Rabbi Lauren S. Cohn, RJE

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown tonight. 🍎🍯
It’s a beautiful season of reflection, renewal, and hope. While the secular new year is often about countdowns and resolutions, Rosh Hashanah invites us to slow down and look inward. We think about the year that has passed—how we’ve lived, how we’ve loved, where we’ve fallen short—and we begin the journey of teshuvah, or return: returning to our best selves, to one another, and to the values that guide us.
The holiday is filled with rich traditions: hearing the sound of the shofar (a ram’s horn) to stir our spirits awake, gathering with loved ones for meals, and sharing sweet foods like apples dipped in honey as a prayer for a sweet year to come.
Rosh Hashanah also opens the Ten Days of Awe, a sacred stretch of time that leads to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement—the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, when we seek forgiveness and the chance to begin again.
So if you hear Jewish friends saying “Shanah Tovah” (literally, “a good year”), that’s the blessing we’re offering each other: may this year be filled with sweetness, goodness, and new beginnings.

In honor of World Poetry Day, we're celebrating "Phenomenal woman" Maya Angelou!

"You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise...

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise." -- Maya Angelou

You can watch Dr. Angelou powerfully reciting this stunning poem on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qviM_GnJbOM

To inspire children and teens with the stories of real-life girls and women who rose and took a stand throughout history, visit our blog post, "Dissent Is Patriotic: 50 Books About Women Who Fought for Change," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=14364

For uplifting Mighty Girl stories that emphasize the importance of hope, visit our "Hope & Optimism" book section at http://amgrl.co/1Iz1D1d

To introduce kids to this legendary poet and author, we recommend the picture book "Maya Angelou" for ages 5 to 8 (https://www.amightygirl.com/maya-angelou-little-people-big-dreams) and "Rise! From Caged Bird to Poet of the People" for ages 9 to 12 (https://www.amightygirl.com/rise-poet-of-the-people)

This beautiful illustration is by Nate Williams Creative -- to view more of his work, visit his website at http://www.n8w.com/

From the Anniston Star Religious Roundtable by me:

What Makes a Good Life?

Do you have a belief system? Do you believe in something greater than yourself? What grounds you in this world, providing meaning to the ups and downs of life? What serves as your soul’s compass?

Are you part of a community? Are you connected to like-minded people because of a shared interest or hobby? Do you have opportunities to be with those who share different opinions than yours? How does being with others help you grow?

Do you have love in your life? Do you feel loved by others and do you love others? Do you love someone unconditionally exactly as they are?

Do you live life with hope? What are you doing to make this world better? How are you helping to fix the present brokenness? What are you doing to make this world more livable for generations to come?

Do you live a grateful life? Are you happy with all that you have? Do you think about how blessed and fortunate you are? Do you, as Bob Marley, said “Love the life you live?” Do you “Live a life you love?”

(Another column by me for The Anniston Star Religious Roundtable)

What does Judaism Say about Hate?

Rather than discuss what the Torah says about hate, I direct you to values that teach us not to hate.

In the beginning of Genesis, when God creates the world, God creates man and woman in the image of God. We were all created equally and to be like God. To me, as a mother, rabbi, and educator, teaching this concept of equality is a huge part of my calling. When we look in the eyes of another person we must acknowledge that person’s humanity AND the Godliness within.

Towards the end of Exodus, when we begin to receive a litany of laws for how to treat each other, in Exodus 22:21, we read, “You shall not wrong nor oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” We know what it means to be persecuted and enslaved. We know how it feels to be strangers in a foreign land. All of this requires empathy.

In the middle of the book of Leviticus (19:18), we read, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It doesn’t get any simpler than that. If you want kindness, then spread it. If you want compassion, then create it. If you want love, then give it.

If we want to fill the world with peace, understanding, and goodness (the opposite of hate), then we must recognize each of us has Godliness; we must remember our painful moments so we help others through theirs; and we must strive to fill the world with all that is good.

From The Anniston Star Religious Roundtable by me
What Makes a Happy Marriage?

While there are myriad of things that contribute to a happy marriage, I wish to focus on three.

Acceptance is the first component of a happy marriage. Everyone wants and needs to feel loved exactly as they are. Of course, we all grow and change, but knowing that you are loved unconditionally by your partner – with all your greatness and flaws – makes you feel stronger and more capable.

Every marriage needs an abundance of laughter. We all know that life can be hard and messy. The physical act of laughing literally creates space in the body. It fills us with air, rich in oxygen and stimulates our organs. Laughing with your partner bonds you to each other and makes what is difficult and seems impossible bearable.

In addition to acceptance and laughter, a happy marriage is a collaboration, based on an understanding and appreciation of each partner. When I speak to couples under the wedding chuppah, canopy, I teach them that a marriage is not about making one and one make one. It’s the coming together of two separate individuals– with everything that makes you that – your childhoods, your families, your connections to generations that have come before you, your belief systems, your values, what you love, and how you care for the rest of the world, – all of it, a marriage is about making one and one make two.