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When I was younger, during Rosh Hashanah, all the kids would sing a song that began with “Dip the apple in the honey.” While at our young age, we didn’t truly understand the symbolism of this tradition, it has proved critical to our celebration of New Year’s. It was ultimately what cultivated a prosperous and sweet new year to come.

Western ideas, however, often view New Year’s as a time for change or resolutions. These resolutions often fall victim to faulty knowledge of keeping habits. Thus, the essence of New Year’s has been a short-lived, unmatched motivation followed by a default to old habits.

Across various cultures, New Year’s tends to be effective for self-development, as opposed to the failure rate of 91 percent found in America. Many different cultures and religions share a common theme for their outlooks on New Year’s: their ideas revolve around the principle that the new year is partly solemn. It is a time for forgiveness, humility, and gratefulness, a time to let go of everything holding you back from the past and move into the new year with a fresh start.

In Judaism, New Year’s is called Rosh Hashanah (head of the year), and it occurs in either September or October, complements of their lunisolar calendar. Rosh Hashanah has a celebratory feel, but it is also one of two high holy days, with Yom Kippur being the other.
The central solemn aspect of Rosh Hashanah is the preparation for the new year by reciting “selichot” daily on the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah.

“Selichot” is Hebrew for “sorry,” which is precisely what is uttered during the prayer. These penitential prayers are used by Jews to rid themselves of sin and to ask for forgiveness from both God and acquaintances, allowing one to enter the new year with a fresh start.

The new year begins with Yom Kippur, or “Day of Atonement,” in which there is a fast and “tashlich“, the throwing of bread – representing sins – into the water. These preparations set the tone for the year by allowing oneself to enter the new year renewed or free of sin. It will enable one to have a fresh start and begin the new year with the focus on it being a sweet one.

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The two main ideas of Rosh Hashanah are evident in both the greeting and the shofar. The greeting phrase on Rosh Hashanah is, “L’shanah tovah umetukah,” meaning “have a good and sweet new year.” “Good and sweet” but not happy, as commonly said in the Gregorian New Year greeting.

Jews use the solemn and celebratory aspects of Rosh Hashanah to sculpt a new year with a severe opportunity for self-improvement. Through the preparations and celebration of Rosh Hashanah, a person is forgiven by God for their sins, their eyes are opened, their brains are focused, and their hearts are hopeful and joyous. These ideas all set someone up for a fantastic new year.

Similarly to the Jewish outlook, the Islamic New Year, called Hijri New Year, is a more solemn time. Omar Alami, a sophomore at Syracuse University, says, “There is a two-day fasting period to make amends with their sins for the new year. If one is unable to fast, reading of the Quran suffices.” This is an almost identical principle to the one found in Judaism.

Through the practice of the Sikh new year, Baisakhi, Sikhs also take a more solemn approach to the start of their year by spending it in a temple in the presence of God, another spiritual and solemn idea of the New Year.

It is the solemn nature of these religions that make for a more meaningful new year, as changes come from within rather than being superficial goals commonly found in Western cultures. These small, more personal changes are an essential step in creating successful, larger changes in the future.

We should all take note from these other traditions, where New Year’s is more focused on cleansing oneself and moving forward into a sweet new year. You are retaining yourself; there is not anything you are changing; you are simply heading into the new year fresh and clean. This allows for a more healthy start in comparison to the mindset of having to improve oneself. You can simply be yourself and enjoy a sweet year, too!

Max Lancer is a sophomore Chemistry major. His column appears bi-weekly. He can be reached at mlancer@syr.edu.

Published on January 16, 2024 at 1:51 am