Chana Shapiro’s Rosh Hashanah Message for 2024
Chana Shapiro shares her thoughts and inspiration for the Jewish New Year.
Chana Shapiro is an educator, writer, editor and illustrator whose work has appeared in journals, newspapers and magazines. She is a regular contributor to the AJT.
The Promise and Challenge of the Shofar: It’s Personal
Awesome moments of the Rosh Hashanah service come with resounding shofar blasts. Tradition tells us that the shofar made its first public appearance at Mount Sinai, when the Israelites received the Torah and became a nation. Our sage, Moses Maimonides, taught that, because of the shofar’s role at Mt. Sinai, the sounding of the shofar forever announces a new beginning. This Rosh Hashanah, we deeply yearn for a new beginning.
This new beginning applies individually to each of us. On Rosh Hashanah we pray that we will be given an opportunity to clean up our act and make the most of having another year in which to improve ourselves. The shofar blasts have the power to provoke us to acknowledge our mistakes, to set worthwhile goals, to be honest, kind and generous, to do what we can to repair the broken world in which we live.
On Rosh Hashanah we consider the path in life we would like to follow, and—if you’re like me—we might ask ourselves if we could have done a better job the past year. The answer to that question always gives me a lot to think about.
We ask G-d for another chance. Let’s take the message of the shofar to heart, to earnestly begin again, especially this year.
May we all be written in the Book of Life, and thereby be given the opportunity to spend our year wisely.
Our family wishes you and your loved ones a joyous and meaningful year. Shana Tova!
Chana Shapiro is a freelance writer for the Atlanta Jewish Times.
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