ART HISTORY, ANTHROPOLOGY & ROSH HASHANAH
by Jerry S.
Anthropology is the study going back to the beginning of time, which is what Rosh Hashanah celebrates. You can’t really go forward with the new without a good understanding of the past and how we arrived at this point, so that’s an important thought process for Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish New Year.
Much of art, especially nowadays, starts with a blank canvas. The opportunities are endless, so many options, ideas and styles to choose from, there’s so much potential. And that’s how we begin anew on Rosh Hashanah, with a clean open waiting slate.
CHESS AND ROSH HASHANAH
by Jeremy B.
As the Rabbi said, I like chess a lot.
There’s a significant amount of chess that’s fixed, like the way pieces move and the rules of the game. But each step of the way there are choices to make. We make those choices guided by past experience, by skills we picked up or fine-tuned, and by learning from both experts and amateurs. Good chess players read and study books, newspaper and online games, to analyze moves and gain insight and experience. You learn from both experts and amateurs, every game offers perspective and possibilities and an understanding of how the game is played and how we can improve our own game.
So, too, at the new year, it’s like a new game. Yes, same game pieces and the rules are old, but its a new game and there are new possibilities and challenges. We learn from both Rabbis and peers, from books and experiences.
AND THE LOTTO…
by Sam S.
I just got a new job at the New York State Lotto, not long before Rosh Hashanah. Like the Jewish New Year, it was an opportunity for me to start something new, to do something a little different. And as we start a new year, there are many unknowns ahead, uncertainties, but also possibilities. As the Lotto says, “Hey, You Never Know!”