A Birthday Worth Celebrating

The school year has begun here in Israel. Summer officially began waning a few weeks ago, on the first of the month of Elul, when yeshivot went back in session, and now we’re fully back to regular routine. The last week of summer was filled with children tagging along on errands as their parents checked off back-to-school supplies lists, and now there are backpacks and uniforms back on the buses. (I felt so bad, the other day, when I saw police cordoning off a bus stop where someone had left behind a bag—a pink schoolbag that was about to be blown up. That poor kid who just lost all of her school supplies.)

I always liked the beginning of the school year. As a student, I did enjoy school, and as a teacher, I loved the fresh start. And while I don’t work in education at the current moment, I still feel that flutter of excitement when I see the back-to-school shopping in full swing and see children restarting their school years.

There’s an excitement in the very newness of it. It represents a world of fresh possibilities, where last year is behind us, we had a nice, long summer break to reset, and now we can start with a clean slate. It’s like getting a good night’s sleep, but multiplied a thousandfold.

And it feels especially prescient that Rosh Hashana always falls out around the beginning of the school year, and particularly so this year with the holidays falling so early.

The mishna (Rosh Hashana 1:1) says that there are actually four new years within the Jewish calendar year: one for kings, in the month of Nisan; one for animal tithes, in the month of Elul; one for calculating years, especially regarding shemitta, on the first of the month of Tishrei; and one for trees, in the month of Shevat. Maimonides notes, and this is reflected in our prayers on Rosh Hashana, that the first of Tishrei is the new year that is calculated from the beginning of creation; Rosh Hashana is, quite literally, when we turn the calendar to a new year.

Yet, the midrash in Vayikra Rabba notes that Rosh Hashana is not actually the first day of creation. The first day of creation, according to Rabbi Eliezer, was on the twenty-fifth of Elul. Rosh HaShana, the first of Tishrei, would have been the sixth day of creation, which was the day of the creation of man. Rosh HaShana, then, is not the birthday of the world. It’s the birthday of mankind.

When we understand the significance of the date in relation to man, we can begin to comprehend the weightiness of the day itself. The mishna (Rosh Hashana 1:2) describes how on Rosh Hashana, all of creation passes before God like sheep. Maimonides elaborates: “[God] considers all of mankind and passes judgement over them for health and sickness, for death and life, and all other things related.” Truly, what better day for that on the calendar than the anniversary of God’s creating man himself?

If I’m being honest, I’m something of a birthday cynic myself. I fall into the camp of those who don’t believe that I deserve to be celebrated simply for being born, and whenever people apologize for having missed wishing me a happy birthday, I reassure them that it’s alright because it’s really just another revolution around the sun. And while I am still not convinced that I need everyone to celebrate the fact that I came into existence, as I’ve grown older (and, I hope, wiser), I have come to realize that completing that revolution—and starting a new one—is an opportunity for self-reflection and growth. If God has, through His kindness and generosity, chosen to give me—and, in this case, all of us—a new year, how can I not take that opportunity to become a better person?

In this light, I think that Rosh HaShana becomes a lot less scary. It’s still very weighty, and it still carries enormous significance, but it can be approached as the gift of a fresh start rather than as the one chance to make my case to earn another year. Yes, we are being judged. Yes, we are passed before God like sheep and He is about to determine what kind of year we will have. But we are, at the same time, asked to examine our own deeds, asked to take a look back at the year we just finished, and asked to ask ourselves, “Am I the same person now as I was one year ago? And will I be the same person in one year from now as I am today?”

That’s a birthday celebration I can get behind.