Rosh Hashanah, the commencement of the Jewish year, diverges from its secular counterpart in its tone. It isn’t a time of jubilation and festivities. In fact, greetings like “Happy New Year” or the traditional חג שמח are not exchanged. Instead, the sentiment expressed is לשנה טובה תכתב ותחתחם—”May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.”

Rosh Hashanah is a day of awe, where we stand before a mirror of truth. During this period, we’re evaluated, not only by Hashem but also by our own selves, assessing whether we’ve fulfilled our potential in the past year. The month of Elul, where we currently find ourselves, calls for introspection—apologising to those we’ve harmed, recognising wasted opportunities, and acknowledging instances when we’ve fallen short of embodying our values.

Engaging my Year 5 class in conversation, I inquired regarding the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. While many guessed Tisha b’Av, a number of students associated sadness with Yom Kippur due to the fasting. Ironically, the Talmud teaches that Yom Kippur is the most joyous day of the year.

So, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur—spanning the 1st to the 10th of Tishrei—our emotional arc transforms from awe and apprehension to happiness and elation.

Quite peculiar, isn’t it?

The Talmud expounds that the happiness of Yom Kippur is rooted in our certainty of receiving forgiveness for our transgressions and the chance to start anew, unburdened by past errors. Confidence, at its core, is the belief that our contributions are positively impacting the world. It manifests when we sense we’re enhancing relationships with peers, adding value at work, and realis ing our significance in the grand scheme of life.

On Yom Kippur, Hashem declares, “The world needs you!”

But the world doesn’t only need you, it needs us all. The Zohar mentions that a Torah scroll contains 600,000 letters, symbolising all the Jewish souls present at Mount Sinai. According to halacha, Jewish law, should even one of these letters be absent, the entire Sefer Torah becomes invalid. We need all 600,000, none are dispensable.

As a tribute to Moriah College’s 80th anniversary, we’re commissioning the writing of a Torah scroll in honour of Moriah’s students. Each child and family has an opportunity to partake by donating a letter; their letter in the Torah, for $18 – helping to create the Torah for their child or grandchild.

In this way, the 600,000 letters of the Moriah Torah not only symbolically represent our children but also tangibly involve them in this remarkable mitzvah.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rabbi Gad Krebs is the College Rabbi at Moriah College in Queens Park, NSW.