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Prologue There are four “New Year” days: on the first of Nisan is the New Year for kings and feasts; on the first of Elul is the New Year for the Tithe of Cattle (Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Shimon say: The first of Tishrei); on the first of Tishrei is the New Year for the reckoning of the years, for Sabbatical and Jubilee years, for the planting of trees, and for vegetables; and the first of Shevat is the New Year for trees (so say the School of Shammai; and the School of Hillel say: on the fifteenth). —Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 In the Mishnah, the earliest rabbinic compilation dating from the end of the second century c.e., we learn that the Jewish calendar has not one but four “New Year”s. Each has its own meaning. Most important, however, is the underlying concept: there is always an opportunity to begin anew. Or, as my grandmother would say, “God closes a door and throws you out the window.” Everyone keeps track of time in different ways. My mother, for example, remembers major family events based on the untimely deaths of pop stars. She never gives an actual year; rather, it is “the summer after Elvis died” or “two years after John Lennon was killed.” Sometimes, out of nowhere, she says, “I can’t believe Elvis has been dead fifteen years,” as if we have all been counting the days. The loss of Michael Jackson from the constellation of celebrities will no doubt impact my family’s timekeeping for many years to come. Different years are associated with different events. The stories that follow, based on the cycle of the Jewish year, are accounts of new beginnings, of reinventing oneself and 1 2 Prologue finding oneself. They are stories of doors closing and windows opening, of family and community, of integration and transformation. ...

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