Today, September 13th, is the first day of the Jewish New Year. Why should this matter to non-Jews?
Because I believe everyone, especially those of us in a Twelve Step Programme or in the Work, can benefit from observing the New Year customs that Jewish people will practice during the next ten days. At the end of that period, which are known as the Days of Awe, Jews observe Yom Kippur, the annual Day of Atonement, and it marks the final stage of the most important spiritual period in the Jewish Calendar.
During these special days, Jews believe, we're all being closely watched by God. He will base the events of the coming year on how we've behaved during this time. Those of us whose good deeds outweigh the bad will be inscribed in the Book of Life; the reverse will happen for those who've committed more sins than good deeds.
This is the basis for Leonard Cohen's song title "Who By Fire". For God will decree that everyone will meet their just desserts as well as the tests they will need for their spiritual development during the year to come, and He will set us various trials and rewards according to our state of Being.
"Prayer, repentance and charity" are the prescribed good deeds, to be performed throughout the year, of course, but with especial emphasis during the Days of Awe.
And the ten-day period offers all of us, Jew or Gentile, a time to meditate on our conduct and to seek to make amends whenever possible for any harm we've done to others, as well as to examine our beliefs and our behaviour in regard to the Almighty, or our Higher Power.
The Days of Awe are a concentrated period of time in which everyone is to practice what we Twelve-Steppers know as Steps Eight and Nine; the listing of all those we've harmed, including our neglect of God, and the practical making of amends that must immediately follow.
Interestingly, the Jewish religion teaches us that God can't forgive the sins we've committed towards other people unless we've first tried to make amends to them. We need to ask their forgiveness first of all, and to be ready to forgive all those who've harmed us in any way.
Jesus emphasizes the need for us to forgive others in the Lord's Prayer, when we say, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". In other words, God's forgiveness depends on our reciprocal forgiveness of others.
He also tells us in the Gospels that it's no good going to the Temple (or anywhere else where we try to meet God) if we are carrying a grudge against someone else. First, we have to reconcile with them, or at least do our level best to achieve reconciliation; only then are we in a fit state to approach God.
Of course, our Higher Power knows how hard this is for us, how easily and tenaciously we cling to our resentments, so our first effort is often to ask Him for the willingness to forgive.
In the Twelve Step programme we're also advised to be constantly on our guard for any form of selfishness or resentment, because these can ruin our recovery. Unless we deal with them promptly, they will cause us to lose sobriety and become dry drunks. Actual drinking might then follow, with the usual disastrous consequences.
In the Work, of course, observing and disidentifying from negative emotions is essential in order to purify the Emotional Centre. We can't hold on to negative thoughts or feelings about other people, and must be always ready to forgive, even before we're asked. Everyone, no matter their type, must take part in this purification, and there's always more to observe the deeper we look.
As we know so well, any spiritual practice can quickly become mechanical. We can so easily go through the emotions of taking our inventory, glossing over the hard parts; in Work meetings we may make only superficial, formatory observations. We may think we're working when we're just coasting along.
Our Work teacher or our Twelve-Step sponsor, if we have one, may call our attention to our lack of sincerity here.
But how wonderful, how awesome, for an entire nation, an entire religion, to build into its calendar a special yearly period of repentance! It's part of the genius of the Jewish religion that it was the first ever to do so, and it's influenced Christianity in this, as in so much else. Christianity, after all, grew out of Judaism, and if we are Christians and want to understand our faith we absolutely have to learn about Judaism too.
The Christian religion also commands us to repent and make amends during Lent, the period before Easter, and to a lesser extent during Advent. But these are longer stretches of time. Forty days of repentance and self-denial can seem very daunting, whereas anyone can practice the Ten Days of Awe - it's only just over a week, and it seems much more manageable. And because it's a shorter space of time, there's less chance of its becoming mechanical.
So why not have yourself a Jewish New Year? It needn't be September; it could be at any time you choose; but if you make your Ten Days coincide with those of the Jewish New Year itself you'll have the spiritual support of knowing you're acting in concert with a large group of people. There are some excellent articles on the subject on various websites, especially Aish.com, which specializes in Jewish spirituality and is popular among Christians and others who want to learn more about it.
The great religions were transmitted by conscious Beings, working through schools, and they selected certain times of the year as most propitious for various festivals and practices because they knew the energies of the cosmos reaching the Earth at these times would help the individual to carry out these practices.
At the time of the Jewish New Year, the earth is approaching its equinox. The energies of summer, which impelled us out into the world and emphasized the physical life in nature and in man, now begin to withdraw. The inward-looking energies of autumn and winter start once more to influence us. It's time now to look at our spiritual condition, to see what needs to be changed so that we may draw closer to the Absolute at the time of the Winter Solstice.
This year, New Year's Day - Rosh Ha Shanah in Hebrew - coincides with a solar eclipse at 22 degrees Virgo. Two weeks later, on the Feast of Tabernacles, there will be a Blood Moon, a lunar eclipse, at 3 degrees Libra. If you know your birthchart, you may like to see where these highly important events fall in your own chart.
During the Days of Awe a popular custom is to go to a large body of water, such as river, a lake, or the sea, and throw small stones into it. Each stone symbolizes a particular sin, or addiction, from which you'd like to be free. Acting out this desire for renewal can be a powerful experience.
Have an awesome Jewish New Year!
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