Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, or Day of Remembrance, began at sundown Friday. Rabbis looking for messages of inspiration looked to the Jewish archives in Cincinnati, OH, and sermons dating to the 1918 flu pandemic. These words from Rabbi Ferdinand Hirsch seem particularly meaningful in these pandemic times:

“We have so much to learn in this time of uncertainty. Make peace with one another. So much newness, so much smallness, let’s be friends. Life is so short and uncertain.”

For an expansion of Rabbi Hirsch’s words and those of other rabbis, NPR offers some great sermons.