L'Shanah Tovah?

Reflections on the January New Year

Rabbi Michael L. Feshbach,

Temple Anshe Hesed

Erie, Pennsylvania

Well, now, keep the corks in the champagne bottles for just a minute, will you? Let's think about what we're doing here. The first of January is upon us. Parties should be fully planned already. But, really, where does this holiday come from? And should we be celebrating it as well?

As Jews, our tradition has many different new years. Rosh Hashanah is not the only one -- it is the new year for the calender year, yes, but there are many others as well. There is the new year for the counting the reign of kings, in Nisan (usually early April). There is the new year for trees, coming to us this month with the holiday of Tu B'Shevat. (What this really meant is that produce grown before Tu B'Shevat would be taxed at the previous year's rates, and after Tu B'Shevat would be counted towards the following year's tally.)

And we are used to different new years in the flow of our own lives -- the school year, the fiscal year, etc. But what is the origin of the January new year? And -- to ask our perenniel, obsessive question -- is it good for the Jews?

According to Adolf Adam's book, The Liturgical Year, the celebration of January 1st as a new year in the Western world has both Roman and Christian roots. Since the beginning of the second century BCE, Roman consuls and other officials began their terms of office on the first of January. The Roman new year had always been celebrated on March 1st, but eventually, in 46 BCE, Roman officials reorganized their calendar to have the new year coincide with the beginning of their terms. A pagan festival was celebrated at this time, to honor the god Janus (hence, the month "January,") a festival which was marked by gluttony and orgies and the like.

But the seeds of a more serious side to the festival were already present: art associated with the festival pictured Janus as a two-faced god... looking backward and looking ahead at the same time. It is not a far step from that picture to the idea of new year's resolutions, to reviewing our past actions, and planning for our future.

Into this picture come the early Christians, and a lively debate over the proper date of their holiday of Christmas. The original date of Christmas (still celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox churches) was January 6th. In the second century CE, the Western church set December 25th as the date for Christmas... moving it up from January 6th in order to coincide with the Winter Solstice, which was known in Rome as the "Return of the Unconquered Sun." (That was "sun" not "son.") And... it was the custom in the ancient church (borrowed, no doubt, from our Jewish tradition of Sukkot and Passover) to celebrate major holidays for eight days. The eighth day of the celebration thus coincided with the beginning of the civil year in Rome.

Originally, to offset the raucous nature of the pagan celebration and to wean the people away from it, the early church tried to change the holiday from a feast to a fast, with pennance and a liturgy called "Protection Against Idolatry." But January 1st took on other meanings in Christianity as well. With the end of the Roman empire, and the fading fear of idolatry, the Roman Catholic church borrowed a rite from the Eastern Catholic Church called the Natale, a ceremony honoring the mother who bore the child. While the Eastern Catholic church celebrated this rite on the day after Christmas, the Roman Catholic tradition celebrated it on New Year's day, on January 1st.

Because this celebration was on the eighth day after Catholic tradition says a birth took place, it was inevitable that someone would eventually make a connection with Jewish customs. In 6th century Spain, a tradition developed to commemorate the circumsicion of Jesus on the first of January. This custom came to Rome rather late, probably in the 13th century, and was practiced by Catholics around the world... until 1969! Today, in Catholic tradition, January 1st remains a religious holiday, a Christian holiday. The Catholic liturgy for January 1st both honors the mother... and prays for peace. And today, the very year we count, the calender we turn, is Christian in content. What, after all, happens this January 1st. It becomes 1994... since what?

So what does all this mean for us as Jews? Should the fact that January 1st is a Christian religious holiday lead us to change our plans for the day in any way? Not at all. For even the Christian observance of this day is based upon an earlier tradition. And that tradition, while it might have been celebrated in pagan ways, was civil in content.

And our own tradition is clear on the following point. Dina d'malchuta dina, we are told, "the law of the land is the law." Civil law, secular law... is binding upon us as Jews, wherever we live.

Unlike December 25th, January 1st is an American holiday. January 1st remains the secular new year, the American new year. And we are Americans, bound by Jewish tradition to observe the laws and participate in the secular life of the land we call our home. So uncork the champagne, or walk the alcohol-free streets at First Night Erie, and let's celebrate (although we should probably leave the orgies well buried in the past.) As Jews, we do celebrate the coming of 1997 -- we just call it the Common Era (CE) instead of Anno Domini (which means the "Year of our Lord.") Besides -- bad tax planning as it may have been -- January 1st is my birthday. So I plan on celebrating. As will the vast majority of American Jews, along with all other Americans.

So to all of you, l'shanah tovah, er, um, I mean... Happy New Year.