New Year Brings Hope and Chance of Redemption
The Jewish year 5784, with all its heartbreak and anxiety, is ending. A new year, a time of renewal, of new life and hope, is beginning.
Franz Rosenzweig is not as well-known as he should be among contemporary Jews. He was a thinker of extraordinary depth who left behind a very impressive body of work, especially considering his untimely death in his early 40s in 1929. Rosenzweig died of ALS-Lou Gehrig’s disease — a slow wasting away of one’s physical abilities to walk, write, and in severe cases, speak and, eventually, breathe.
A former student in medicine and philosophy, Rosenzweig was on the verge of leaving Judaism, as were so many German Jews in late 19th and early 20th century Germany. In his case, Franz was about to convert to Christianity. But he wanted to do so not as a secular person but as a practicing Jew. In this way his newfound religion, Christianity, would feel like a completed form of Judaism, rather than a rejection of the religion of his birth and youth.
Rosenzweig decided to attend a small very traditional schul in Berlin for Yom Kippur services in 1913. The experience proved so profound that not only did he not leave the Jewish faith for Christianity, he devoted the remainder of his short life to write about Judaism as a theologian, and also as a Hebrew to German translator.
His greatest work is known in English as the “Star of Redemption,” a landmark work of Jewish theology. With his friend, Martin Buber, another philosophical writer of renown, Rosenzweig translated the Bible from Hebrew into German. He also rendered into German many of the Hebrew poems of medieval philosopher-poet Judah Halevi. He also founded a school to promote adult Jewish education. The inspiring story of Franz Rosensweig’s embrace of Judaism as a young adult shows the power of Yom Kippur to bestow hitchadshut = renewal/revival, in this case breathing new life into Franz’s severely weakened faith. The power of Judaism to start again, to revive old forms, is one of our religion’s most marvelous features.
Consider that every morning we pray modeh ani l’fanekha = we thank G-d for reviving our souls after the night’s sleep. Each Shabbat brings with it the blessing of rest: physical rest certainly, but also a time for spiritual recovery. Rosh Hodesh/the new month also has the theme of cyclical recovery, connected to the recurring phases of the moon in its waxing and waning.
The Yamim Noraim — the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) — are a time of Teshuvah, a time of repentance, of returning to the Holy One, of a deep revival of the spirit of hope, as we reconcile with G-d and with other people. The entire period is called the aseret y’mei teshuvah = the 10 days of penitence.
Rosenzweig had indeed tapped into the spiritual power of Teshuvah –returning to G-d, to Torah, and to the Jewish people. The New Year and the Day of Atonement take place during Tishre, the seventh month and thus the sabbatical month, the month of rest and new life, the month of not only the Days of Awe but the Sukkoth festival as well.
Sukkoth is followed immediately by Sh’mini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, all of which follows only four days after the High Holy Day period ends. The Sukkoth season is also one of hitchadshut = renewal. Sukkoth, the Feast of Booths, brings a deep sense of gratitude for the fall harvest, coming at its predictable time. Simchat Torah comes with the promise that Torah learning will always begin again in a cycle which never ends.
The Jewish year 5784, with all its heartbreak and anxiety, is ending. A new year, a time of renewal, of new life and hope, is beginning. In Psalm 30 we learn that although lamentation may last through the night, happiness is coming in the morning. We have lived through a year of great sorrow since the Hamas pogrom of Simchat Torah 5784 – Oct. 7, 2023. May 5785 bring with it new hope for the people and the State of Israel. may this coming Tishre — this month of holy days — allow us to start again with revived hope for a better future. Like Franz Rosenzweig over 110 years ago, may we be inspired to return to G-d, reconnect with our tradition and our people, and with all peoples of good faith.
L’shana tova tikateivu — may we all be inscribed for a good year.
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