Every nation tells its own story.
Americans celebrate Independence Day. The French commemorate Bastille Day. Families treasure birthdays and anniversaries that mark the moments which shaped who they are.
The Jewish calendar is no different. Passover celebrates the Exodus from Egypt. Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Chanukah remembers the victory of the Maccabees. Nearly every Jewish holiday recalls an event in the history of the Jewish people.
Which makes one holiday remarkably surprising.
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, does not commemorate the birth of the Jewish nation.
It celebrates the creation of the first human beings—Adam and Eve.
That raises a question.
If this is the beginning of the Jewish year, why doesn’t it begin with Abraham, the first Jew? Why not with Moses, the Exodus, or the giving of the Torah?
Why begin before there were any Jews at all?
Because before G-d reminds the Jewish people who they are, He reminds the world what every human being is.
The Hebrew Bible itself begins this way. Before it introduces Abraham, before it tells the story of Israel, before there is a covenant with one nation, it tells the story of one man and one woman. The Torah begins not with a people, but with humanity. It reminds us that every person is created in the image of G-d and possesses a dignity that no nation, race, or culture can bestow—or take away.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe often emphasized that this is no accident. Rosh Hashanah marks not the birthday of the Jewish people but the birthday of the world. Before Jews gather to pray for themselves, they pray that every human being will come to recognize the One who created us all and that the entire world will reflect His goodness and justice.
That may surprise many people.
Judaism has never believed that everyone should become Jewish.
From the days of Abraham onward, Israel was given a unique covenant and a unique calling. But that calling was never meant to replace humanity—it was meant to serve it. The Creator who entered into a covenant with Abraham is the same Creator who first fashioned Adam and Eve. Before there was a chosen people, there was a human family.
That simple truth changes the way we see one another.
Before we ask what religion someone belongs to, we remember that every person belongs to G-d.
Before we belong to a nation, we belong to humanity.
Before we carry a flag, we bear the image of G-d.
That is why the Jewish year begins with Adam rather than Abraham.
Every year, before Judaism tells its own story again, it begins by reminding the world that the story started with all of us.
I wish you a good week, happy New Year and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yonatan Hambourger
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