Lesson 022 · posted Sun Sep 6 2026
Nervous About the New Year?
5 things to know before Rosh Hashanah. The year is judged. You are loved. Both are true on the same day. That's the whole holiday.
- 1
The Book is still open.
ספר החיים“On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed.”Unetaneh Tokef, Rosh Hashanah liturgy
On Rosh Hashanah, tradition says, the Book of Life is opened — not closed. Ten days remain to write in it. The verdict is not the first draft.
- 2
A hundred blasts for one reason.
מאה קולות“Awake, sleepers, from your sleep.”Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 3:4
We hear the shofar a hundred times. Maimonides: it says “wake up, sleepers.” Not once. Until it lands.
- 3
Empty your pockets at the water.
תשליך“You will cast their sins into the depths of the sea.”Micah 7:19
Tashlich: we stand at a river and cast away what we're done carrying. Micah 7:19 — the image is standing at water and releasing what weighs you down.
- 4
Three things change the decree.
תשובה תפילה צדקה“Return, prayer, giving — avert the severity of the decree.”Unetaneh Tokef prayer
The Unetaneh Tokef prayer names them: teshuvah, tefillah, tzedakah — return, prayer, giving. They are what the holiday asks you to do.
- 5
You are judged as you are today.
באשר הוא שם“God heard Yishmael where he is.”Genesis 21:17; Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 16b
Genesis 21:17. The Talmud reads: judged by who you are now, not by what you might become. Today is enough. This is what the Book records: you, as you are.
The year is judged. You are loved.
Both are true on the same day. That's the whole holiday.
Save this for erev Rosh Hashanah — and send it to someone facing the year nervously.
Sources
- Unetaneh Tokef, Rosh Hashanah liturgy
- Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 3:4
- Micah 7:19 on Sefaria
- Unetaneh Tokef prayer
- Genesis 21:17; Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 16b on Sefaria
Art on the slides: Francesco Guardi, Venice: The Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute · Master of the Castello Nativity, Portrait of a Woman (probably 1450s) · Ernest Meissonier, Soldier Playing the Theorbo (1865) · Arnaud Vincent de Montpetit, Portrait of a Woman as Diana (1760s) · Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn), Portrait of a Man (ca. 1655–60) · George Romney, Lady Elizabeth Stanley (1753–1797), Countess of Derby (1776–78) · Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal), The Grand Canal, Venice, Looking South toward the Rialto Bridge (1730s). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, open access.