The onset of Judaism's "High holiday season" is regarded by many -- most? -- Jews as merely the Jewish calandar's new year. It is so much more!
Starting tonight for 49 hours, Jews around the world will observe, Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish new year and one of the holiest days on the Hebrew Calendar.
Also identified as the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the world, reminding us that we, collectively, have been entrusted as caretakers of the earth and everything in it. As the beginning of the High Holiday season, this day summons us to recall mankind's mission to strive for self-perfection and evokes the limitless power of repentance and renewal.
Rosh Hashanah also marks the anniversary of one of the most hideous crimes in the history of the Jewish nation.
THE PROMISE OF HOPE
In the year 440 Before the Common Era, the army of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, conquered the Israelite city of Ashkelon to begin its occupation of the Kingdom of Judah. Seven years later, fearing that the new Jewish king Jeconiah might incite his people to rebel against Babylonian rule, Nebuchadnezzar exiled Jeconiah from the land, together with 10,000 scholars and sages. ( 2 Kings 24:14)
Without the influence of Torah leadership, he reasoned, the Jews would become like sheep without a shepherd and lose their sense of national identity and purpose.
But he was wrong. In 424 Before the Common Era, Jeconiah's successor, Zedekiah, attempted his own rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, who responded by unleashing the might of Babylon against Judah (2 Kings 25).
For two years, the Babylonian army laid siege to the capital of Jerusalem. The inhabitants starved until, as resistance began to crumble, Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers breached the city walls, cut down the defenders, and razed the Holy Temple. Nebuchadnezzar then gouged out Zedekiah's eyes and ordered him carried away in chains, exiled to Babylon along with the remainder of the Jewish people. Only the most impoverished inhabitants were allowed to remain behind. ( These dates follow the tradition of Jewish chronology, which sets the destruction of the First Temple in the year 422 BCE. Secular scholars date of the Temple's destruction much earlier, in 587 BCE.)
To prevent the land from descending into chaos, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah ben Achikom as governor over the remnant of the Jewish population in Judah.
Gedaliah was a capable and righteous leader to whom the demoralized Jews turned for leadership and guidance. As Samuel had done in his time, Gedaliah gathered the people to the town of Mitzpah, site of the pivotal conquest of the Canaanite kings by Joshua when the Jews originally conquered the land and, three centuries later, the place where Saul, Israel's first king, had been anointed. (Joshua 11:3; 1 Samuel 7:5 and 10:17ff; Jeremiah 40:7-8)
Gedaliah exhorted the people to have no fear of their enemies and to set aside the petty differences that still festered from the fractious days that preceded the Temple's destruction.
THE PROMISE OF HOPE
So inspiring were Gedaliah's words that his reputation spread. The people made peace among themselves, and the refugees who had fled from before the Babylonian army to the neighboring lands of Ammon, Moab, and Edom now returned to Israel to rejoin their brethren. So influential a leader was Gedaliah that, had he lived longer, he would almost certainly have reestablished a secure and prosperous Jewish community in the land.
But Gedaliah ruled for only fifty-two days. The king of Ammon, seeking to destabilize the region and thereby wrest control over Israel from Nebuchadnezzar, convinced Ishmael ben Nesanyah to assassinate Gedaliah. Ishmael could trace his family line back to King David. He therefore considered himself a more fitting candidate for the position of governor and resented Gedaliah, who was also his uncle, for assuming the position he believed should be his. The king of Ammon exploited Ishmael's jealousy, and Ishmael in turn found allies among the former advisors of Zedekiah, who feared Nebuchadnezzar and felt no loyalty toward Gedaliah.
One of Gedaliah's senior officers, Johann ben Kareyach, discovered the assassination plot and asked Gedaliah for permission to kill Ishmael before he could carry out his plan. But Gedaliah, mindful of the Torah prohibition against believing gossip, not only refused to listen to the report but refused to take any protective measures. He even went so far as to invite Ishmael and his allies to join him for the festive meal of Rosh Hashanah. In the midst of the repast, the conspirators rose up and murdered Gedaliah, together with many of his supporters.
THE ROAD TO HELL…
Despite his noble intentions, Gedaliah's rejection of Johann's warning was misguided. Although the laws regarding evil speech forbid believing malicious gossip, one is still required to protect himself from possible harm until the reports are found to be false. Because Gedaliah exposed himself needlessly to a potential enemy, scripture holds him responsible for his own death and the deaths of those who were killed with him. ( Jeremiah 41:9) Nevertheless, the loss of Gedaliah constitutes the final tragedy of the First Temple era, for with his death the Jews of Israel lost their last chance to rebuild a cohesive community after the fall of Jerusalem. Gedaliah's assassins fled to Egypt, where they were killed when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Pharaoh.
The Jews who stayed in the land remained impoverished and scattered, a broken and humiliated people living without hope, until the return of the exiles from Babylon 70 years later.
Gedaliah would have done well to heed King Solomon's warning: Do not be overly righteous or too wise; why bring destruction upon yourself? (Jeremiah 41:9) Humility is an essential quality of leadership, and the best intentions can inflict great suffering if they are not translated into action under the counsel of wise discernment.
On the other extreme, the jealousy that ate away at Ishmael ben Nesanyah's heart convinced him to perpetrate the unthinkable. When leaders allow their egos or their ideologies to govern their behavior, inevitably it the people who suffer most.
Rosh Hashanah reminds us that all our actions matter, and that the future will judge us — for better or for worse. Rosh Hashanah also reminds us that each new year — indeed, each new moment — summons us to reconsider what choices we will make, which path we will follow, and which version of ourselves we will bring forth into the world.
JewishWorldReview.com regularly publishes articles that inspire and uplift. Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
(COMMENT, BELOW)
Rabbi Yonason Goldson is director of Ethical Imperatives, LLC. He is an ethics speaker, strategic storyteller, TEDx presenter, and author. He is also a recovered hitchhiker and circumnavigator, former newspaper columnist, and retired high school teacher in St. Louis. Visit him at at http://ethicalimperatives.com.