Rabbi Mark Zimmerman’s Rosh Hashanah Message for 2025

Celebrating the World’s Birthday

When we come to synagogue on Rosh Hashanah we will recite the words: Hayom harat olam, today is the birthday of the world.

So, what does it mean to see Rosh Hashanah as the world’s birthday? Well, when we celebrate our own birthdays, we think back over the years that have passed and wonder what OUR lives will be like when future birthdays come around.

But on Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate the world’s birthday. We should ponder not only what WE will be like, but we should think about what the WORLD will be like as the years unfold. These days, that is a particularly daunting thought. That’s why I believe we should all think about what role we can play in the shaping of this world in order to make it a better place for us, our community, and even humanity itself.

When we read the story of creation in the book of Genesis, the first question which G-d asks Adam in the Garden of Eden, is Ayeka? Where are you? Adam runs away from that question and tries to hide from G-d’s presence. On Rosh Hashanah, G-d is asking us that same question. Where are you? And what can you do to make this world better?

THAT is the key question we should consider as we approach the New Year.
When we hear the blasts of the shofar, we are supposed to feel a sense of urgency as if G-d is calling out to each one of us. As Maimonides explains, the shofar cries out: Awake, you sleepers, from your slumber! It is time to be stirred and to wake up. Another year has passed, and you have more work to do before your time on this earth is up.

No matter what our walk of life may be, my hope is that everyone might consider what it means to be G-d’s partner in making our world a little better in the coming year. Once we say, “Hineni” to G-d and to ourselves, our world has a better chance of becoming what it ought to be, and we will live more purposeful and meaningful lives as well.

When we accepted the Torah at Sinai and entered into a covenant with G-d, we did so not as lone individuals, but as a community. So, this Rosh Hashanah let us not cut ourselves off from our community or from the Jewish people. We need each other more than ever these days.

As we begin the New Year, let us ask ourselves: Where are we? And let each of us respond, in our hearts and in our actions: Hineni – “Here I am.”

Mark Zimmerman is senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom synagogue in Dunwoody.