Here’s a High Holidays quiz. What do Democratic New York City mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo, House Speaker Mike Johnson, far left “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar, Apple CEO Tim Cook and the New Jersey Devils hockey team have in common?
The answer, which no one ought to be expected to have known, is that they all have betrayed an apparent lack of working knowledge of Hebrew in their well wishes for Rosh Hashanah. In their defense, however, it’s a bit complicated to know what to wish Jewish family, friends and co-workers during the High Holidays.
To review, we are now in the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — called the 10 Days of Repentance. Jewish holidays start around nightfall and follow the lunar calendar, so this year, Rosh Hashanah (“head of the year”) began Monday evening. The holiday lasted for two days, although rabbinically it is deemed a nearly 48-hour, single day. Yom Kippur (“day of repentance”), which will last about a day, begins on the evening of Oct. 1.
Per Jewish tradition, God opens the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah and inscribes those who are good in it. Those who are evil are judged to be culpable and may not live to the next Rosh Hashanah. (It should go without saying that someone’s passing is by no means proof of evildoing.)
Everyone else who is in between — whose good and bad deeds are about even, and who are called beynonim — get until the end of the 10-day period to make their case to be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life on Yom Kippur. Doing good deeds, like helping others and following the 613 commandments (mitzvos) in the Torah can help tip the scales in one’s favor, according to the rabbis.
Observant Jews wish one another a kesivah v’chasimah tova (“a good writing and inscription” in the Book of Life) prior to Rosh Hashanah. And after Rosh Hashanah, a gmar chasimah tova (“a good sealing” in the Book of Life). The implication is that one is good and has been written into the book on Rosh Hashanah and will be sealed as such on Yom Kippur.
This is a very severe period of the calendar for Jews, but if one wanted, in theory, to playfully jab at particularly knowledgeable Jewish family, friends and relatives, one would wish a kesivah v’chasimah tova after Rosh Hashanah — suggesting to the other that she or he wasn’t good enough to have been inscribed on Rosh Hashanah and needs not only sealing but also inscription during the intermediary period.
Many try to avoid the references to the Book of Life altogether and to emphasize a less judicial, lower stakes holiday. They might wish a shanah tova (“good year”).
Many say l’shanah tova, though, which is a whole other matter. One can purchase any number of cards that state l’shanah tova, and every year, many politicians and others use that configuration.
Former New York governor and mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo wrote last week that he visited the burial site (ohel) of Rabbi Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher rebbe, “in honor of the New Year.”
“I have fond memories of the rebbe. He once told my father, ‘Double the effort, double the blessing,’” Cuomo wrote. “This year, I plan to do just that. L’shana tova.”
Last October, politicians who wished a l’shana tova include: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Reps. George Latimer (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich., now a senator), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). Canadian parliamentarian Melissa Lantsman did the same, as did former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (Gov. Josh Stein now runs that Twitter handle), former senator Sherrod Brown, former congresswoman Cori Bush, Apple CEO Tim Cook and the New Jersey Devils hockey team. (Slotkin, Gottheimer, Raskin and Lantsman are Jewish.)
The phrase which all of those politicians use contains an unresolved preposition (“to a good year”). The Hebrew letter lammed works in the toast l’chayim (“to life”), because one tends to toast “to” something. But the lammed in l’shanah tova actually implies the inscription: l’shana tova tikatev/i v’tichatem/i (“may you be written and inscribed to/for a good year”).
Alejandro Mayorkas, the former U.S. secretary of homeland security who is Jewish, got his holiday message right last year when he wrote, “To all who celebrate the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, I wish you a sweet, healthy and peaceful new year. L’shana tova tikatevu.” (The last word is the plural form of “be written,” which would apply to multiple people.)
Another correct reference? A Sept. 9, 1934 headline in the Detroit Free Press, which Rabbi Reuven Goldstein, of the Orthodox synagogue Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, Calif., shared on social media. (Former President Barack Obama also got the phrase right in 2010.)
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) got the inscription sort of right last year when he stated that “core to the spirit of Rosh Hashanah is the concept of tikkun olam, repairing a broken world. In these difficult times, let us reflect on that principle and how we can make our world a better place. Wishing you all a safe and sweet new year. L’shana tova and kesiva v’chasima tova.” (The Jewish congressman correctly included the “may you be written and sealed for good,” but still had the lammed preposition appended to the former phrase.)
It is interesting that Goldman put the holiday of Rosh Hashanah in the context of tikkun olam, which he defined as “repairing a broken world.”
Many Jewish groups use that Hebrew phrase in their mission statements, and it is often wielded in a universal way that is said to be a Jewish value that is all-encompassing. But those who use it as such tend to be as unaware of its origins as are most who use the preposition in l’shana tova.
The phrase tikkun olam comes from a larger phrase in a Jewish prayer called aleynu (“upon us”), which states in Hebrew “...to repair the world with the majesty of God”—a decidedly particular and religious rather than universal statement.
If one wants to skip the eschatological imagery this High Holiday season or if one just wants to play it safe without showing off newfound Hebrew skills, one should say shana tova, “have a good year.”