Rabbi’s Reflection on Rosh Hashanah: Hey It’s Good To Be Back Home

Rabbi’s Reflection on Rosh Hashanah: Hey It’s Good To Be Back Home

By Rabbi Jon Hanish (9/28/24)

I was listening to John Denver on Apple Music and thinking about home. Yes, your Kentucky born rabbi has a fondness for John Denver. From Country Roads to Leaving on a Jet Plane, Denver’s music continues to touch me in a way that reminds me of simpler times. So many of his songs talk about finding your way home. As I worked on my comments for Selichot services, he began singing words from one of his long forgotten hits:

Hey, it’s good to be back home again

Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend

Yes, and hey, it’s good to be back home again

Yes, places can feel like long-lost friends. I often reflect on past pilgrimages to places that were once home to me. How many of us have returned to a camp where we once grew up or a university where we once studied and felt the warm embrace of memories?

HaMakom is one of God’s many names. HaMakom literally means “the place.” It implies that places contain elements of holiness. Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are times when we return to a home that feels like a long-lost friend. Our sanctuary is a place we associate with the spirit of HaMakom. The pews are filled with congregants who sit in our sanctuary feeling the warm embrace of memory – a baby naming, a bar or bat mitzvah, a confirmation ceremony, a wedding, a memorial service, and even a whispered conversation had while the rabbi was sermonizing. The location creates a cascade of memories that enter our hearts and remind us why Kol Tikvah is one of our homes.

Rosh HaShanah is as much about returning home as it is about ritual and prayer. No matter where you’ve spent the past year, no matter how you’ve spent the past year, no matter the highs or the lows, no matter the number of times you participated in a service or a program, we all come together for High Holy Days. We come together because coming home is always better when we do it as a family.

Come home and reflect on your life this Rosh HaShanah. Use your time at Kol Tikvah to connect to the memories you’ve created here, to the friends you’ve haven’t seen in ages, and to past moments that have lifted your spirits and given you comfort. Be present over High Holy Days and you’ll find that you’ve reconnected with “a long lost friend.”

See you Wednesday night as we start our High Holy Day services.

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For information on Rosh HaShanah from the URJ (Union for Reform Judaism), go to:

https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/rosh-hashanah

For information on Rosh HaShanah from 18Doors, go to:

https://18doors.org/what-is-the-meaning-of-rosh-hashanah/

For past Torah Talks go to: https://www.koltikvah.org/learning/torah-talk/

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RAC (Religious Action Center of the Reform Movement)

https://rac.org/

ADL (Anti-Defamation League)