Celebrating a Labor-less Day

This year everyone will be saying that Rosh HaShanna “came early.” Of course if you look at the Jewish calendar you will see that Rosh HaShannah came just when it should. The idea of “early and late” comes from our reference to the civil calendar that we use every day. This year our sense of “early” is also due to the fact that Rosh HaShannah comes right after Labor Day. (Oy, so early!) Let’s take a look at what Labor Day can teach us about celebrating Rosh HaShannah.
Labor Day is a day to honor those who work hard- we do so by giving them (and ourselves) a day off from working! Well, how would we honor labor, by making everyone work harder? Jewish holidays are like Labor Day- we mark the cycle of work and accomplishment by a day of rest. It is a good reminder that the best part of the ride is taking the time to get off the rollercoaster and watch it go by. Just as Labor Day comes once a year so does Rosh HaShannah- it is an annual event that gives us the chance to “hop off the train” and catch our breath. It is both the anniversary of the creation of the world and the creation of humanity. Rosh HaShannah marks the creation of the raw materials and the creation of man who, through creativity and labor, was given the task of bringing all the raw material to its full potential.
I have always wished that I had more creative ability- I am always amazed by artists who can paint a beautiful picture guided only by the vision they see in their mind. I have always wondered how an artist knows that a painting is “done.” How do you know when the last brush stroke has been made? When to stop mixing colors in search of just the right shade? When is that “ah-ha” moment when the picture is done and the artist can stand back and appreciate his own work?
Those questions are the ones that confront us on Labor Day and Rosh HaShannah. When do we know that our efforts are complete? When can we stand back and say that we have attended to every detail? For some projects it’s an easy question- if you are painting a house it is pretty easy to know when every wall has been painted. It’s a much harder question to know when the task of turning a house into a “home” is completed.
In each of our lives we are called upon to perform many tasks- some of which, we can, on those “labor-less” days, stand back and say “job well done.” There are other tasks (usually the more important ones) that have no end. On “labor-less” days we can only stand back and look at the progress that we have made.
Rosh HaShannah is such a day- we celebrate creation- an on- going process- we pause from our labor to see how we are doing as God’s partners. Rosh HaShannah is also a day on which we pause to look at the efforts we have made in the tasks that will never be completed- self-betterment and the painting of our personal masterpiece.