After the quiet work of Elul, the Jewish calendar enters Tishrei.

Throughout Elul, the shofar has sounded. Then comes Rosh Hashanah, and the call becomes a coronation.

We stand before Hashem, our King, as the life we have lived is placed upon the scales. And on this very day of judgment, our prayers speak of birth:

הַיּוֹם הֲרַת עוֹלָם Today is the birth of the world.

Yet harat speaks not simply of birth, but of conception—of something taking shape, not yet complete. On the day the world is judged, it is also still becoming.

A new year does not erase the one that came before it. We arrive carrying........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)