Rabbi Mark Zimmerman’s Rosh Hashanah Message for 2026

As Rosh Hashanah approaches, we enter the season of asking ourselves life’s Big Questions. How have I lived this past year? Where have I fallen short? What kind of spouse, parent, friend or human being have I been? What do I need to work on and change in 5787?
This year, however, there is another question that feels especially urgent: What kind of Judaism are we going to pass on to the next generation? And how do we navigate that in the world we find ourselves in today?
There is plenty out there these days to make us anxious. Our world feels increasingly broken, and for Jews, the explosion of antisemitism and hatred directed at Israel has added another layer of uncertainty. Yet such anxiety is hardly new to the Jewish people. Our ancestors worried about their families and their futures, their harvests and livelihoods — and, quite often, the hostile neighbors just over the horizon.
Somehow, we endured despite all those challenges, but how did we do it?
For one thing, we’ve always had a strong commitment to our faith and to one another.
Another one of our secret weapons has always been our Jewish sense of humor. We learned to laugh even when circumstances gave us little reason to do so. Perhaps that is why, when confronted with the latest conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the economy, governments, and even the weather, our best response isn’t to debate the haters. Sometimes we might simply laugh at their absurdity.
Of course, humor alone isn’t what sustained us. What sustained us was that, despite everything, Jews continued to live, study and celebrate as Jews.
We celebrated Shabbat. We studied Torah. We built communities. We cared for one another. We prayed, argued, laughed, mourned and rejoiced together. We maintained our connection to the Jewish people and to the Land of Israel. And we taught our children to be proud of their heritage and to do the same.
That may be one of the most important messages we can give our children and grandchildren today.
We should certainly teach them to recognize antisemitism and stand against it. But if the Judaism we transmit is primarily about the people who hate us, we will have given those people far too much power.
Our children need to know not only what Jews have suffered, but what Jews love.
They should see us proud to be Jewish, proud of our traditions, deeply connected to our fellow Jews and unashamed of our bond with Israel. They should see that Judaism is not something we retreat into when the world is frightening, nor something we hide when being Jewish becomes uncomfortable. It is a source of meaning, community, responsibility and joy.
Perhaps that is one of Rosh Hashanah’s great questions for 5787: Will the next generation see in us a Judaism worth inheriting? The answer will depend, in no small measure, on the Judaism they see us living today.
May the answer be a resounding yes.

Rabbi Mark Zimmerman is the Rabbi Emeritus for Congregation Beth Shalom.