Trish & Nathan

We wanted our wedding to have special meaning, so we picked the weekend before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This way, we will not only be starting our lives together but we will also be starting a new year as a Jewish married couple. I hope that you all can appreciate the symbolism as much as we do.

The festival of Rosh Hashanah--the name means "Head of the Year"--is observed for two days beginning on Tishrei 1, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind's role in G-d's world.

Rosh Hashanah thus emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and humanity: our dependence upon G-d as our creator and sustainer, and G-d's dependence upon us as the ones who make His presence known and felt in His world. Each year on Rosh Hashanah, "all inhabitants of the world pass before G-d like a flock of sheep," and it is decreed in the heavenly court, "who shall live, and who shall die... who shall be impoverished, and who shall be enriched; who shall fall and who shall rise." But this is also the day we proclaim G-d King of the Universe. The Kabbalists teach that the continued existence of the universe is dependent upon the renewal of the divine desire for a world when we accept G-d's kingship each year on Rosh Hashanah.