As R"H Approaches

It makes sense to me that when someone sends me something beautiful, not personal, actually universal, that it's OK to post it. The following is from an email I received. I really like the ideas here. First the idea that the word for change and year are related - shanah and shinui. Second - the idea that the shofar represents outside giant, watershed, world events as well as an individual voice from deep inside and that these two realities are actually one. I also connect to the writer's brilliant idea that the inner voice is inarticulate, primal - that's how it is.

"I heard something nice yesterday. The Hebrew words for Year and Change have the same root-shana and shinu. Emphasizing that each year when Rosh Hashana comes around it is not a repetition of the year cycle. It is a totally different experience. Each moment is a new moment, a different moment with a different purpose. I liked that thought, although the purpose part of it is challenging. What is the purpose, how can we know G-d's plan, and how trivial our daily disappointments and experiences may seem when we try to fit it into the larger purpose. Following the same idea, the speaker (Rebbetzin Leah Kohn) spoke about the shofar reminding us of creation, of Matan Torah, of the coming of Moshiach... all great events of the large picture, yet it is also our deep inner voice, our intense inner desire to be part of it and to contribute to it. I thought maybe the fact that it is a sound without words, symbolizes that this desire may be undefined or unclear to us as we grope in a busy world of challenges. However it is there, in every Jewish soul..."