Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

The month leading up to Rosh Hashanah is the month of Elul. In Hebrew, the letters that spell Elul are Alef, Lamed, Vav and Lamed. Those same letters are the first letters of the binding of a couple on their wedding day. Ani Ledodi V'dodi Li – I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. 

This mystical reading is more than a mere coincidence as it also sums up the relationship that Jews around the world will be reviewing as we enter the High Holidays. As the "Jewish New Year," Rosh Hashanah is a time when Jews review not only their relationships with one another, but most importantly with G-d. It is a time of self-reflection with a higher being as well as a time to review our relations with our spouses, friends, and colleagues and yes, even our enemies.

While the Gregorian calendar marking January 1st as the "New Year" has only been around since the mid 1500s, the Jewish calendar starts approximately 4,000 years earlier. Rosh Hashanah is a time to celebrate the coming new year and is also a deeply spiritual time. It may lack the merriment of a ball dropping in Times Square, but it makes up for it with deep meaning, festive meals, and a focus on improving relationships with ourselves, our community and the world. 

Like the New Year celebrated on January 1st in the Gregorian calendar, it is a time for analyzing our vows from the past year as well as contemplating what new ones we will make in the coming year. Unlike the January 1st holiday where vows tend to include lighter matters like "going to the gym," instructing our children about "enhancing kindness to our siblings" or striving to "curse less," the Jewish New Year is an altogether weightier matter.

It begins "the Days of Awe" where we take a personal accounting of our actions in the previous year, set goals to "do better" in the coming year and prepare for the awe inspiring and deeply significant Yom Kippur experience that closes out this intense spiritual period of meaning.

At Kinneret Council on Aging, Rosh Hashanah is not just a time for us to gather as a community to experience the Jewish New Year, it is also a time for our Board members to reflect on our mission, how we are serving the Jewish Senior community in Central Florida and where and how we can improve our efforts in these areas.  

Ali Polejes

We look forward each year to Rosh Hashanah both for the blessings of abundance we enjoy with our families and friends as well as for the opportunity to keep stretching ourselves and the KCOA mission to aim higher and do more in the coming year, just as our ancestors have been doing for thousands of years.

On behalf of our Board and staff, we wish you and your families a most Healthy, Happy and Sweet New Year!

May we all be worthy of a good inscription in the Book of Life in the Coming year. May the continued merits or our good deeds sustain us all in 5783!

Sharon Weil

Executive Director, Nonprofit Operations

Ali Polejes

KCOA Board President

Rhonda Pearlman

Kinneret Apartments, Board President