September 7, 2010 | 11:00 am

A New Year

Posted by Mihal Levy

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September marks the new year for the Jews and double for me since it is also my birthday.  But September really should mark a new year for everyone, don’t you think?

Literally when September 1st hits, there is something in the air.  A feeling that things are beginning to slow down a bit.  The weather changes as if on cue, leaves start falling and the days already seem shorter.  Children return to school, vacations come to an end.  Everyone just seems to be transitioning in one way or another.  September marks a change.  A change in the weather, atmosphere and ourselves in general.  A time when we begin to become a bit more introspective and introverted.  And Judaisim has it down, the mark of a new year - a new beginning.

What is so different about the secular new year?  What is so different from December 31st to January 1st?  The weather is usually the same.  Everyone is still on vacation.  And everyone must come up with resolutions to fill when they are still in the midst of winter gloom.

So, with the falling of the first leaves and the cool breezes amidst the declining summer heat, let us take the time to celebrate the change around us and within ourselves as well.  Happy New Year to everyone!  Shana Tova!  (Whether you celebrate Rosh Hashanah or not.)  And happy birthday to me - yet another change for me - another year older and perhaps even wiser.  Perhaps…