Happy Rosh HaShanah 5775!
When American culture celebrate events, frivolity often demands center stage. New Year's Eve in particular, but also the devotion nearing addiction to professional sports events on Thanksgiving and most public holidays.  Weddings for sure, birthdays, even anniversaries, celebration translates to the expectation of excessive eating and drinking. It's almost as if we should not think too much or plumb the depths of the meaning of the event itself. Instead we "celebrate."  Who talks seriously about the meaning of aging on a birthday, unless you're under 30? Who seriously discusses or redirects their lives to freedom on July 4th?
But not tomorrow night, the New Year, Rosh HaShanah, the anniversary of the 6th day of Creation. We rejoice!!! But how do we choose to rejoice? We happily contemplate the meaning of our existence. It's Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembrance, and Yom Truah, the Day of the Sounding of the Horn so that we may consider our lives. The central focus is not our appetites but the reason for our existence.
We start with family meals; we pray together as families in community. Consider the difference: When Jews celebrate: we push to the fore the values central to our lives. When Americans celebrate, the culture tells us to forget our values for one night, and "just enjoy!" The difference is stark and demands attention.
Let us rejoice in our holiday, and celebrate our lives, proclaiming that we happily exist for a reason, and redirecting ourselves to serve the purposes for which we were created. When Jews rejoice, surrounded by family and friends, we don't deny reality for a night, we restore that which is must important in our lives.