Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

From an interesting and educational Facebook post by Harold Feld, 2019-09-24, about Rosh Hashana:

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So what are we to make of this? RH is accounted as the second most sacred of days, second only to the Day of Atonement. Yet we make every effort to obscure it and universalize it. Even our liturgy is focused primarily on the the "coronation of the Most High" rather than on repentance and requests for personal well being (in contrast with Yom Kippur). It is our most universalist liturgy, coupled with out most universalist holiday.

i propose the following explanation. RH is a reminder to us that we are, in fact, a part of the world and bound to it. It's fate is bound with ours, and ours with the other nations of the world. We should not grow haughty in our stature as the "Chosen People," nor imagine that the fate of the world is somehow separate from our own. Yes, as God's chosen people -- an honor derived from the merits of our Ancestors and not on account of any virtue of ours -- we are privy to a bit more insight into the true nature of the universe. God drops us a hint of the Great and Terrible Day, when the Book of heaven is opened and all the living things pass before Him as sheep before the Shepherd. It is our privilege to be able to stand in the antechamber of his Coronation and proclaim it to the World. But we are present not for ourselves but as representative of all humankind.

God, in His mercy, has given us a separate day for our personal Atonement. But on the first day of the year, we remember that we are all descended from Adam HaRishon (the first human) and our fates are intertwined. "Pray for the government of the land wherein you dwell," warns Jeremiah. "For its fortune is your fortune."

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[Rosh Hashana begins this evening and continues to Tuesday evening. To my friends who celebrate it: shana tova!]