Jesus returns home at Rosh Hashanah

September 29, 10:37 AMSpiritual Life ExaminerRabbi Ben Kamin

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At the Jewish New Year, Jesus has returned to his roots.  In his own mortal lifetime, the brilliant and charismatic teacher spoke Hebrew, offered devotions from Jewish traditions, shared and adapted Talmudic maxims, and particularly reiterated  the spiritual aphorisms of the eminent teaching master Hillel—the preeminent scholar and sage of rabbinic Judaism.  Hillel lived 100 years before Jesus.

In his all-too brief 30 years as a human being in ancient Judea, Jesus emulated the populist overtones of the Hebrew prophets, eschewing hypocrisy and rote rituals in favor of sincere prayers and social justice.  The actual title of “rabbi” did not exist during the life-span of this courageous young man who took on both the Romans and the calcified Jewish establishment; this moniker was conferred later on Christ, as was the notion of his resurrection and paternal relationship to God.

Jesus was a consummate Jew, as so many Christians know, honor, and even celebrate.  It was the extraordinary Saul (later renamed Paul) who—one hundred years after the crucifixion of this noble teacher—had an absolute epiphany on the road to Damascus.  Paul’s sincerity and conviction are beyond doubt, and historically inviolate, particularly when news of Jesus’ messianic ministry spread into the Roman Empire.

But Jesus was a Jew named Joshua and he’d feel very comfortable with his Jewish community at this time in any temple or synagogue.  We are asking God for a renewal of the earth and its environment, we are pleading for world peace, and we are praying for the inspiration and integrity to actually forgive others.  We are entreating God for those in need, the shut-ins, the widowed, the infirm, the countless human souls who trudge through so many forms of anonymous suffering.  We are being reminded that we are all God’s children.

What would Jesus do if he were visiting during Rosh Hashanah, the mystical birth of the world, and the anniversary of creation?  Hopefully, joining us and our congregation for the very liturgies he learned as a child and then interpreted as a visionary young man.