)

…hear, Oh Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears today…
(Deuteronomy 5:1)

God indicates that ears are a better avenue for trustworthy information than eyes. But there is another difference between ears and eyes.
What happens if we press ‘pause’ while watching a movie? We see a freeze-frame—a still picture with actors frozen in whatever postures they were in at the instant that ‘pause’ was pressed. We can slice an instant of video, disconnected from the moments before and after, and still retain a meaningful visual image.

However, with sound it is different. If we press ‘pause’ while listening to a song or a speech all we hear is silence. Sound is meaningless when disconnected from the slices of time just before and after. It is, of course, the God-given miracle of memory that allows instants of sound to blend into meaningful music or speech.

One of the official names of the festival of Rosh HaShana is “The Day of Memory.” Nobody with zero memory could hear a tune. All he’d hear is a sequence of disconnected notes. Despite having no memory, the same handicapped human could easily see a painting, picture, or statue.

Hearing also helps to connect us to others. If you had to make a horrible choice between only having sight or only having hearing, many people might instinctively choose to keep sight. Yet ancient Jewish wisdom suggests that not hearing is a worse affliction. Blindness isolates one from things, but deafness isolates one from people.

Our ability to make sense of sound depends on the continuity of time. And continuity of time is exactly what helps us be happy. Living in a sliced instant of disconnected time means that the pain, sadness, or humiliation we now endure overwhelms us with its sense of permanence. We remain frozen in our agony. Hearing the shofar blasts vibrates our souls into a visceral awareness that the instant is not all-important. Tomorrow the pain will be gone, so choose to be happy now.

Rosh HaShana does not stand as a day isolated from the rest of our year. It is not a “new” year disconnected from the past one. It is a time when our prayers focus on how our own conduct impacts our connection with God, our world, and with all humanity.

May God grant us all a year of good health and prosperity. And what about happiness? Well, that is of course, our own choice.

Enjoyed this article? Feel free to share it using this link: https://rabbidaniellapin.com/happy-new-year/

---

---