By Rabbi Jon Prosnit

The root of the word Shanah, as in Rosh Hashanah (the New Year), is Shin, Nun, Heh. The letters can form the word for “year” (shanah), but these letters also comprise the cores of the Hebrew words that mean “change” (shinui) and “different” (shoneh). And while, we know that the High Holidays are often called the season of return - our goal is also for it to be a season of change - or maybe a season for not being the same.

And while some things remain the same (the liturgy, the music, the season, the people) The high-holidays are not a re-run. Each year we enter the days of awe with a new script and a new drama. This period of reflection challenges us to break free from the “sameness” in our lives. I love one of the readings in the High Holiday Prayer Book

Love God with your mind:
Stay curious, open to questions
Marvel at the wonder of what is

Love God with your heart:
Stay alive to suffering and joy;
Yearn for the world that could be

Love God with your strength:
Open your hands and give;
Work for the sake of what ought to be

When we say Shanah Tovah to one another — which I hope to say to many of you - it is not simply a greeting, but a statement of a deeply held and enduring aspiration that this will be a happy and good year and also a year committed to positive change for ourselves and for our community.