Rabbi's Monthly Message

  January 2021

A Jewish Wish

On Rosh Hashana eve, in many Sephardic communities a famous poem is recited as the opening prayer of the High Holiday service. This poem was composed in the 13th century by a Spanish Cantor, named Abraham of Gerona and it is chanted as the sun sets over the past year and the New Year begins.

One of the lines in the poem became a famous Jewish New Year’s wish, “May this year and its troubles soon be over and a new one begin with its blessings.”

Even though we celebrated our New Year a few months ago on Rosh Hashana, as we approach 2021,  I will still wish all of us and the rest of the world; “May this year and its troubles soon be over and a new one begin with its blessings.”