The Jewish New Year is not like the secular New Year, though it does share one element. It's about examining the life lived over the past year, individually and in community. Here's one translation of a prayer called the U'Netanah Tokef, attributed to a Jewish martyr Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, recited in the synagogue just before his death, after his hands and feet had been cut off for refusing to convert to Christianity. Part of it has been translated as follows:

"All mankind will pass before You like members of the flock. Like a shepherd pasturing his flock, making sheep pass under his staff, so shall You cause to pass, count, calculate, and consider the soul of all the living; and You shall apportion the fixed needs of all Your creatures and inscribe their verdict.

On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation, and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquillity and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted.

But REPENTANCE, PRAYER and CHARITY avert the severe decree!"

This is not a comfortable prayer. Quite a few people have hated it, actually, including more than one rabbi. Jewish TV Network offers a video (click on the Torah scroll) from "Torah Slam 2008" in Los Angeles, where a very talented cross-denominational group of rabbis discuss/ explain/ struggle with/ curse at this prayer, its translations (plural), and its meaning. The video is alternately funny, deep, moving, and angry; always impassioned, and ultimately very enlightening. No matter what religion you are.

Shana Tovah.