Rosh Hashana: The Beginning of Beginnings

This, and every High Holiday season, we wish each other a “Happy New Year,” a “Sweet New Year.” We want and desire for the year ahead to be filled only with goodness and blessings. The first of the holidays, Rosh Hashana, literally means the “Head of the Year.” It is a curious name, and the same is with Rosh Hodesh, the “Head of the Month.” There is no mention of beginnings, of newness or firsts. Or sweetness or blessings. 

At our Rosh Hashanah table, we eat from the head of the lamb as a symbol of our desire to be “as the head and not the tail.” Again, curious language. 

What is the significance of the head? 

In Torah thought, the closer something is to its beginning, to its point of origin, the more powerful it is. It is stronger, more connected, closer to its essence. And what follows is a direct outgrowth of this essence, carrying within this beginning spark of potential, coded with what’s to come.

A baby is perhaps the clearest example of this idea. Before a fetus’s conception, it is a code of what it can potentially be. It has all the DNA it needs to determine much about who he or she will be. During the nine months of gestation and the subsequent birth, this constitution is actualized and the DNA, or code, is expressed and manifested into a tangible, real being. As life unfolds, a person is further from his original essence, yet more actualized. 

Processes, ideas, thoughts, are much the same; unfolding from the moment of, from the spark of, inception. A flash of insight or a great business idea contains infinite possibility. Creating a plan shapes and structures, a step away from its limitless essence. Taking action is another step towards actualizing this idea, yet a step away from its initial spark.

And advice often responds to this pattern. Feeling lost? Find your why. Tap into that boundless inspiration, that first energy of excitement and possibilities and vision. This potential, this root, will center you. The beginning holds the DNA, containing all the potential for what is to come.

On Rosh Hashana we return to creation itself. While the world began six days earlier, on Rosh Hashana, Adam was created. We begin our years with the creation of man, of humanity. That was, after all, the culmination of creation. Year after year at this time, we are able to tap into the point of origin of ourselves. It is a time to plant the seeds which will sprout in the coming year. We reach back to our root essence, remember who we are, and allow our souls to fully connect to their Source. 

On Rosh Hashana we take a pause from teshuva. It is a holiday to celebrate, to honor, and to crown Our Creator, Our King. We are joyous and celebratory. We want to infuse this connection to Hashem, this excitement, into our year ahead. Teshuva will come, but for these two days, we praise. 

Just as Rosh Hashana journeys us back to this pure, compressed energy of creation and allows us to reform our year ahead, so too do we see this pattern in all beginnings. Mornings set the tone for our days. Shabbat sets the tone for our week. Rosh Hodesh, our months. These beginnings carry power, they contain the potential and shape what follows. As we cycle through, we are consistently able to reframe and create what is to be. Things follow their beginnings.

But still, our question remains. Why do we call the beginning of the new year the head of the year?

In man, in us, the head is the control center of the body. It is where our intellect lives, where awareness begins, where decisions are born. The head is the place of thoughts, and our thoughts are our origin of consciousness. From the inner world of thought, speech and action flow forth. The way we communicate, the choices we make, the lives we live, are all guided by the direction our thoughts set. 

On Rosh Hashana, the beginning of me meets the beginning of us.

And so while it is true we wish for a sweet year, a happy year, an even deeper wish is to be like the head, rooted in our essence, connected to our Source. We wish to carry ourselves with a refined level of consciousness and merge with the root of all creation.

This year, may we remind ourselves, to tap into the point of our origin, to return to the pure energy of the creation of man, and to actively choose life from an exalted state of consciousness. And may we all enjoy a year of goodness and blessings, a year flowing forth from the beginning of beginnings.