Happy 5779. For those among you looking puzzled, today is Jewish New Years (called Rosh Hashana in Hebrew). If rush hour traffic seemed a little off today, that is probably why. For those fellow members of the tribe discretely reading this on a smart phone in synagogue, may I say, “Shana tova.”
At any rate, today marks the beginning of year 5779 in the Jewish calendar, just a few years ahead of the Gregorian passage of time. While it may seem foreign to some to use anything other than Anno Domini, the tracking of years is a somewhat arbitrary number.