Reframing Rosh Hashanah: From Judgment to Renewal

For women in recovery, the language of guilt and judgment is familiar — and often toxic. But real healing doesn’t come from shame. It comes from connecting with a Higher Power and living from our higher self. That’s the essence of recovery, and it can also be the essence of this season if we choose to see it differently.

We’ve been told that Rosh Hashanah is “the Jewish New Year.” But the Torah itself says something different: the year begins in Nisan, in the spring (Exodus 12:2). Spring is the natural time of renewal. The earth wakes up, life begins again, and women’s own cycles reflect that same power of creation and rebirth.

So why was Tishrei — the seventh month — renamed “Rosh Hashanah”?

Who Changed It and Why

Centuries later, the rabbis of the Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 1:1) established four “new years.” They declared Tishrei the “new year for years,” tying it to the creation of Adam and Chava. That shifted the emphasis from the Jewish people’s liberation in Nisan to the “birthday of humanity” in the fall.

But the bigger shift was in tone: from renewal and freedom to judgment and fear. Why?

Social control: Fear of judgment motivated people to comply, participate, and obey religious authority.

Breaking from spring festivals: In the ancient world, spring celebrations often centered on fertility and feminine power. Moving the “new year” away from spring cut that link.

Universalizing: Nisan is about the Jewish story; Tishrei became about all humanity. That broadened the scope but blurred the intimate connection between women, birth, and renewal.

Institutionalizing religion: Nisan is messy and liberating (Exodus, dancing, women leading). Tishrei is ordered, ritualized, and synagogue-centered — easier to control, and led by men.

The result: women’s spiritual role in renewal was muted, and guilt and shame became the dominant themes of the season.

Guilt and Shame vs. Recovery and Love

Women know shame. We’ve been told we’re not enough, that our worth comes from how well we perform — in our homes, in religion, in life. But recovery teaches another way.

Step 1: I admit I can’t do this alone. I need my Higher Power.

Step 4: I take inventory, not to punish myself, but to live honestly.

Step 9: I make amends, not to drown in guilt, but to step into freedom.

These aren’t steps of judgment. They’re steps of love, healing, and renewal.

Reclaiming This Season

Instead of calling it “Rosh Hashanah,” maybe we can call it what it really is: a Season of Return. Not a calendar reset, but a soul reset. Not about fear, but about alignment.

For women, that means:

Self-love: Refusing to measure ourselves by the meals we cook or the rituals we perfect.

Higher Power connection: Remembering that we’re never alone in this work.

Higher self leadership: Setting the spiritual tone of our homes and communities through honesty, recovery, and love.

When men reframed Tishrei as the “new year,” they sidelined women’s embodied role in renewal and replaced it with fear-based religion. But we don’t have to accept that framing. We can reclaim this season as our own: not about shame, but about truth; not about judgment, but about return; not about fear, but about love.