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Evening Prayer
Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 18a
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Two general themes pervade the prayers of Rosh Hashanah. One is G-d-centered and includes prayers that allude to our accepting G-d as sovereign. The other is human-centered and includes the prayers in which we ask for our personal needs and to be inscribed for a good year.
At first blush, these two themes seem to contradict each other. And yet, a deeper perspective provides a unifying synthesis. G-d desires to be present and felt in our physical experience. Our souls are moved to beseech G-d for material blessing so that we can fulfill this G-dly desire and make a home for G-d in our world. We might not be conscious of the ultimate meaning of our cravings for success, and we might process them as impulses of natural selfishness. But if we train ourselves to listen, we may start hearing the echoes of the soul’s footprints in our personal requests as well.
The first prayer of Rosh Hashanah is the evening prayer, arvit or maariv, to be recited on Friday evening, September 18. In the machzor, this prayer begins on page 23. * The special Amidah for Rosh Hashanah begins on page 33. The evening prayer concludes on page 44.
All references to the machzor in the section on Rosh Hashanah are to the Machzor for Rosh Hashanah with English Translation, Annotated Edition (Brooklyn: Kehot Publication Society, 2003). This machzor can be purchased at: www.tinyurl.com/RHmachzor During the Amidah, we inaugurate (on page 34) a brief but powerful request, which we repeat in all our prayers though the conclusion of Yom Kippur:
זָכְ רֵנּו לְ חַ יִים, מֶ לְֶך חָ פֵץ ּבַ חַ יִים, וְכָתְ בֵנּו ּבְ סֵפֶר הַ חַ יִים, לְ מַ עַנְָך אֱֹלקִ ים חַ יִים.
Remember us for life, O King Who desires life; inscribe us in the book of life, for Your sake, O G-d of life.
After completing the evening prayer, it is customary to bless those present by saying:
לְ שָׁ נָה טֹובָ ה תִּכָּתֵ ב וְתֵ חָ תֵ ם!
May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year!
