Alone with God | Rosh Hashanah with the Chief

What are we actually meant to be doing on Rosh Hashanah? What are the goals of the day? What does an ideal Rosh Hashanah look like? What should be going through your mind when you are sitting in shul? The answer to these questions can completely change your experience of Rosh Hashanah this year, and, even, transform your entire life. Every Jewish festival has a clear objective. On Yom Kippur we repent and confess. On Pesach we remember the Exodus. On Sukkot we remember how God protected us in the desert. Each one takes a theme that matters all year round and gives it a specific time of complete focus. Rosh Hashanah looks like the exception. We never mention sin. There is no explicit reference to repentance. We call it the Day of Judgment, but what does that ask of you when you are sitting in shul with the machzor open in front of you? The key lies in one line of the Mishnah, which departs from its usual legal language and turns poetic. On Rosh Hashanah, all who pass through this world come before God one by one, in single file. Not as a congregation. Not as a family. Alone. Drawing on Pirkei Avot, the Rambam, Rabbeinu Yonah and the Rema, Chief Rabbi Goldstein explores t