Rosh Hashana

Let's get ready for Rosh HaShana!

Open Ended

What do you know about Rosh Hashana?

Multiple Choice

What is Rosh HaShana?

• The first day of the New Year

• The anniversary of the creation of the world

• The Day of Judgement

• All of the above

Multiple Choice

What is the main symbol of Rosh HaShana?

Multiple Choice

What is the primary mitzvah of Rosh HaShana?

• Eating sweet foods

• blowing/hearing the shofar

• fasting

• wear white clothing

Blowing or hearing the shofar is the only commandment unique to Rosh Hashana

This year, we will only blow the shofar on the second day of Rosh HaShana (Sunday). We do not sound the shofar on Shabbat.

Multiple Choice

What is the primary theme of Rosh Hashana?

• saying we are sorry

• Its like a New Years Eve party, but for Jews

• eating lots of honey to get a sweet year

• declaring that God is King of the world

At the beginning of the year, we are focused on why the world was created.

It was created by God for a specific purpose. By declaring that He created the world and is King of the world, we acknowledge that we are created to serve Him and do His will.

Reasons we blow the shofar:

• Trumpeting the king

• Remembrance of the binding of Isaac

• Reminder of the acceptance of the Torah

Symbolism of the shofar:

• it is narrow on one end and wide at the other

• The blasts sound like different types of crying

• its loud sound serves to "wake us up"

Poll

What kind of day is Rosh HaShana?

• A happy day

• a scary day

• a serious day

• a super boring day

• all of the above

Rosh HaShana is the Day of Judgment.

It's kind of like having a year-end review meeting with your boss

Some important topics that might come up in this kind of meeting:

• What is the purpose of our company, the mission statement?

• What exactly is your job in this company and what expectations does your boss have for you?

• Are you doing your job well? If not, what do you need to do better?

• Are you ready for a promotion?
  

• How can we get more people invested in the company?

• Are we getting closer to our goal? 

• What's working? What needs to change?

On Rosh HaShana we go back to the Mission Statement of the world.

• What we did this whole year matters less right now than our intentions for the future.

• As Hashem looks over His creation and decides everyone's place in it, we want to tell Him that we are ON HIS TEAM. We are ready to do whatever He asks of us.

You're gonna want to come prepared.

You should probably take a shower and put on a nice outfit too.
You want to make a good impression.

Its always a good idea to remind your boss off all the ways you're doing a really good job!

And since everyone makes mistakes... you should probably think about the ways you're planning to do better in those areas.

Open Ended

How can we show/tell God we that we want to "sign up" for His team?

What do you think His goals and desires are for His creation?

Imagine you could have a one-to-one meeting with God. 

What would you say or ask? 

What might He answer back?

Yes, we spend LOTS of time praying during the High Holidays.

But that's because there's a lot to talk about.

What are you going to say?

Wishing you and your family a happy, healthy sweet new year.

May you be written and inscribed for good.