ROSH HASHANAH 2021
A year ago I sat on Rosh Hashanah, days away from giving birth, I felt as though I was birthing with the new year, and felt my body's rhythms utterly connected to the cosmic momentum that was underway. I understood that Rosh Hashanah was the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, and the birth of mankind. But this year I felt the connection even more deeply, between our potential as creators of life and the energy of this time in the calendar.
I opened the Machzor (prayer book), and came across a reflection by Rabbi Sacks z”l at the bottom of the page. “Hayom harat haolam” - “Today the world was born”. The Rabbi points out something interesting - we would expect the Torah and Haftarah readings for the New Year to focus on creation from a universal standpoint - after all Rosh Hashanah talks about the birth of ALL mankind, and we are told that ALL with a heart move before Hashem to be witnessed on this day. But instead, our sages draw our attention to the intimate experiences of Sarah and Chanah, both infertile, who after years of anguished waiting and pouring their hearts out to G-d in prayer, were blessed with the birth of a child. Isaac was born to Sarah, Samuel to Hanna. The stories that are brought to relate the loftiest universal concepts to us, are the intimate and holy stories of two Jewish women, in their most raw and sacred moments.
Rabbi Sacks relates from the Mishnah “if you seek to understand the meaning of creation, think about the birth of a child” and he goes on to say “Faith in Judaism is not a form, of science, It is a form of love. To understand the Universe as G-d’s creation, we do not need advanced degrees in cosmology. We need to understand what it is to be a parent, bringing new life into being through an act of love.”
We understand creation, as we understand what it means, how miraculous it feels, for each one of us to create. I take from the focus on the stories of these two women, a few things
As players in Hashems creation there is this yearning to pass something on, to be a part of a chain; This can mean to create human life, or alternatively to create life through art, through word, through song, through breath; to create through the way we engage with our loved ones and the world. How we use our ability to create affects us. We don’t just want to be receivers, we want to be givers as well. Not to give creates a blockage in universal flow. As we stand on Rosh Hashanah, we look at what we created, how we used our potential, and we beseech G-d to let us continue as co-creators with him.
The women were both barren for many years - they waited, they prayed, perhaps they had moments when their faith faltered as well - but their journeys teach us that when we are despondent, when we feel dry, empty or alone, when we want to give up, when we think Hashem has forgotten us - there is always the opportunity for a rebirth and for something new. We never know what blessings are in store for us waiting to be revealed.
The stories direct our attention to the fact that Rosh Hashanah carries incredible Feminine energy; On the one hand we focus on Our Father our King, and on the harsh Din (judgement) energy, But we are told that the momentum will move from Din to Rachamim - meaning “compassion” and divine love. The word Rachamin shares a root with the Hebrew word for Womb, rechem.
On the day of creation’s birth, perhaps we are held again in the womb of Oneness; we move through Gates of Compassion, we file past Hashem in a narrow line one by one to be witnessed, and emerge with new life breathed into each of us from the most expansive places Above. It almost mirrors the experience of moving out of our mother’s bodies once again.
When a woman dedicates her womb to house and nourish new life, when she makes space within her literal and spiritual body for another, it is the ultimate devotion. Then, during birth the mother becomes as close to Gd as she ever can be, as heaven and earth meet through the vessel of her body in the moment of delivery.
Maimonides suggested that the piercing broken note of the shofar, may even reflect the cries of a woman during birth*. In addition, Rosh Hashanah is the ultimate day of Malchut**. The feminine splendour of Malchut, which receives all the other sephirot before it and expresses them in new form, is woven into these grounded stories of birth.
Our ultimate role is to create with the intention of service and become Holy vessels. Hannah promised her son Samuel to serve in the temple; The binding of Isaac is the iconic story of devotion which has defined the Jewish people from generation to generation; our creative gifts, our material gifts, the blessings of our children - they are not ours to hold onto, to clutch. They are ours to be of service through. We’ve been entrusted with them, perhaps, because G-d had faith we would use them in his honor, to bring energy and beauty and wisdom and heart to the world. To help others. To create pathways back to Him with these gifts.
So many sources tell us that healing will come through women, needed change will come through women...perhaps it is through inviting in the feminine capacity, the “rachamim” and capacity to surrender within each of us; In a year in which again we had to face so many illnesses and injustices and schisms that require mending, we can understand from these stories of prayer, of birth and of sacrifice, our profound individual power in making an impact. And just as intense contractions mean that the baby is descending and ready to arrive, perhaps humanity’s aches and contractions mean we are on the verge of something new and something wonderful. May we use our power and our creativity to draw it down and help Hashem in bringing it through us.
Shana tova - may it be a year of revealed blessing, of love, of transcendence and expansiveness for all creation. May Am Yisael know safety, peace and unity. For each of us, may it be the best we know yet.
Xxx
Micaela