Words of Faith: For Jews, the year draws to a close

As we get closer to Labor Day, summer is ending. We now turn with the downward arc of the year, descending towards the colder depths of winter. Many gardeners are storing the results of their gardens, canning tomatoes, pickling cucumbers and freezing, to lay in stores for winter.

These may become gifts, or echoes of summer in wonderful winter meals. With the sunset of the year approaching, this is a continuation of the desire to preserve and prepare.

For Jews, the official calendar year is also drawing to a close. The Jewish Year 5775 will end just at sunset on Sept. 13. On the evening of Sept. 13, Jews will gather in synagogues across the globe, and again on Sept. 14. This is the beginning not only of the Jewish New Year, but also start of the Days of Awe, or High Holy Days, which start with Rosh Hashana, or “head of the year,” and close 10 days later at sunset on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on Sept. 23.

Jewish holidays begin at sunset. All Jewish days start at sunset, actually. Genesis 1:5 offers the main reason “… and there was evening and there was morning, a first day.” Jews have kept to that definition, which can cause the occasional date miscalculation by non-Jews. As a rule of thumb, just assume that the holiday begins the night before the date listed on a calendar.

During the Days of Awe, as we mark the beginning of the Jewish New Year, we pause and reflect on the year past, and look ahead to the new one. Just as gardeners do, we review the outcomes of the year and take stock of our actions. There is joy at making it through another cycle. There is sadness where we failed to treat others well. We make time to apologize to folks for the wrongs we have done them. We review what we could have done better, and we admit our faults and shortcomings. There are short confessions (Ashamnu) and long confessions (Al Cheyt) and times of quiet introspection during these days.

And as the day of Yom Kippur draws toward its close, we look forward to another year, even if we do not know what that year will bring.

The prayer-poem Unetaneh Tokef was written nearly 1,000 years ago. It can be translated as “let us ascribe holiness to this day.” It is recited numerous times during the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services. Its central themes are that we cannot control the big stuff in life, who will live and who will die, but we can change how we live our lives, through T’shuvah, Tefillah and Tzedakah, or “returning to the right path”/repentance, prayer and just actions.

Jews with all levels of belief attend High Holy Days services, even if they join services at no other time of the year. In attending services, they are certain to hear Unetaneh Tokef. Absorbing those words, and taking the time to reflect on the deeper meaning of what returning to the right path is a reminder of our own capacity to change and be better.

The Days of Awe, 10 days of reflection and prayer. It is a holy space in time for us to review, then relinquish, our past transgressions and preserve the lessons we learned from them. A time to remember that faith is not just something done at certain days or times, but lived every day. The echoes of these Days of Awe carry us forward into the New Year with renewed hope. The introspection of these days prepares us to take responsibility for our actions and choices, and the impact we have on our family, our friends and the world around us.

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Words of Faith: For Jews, the year draws to a close."