Every Jewish holiday has a unique character to it. Each year, on that specific day, we are invited to step across the threshold, intellectually, and spiritually, and enter into that distinct domain. Rosh Hashanah, traditionally thought of as the day that commemorates the creation of the world, is more precisely regarded as the day the world is conceived.
This idea is beautifully captured in the famous piyut that we say during the Musaf service on Rosh Hashanah, following the shofar blasts: “Hayom harat olam” — “Today is the day of the conception of the world.” But what does it mean to say that the world is conceived on this day?
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