What is all the to-do about New Year’s Eve?
December 27, 2011 
6 Comments
by Rabbi Joan Glazer Farber
The world is gearing up for another celebration on Saturday night. No it is not Havdalah that most are contemplating though I think Havdalah is definitely an option. On Saturday night at midnight, the entire world will acknowledge and celebrate the beginning of 2012, a new year. As Jews, we live in two worlds and it is at times like these that we are challenged to find meaning in both.
Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 gives some insight into the role of “New Year” demarcation on the Jewish calendar.
There are four New Years. On the first of Nisan is the New Year for kings and for festivals; on the first of Elul is the New Year for tithing animals. –Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say, on the first of Tishri– on the first of Tishri is the New Year for the years, for Sabbatical years and for Jubilee years, for planting and for vegetables; and on the first of Sh’vat for trees, according to the School of Shamai, but the School of Hillel says on the fifteenth of Sh’vat.
The four days specified in this mishnah reflect the political, ritual and spiritual nature of the Jewish world view. These days served as indicators of transition, status and the timing of the rituals which accompanied each designation.
The first of Nisan had a dual purpose for kings and festivals, yet the two are linked. A year in a king’s rule dated from the first of Nisan, even if he assumed the throne on the last day of Adar (the day before the first of Nisan). The king who ruled over Israel had to ensure that the activities of the Temple, including sacrifices and tithing, continued to function as the foundation of the people. The Shalosh R’galim,the three pilgrimage festivals, brought the people to Jerusalem to celebrate their harvest, to bring offerings which connected them to the Divine, to reconnect with the larger community, and to demonstrate support for the political leaders of the time. The balance between political and ritual in our lives is demonstrated by this new year on the first of Nisan.
The new year for the years occurred on the first of Tishri, even though Leviticus 23:5 states that the first month is Nisan as determined by the observance of Pesach and later Tishri is counted as the seventh month as verse 24 states:
Speak to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts.
Obviously there was a recalculation of the calendar between the writing of Leviticus and the mishnah from Rosh Hashanah. Today, we observe the new year for the years on the first of Tishri as stated in the mishnah rather than calculating the year from Nisan as outlined in Leviticus.
On the first of Tishri, we welcome the new year through prayer and reflection and proclaim the sanctity of the day with the sounding of the shofar. We could infer that the revelry of New Year’s Eve is modeled on our observance of Rosh Hashanah. It has become a day of complete rest (it is a Federal holiday in the United States) and communities celebrate with fireworks and blowing of horns (generally plastic and not a ram’s horn). It has become a time when friends and family get together enjoying companionship and a good meal.
Personally, as New Year’s Eve approaches, I wonder why the big deal. I’ve already welcomed a new year back on the first of Tishri. Yet, I enjoy watching the celebration in Times Square and seeing the ball descend. Most of all, I look forward to marking the transition from one year to the next, with family and friends enjoying the time together. I recall one tradition from my parents, eating herring and sour cream at midnight. It is curious that my parents chose to eat foods they also ate during the days surrounding Rosh Hashanah. Unfortunately, I never asked them why.
May 2012 be a year of health, well-being and peace.
Rabbi Joan Glazer Farber is Adult Learning Specialist for the Union for Reform Judaism and coordinator of 10 Minutes of Torah.
Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah.
Rabbi Farber, I’m not sure whether I agree with you about “living in two worlds”. On one hand, in terms of New Year celebrations, I do make a distinction between Rosh Hashanah, my religious/spiritual ushering in of a new year, and the Gregorian New Year, which of course is totally secular. I love eating apples, honey, challah, and brisket etc. on RH and filet mignon and champagne on New Year’s. They are totally different ways of marking time and “starting over”.
Yet, while the actual celebrations and the transitions they represent are very different, I don’t sit and think to myself, “this is where I am in the secular year and this is where I am in the Jewish year”. I live in ONE world, which is inhabited by many different people of different backgrounds. Nobody needs to pretend that they are really living by the Hebrew calendar when our lives inevitably revolve around the secular calendar.
I don’t need to separate my Jewish identity from my American identity, or for that matter, by human identity. I don’t think it’s healthy to think of “this world” vs. “that world”. I don’t think your post was meant to start an argument about dual identities and particularism/universalism, but the phrase “as Jews, we live in two worlds” really invited a respectful critique.
@Jordan Friedman
We can’t be an Ohr LaGoyim if we aren’t a separate and distinct people. Otherwise, we’re just with all the other goyim (nations), in the dark.
@Jordan Friedman
Of course we live in two worlds. To borrow a theme from Chanukah, Jews are oil to American (liberal Western) water. We can float on top , right along next to the general society – but as hard as try to “blend”, oil and water will never fully mix.
@Rabbi Farber
We discussed Thanksgiving last month in this forum. That is a holiday that is compatible with Jewish law and Jewish values, so we can celebrate it. However, even our celebration of Thanksgiving is different than our Gentile neighbors. (The turkey is kosher, blessings over food are said, etc.)
We are commandeded to counts the months from Adar, and the years from Tishrei, but no mention is made of “January”.
Obviously we need to know what the secular year is, but its arrival is no cause for celebration. If anything, it detracts from our mitzvah to counts the months and years as our tradition instructs.
Furthermore, New Year’s Eve has become an excuse for inebriation and licentiousness; neither of which accord with Jewish values.
This Saturday night is just another motze shabbat. Havdallah, family time, kids go to bed, and my wife and I will likely be asleep before midnight.
@ Former Reform Jew
I agree with Dr. Tasch that NOT believing we live in two worlds is a hallmark of Reform Jewish identity. The position that you and Rabbi Farber take is a legitimate position in Jewish thought, but there’s nothing Reform about it. It is yet another sign that Reform is losing its distinctive outlook that made it such a beautiful expression of Judaism.
I disagree with much of what you say, but I have to say, the whole “oil and water” analogy was the first thing that has severely offended me. That kind of thinking, aside from simply being unnecessary and destructive to potential relationships with non-Jews, really fuels anti-semitism.
You’re not going to care about Classical Reform arguments I make that blending into society is the “enlightened” thing to do. There is, however, a sound traditionalist argument against “oil and water” notions–the more we blend in (while retaining our religion), the better we can be “or lagoyim”. We can bring the Light of Ethical Monotheism to others by example when we live in a non-separatist way with our neighbors and let them see us living our Jewish lives. If Jews are oil and the society we live in is water, then perhaps Reform Judaism can be an emulsifier that prevents us from separating! We can be one big human salad dressing/family.
I assume that his sense of living in two worlds is one reason that Former Reform Jew is no longer Reform. It is good that he has found a more congenial religious home.
@Mark Tasch
And yet, it was the author of this post who used the phrase “two worlds”.
Jordan Friedman presented his view that it’s all one world. I agreed with Rabbi Farber that we do indeed live in two worlds.