Dear Loyola community,
From now through October 5, Judaism observes its High Holy Days. I invite you this next week to join me in prayer for and with our Jewish sisters and brothers.
Rosh Hashanah started Sunday evening and welcomes the Jewish New Year. It is a time of celebration and hope for the year to come. It is also a time to look back at what has been and to repent for and work to heal the relationships we have broken.
This year, Rosh Hashanah welcomes the year 5783, the number of years, according to tradition, since God created the heavens and the earth as described in the Book of Genesis. Thus, it is, in a sense, creation's birthday. It provides an opportunity to recall the goodness of creation along with the justice that reigned at the beginning and that God still intends.
The High Holy Days conclude October 5 with the holiest of days, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The interval between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Days of Awe, a time of prayer, repentance, and good deeds. It is indeed awesome to think of a God so merciful as to take account of our acts of atonement and to think of our actions as somehow helping to repair the world.
What a gift these days are to Judaism, and what a gift Judaism is to the world that is so in need of the hope and the commitment to renewal these days invite.
Tom Ryan
Interim Vice President for Mission and Identity
