On the meaning of Rosh Hashanah –– giving

When New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia served as a municipal court judge early in his career, a man who was caught stealing a loaf of bread was brought before him for sentencing. LaGuardia’s judgment that day, so the story goes, made an impact on everyone in the courtroom. The man was going to have to pay a fine for the theft as well the bread that he stole. Then La Guardia asked all in the courtroom to empty their pockets to cover the man’s fine. He said, “We are all responsible for the society where a man needs to steal a loaf of bread to survive.”

La Guardia’s words are a powerful reminder of our responsibilities as a society, but don’t we also expect each person to be accountable for his or her own actions? Is the onus completely on each person for his or her behavior? This interplay between personal accountability and the need to construct a community where no one is forgotten is strongly present throughout the prayers and symbolism of Rosh Hashanah –– the Jewish New Year –– particularly in the themes of bread and justice.

Every year, in the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Jewish communities gather around a flowing body of water and perform a ritual called Tashlich, meaning “to cast away.” You’ll witness people throwing pieces of bread into the water and shaking out their pockets, which symbolically represents the human attempt to cast away this year’s wrongdoings. It is a ritual that challenges each person to examine the behaviors and actions that accumulated over the last year that they want to eliminate from their lives. It is a powerful ritual that helps individuals put the emotional exercise of examining one’s soul into practice. We recognize that every human over the course of a year can be derailed from the path we wish for ourselves.