fbpx

When We Say ‘Shanah Tovah’ Let’s Remember ‘Shabbat Shalom’

The deep contemplation that Rosh Hashanah demands is enhanced by the Shabbat experience.
[additional-authors]
September 18, 2020

It hit me today that I’ve been receiving hundreds of “Shanah Tovah” greetings but very few of the “Shabbat Shalom” greetings I usually receive on Fridays.

Actually, the fact that Rosh Hashanah falls on a Shabbat in the year of the pandemic is a rare and unique blessing.

The deep contemplation that Rosh Hashanah demands is enhanced by the Shabbat experience. Shabbat itself calls upon us to reconnect with the essentials of life. In the same way that Rosh Hashanah helps us renew ourselves every year, Shabbat helps us renew ourselves every week.

In this bewildering year of never-ending turmoil, we need all the spiritual ammunition we can get. The divine partnership of Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah is now at our disposal. Let’s use them both.

Shanah Tovah and Shabbat Shalom.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Cerf’s Up!

As the publisher and co-founder of Random House, Bennett Cerf was one of the most important figures in 20th-century culture and literature.

Are We Still Comfortably Numb?

Forgiving someone on behalf of a community that is not yours is not forgiveness. It is opportunism dressed up as virtue.

National Picnic Day

There is nothing like spreading a soft blanket out in the shade and enjoying some delicious food with friends and family.

John Lennon’s Dream – And Where It Fell Short

His message of love — hopeful, expansive, humane — inspired genuine moral progress. It fostered hope that humanity might ultimately converge toward those ideals. In too many parts of the world, that expectation collided with societies that did not share those assumptions.

Journeys to the Promised Land

Just as the Torah concludes with the people about to enter the Promised Land, leaders are successful when the connections we make reveal within us the humility to encounter the Infinite.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.