This Sunday evening, Jews across the world will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. I remember as a child being startled to learn that the biblical references to Rosh Hashanah contain no mention of new year at all. Instead, the holiday is referred to as Yom Teruah  — the “Day of the Blasts” — invoking the celestial blasts of the shofar that were heard at Mount Sinai as the people of Israel stood united to receive the Torah.

Rosh Hashanah at its essence is about these blasts — dramatic reminders to us all to recall the values of our Torah and traditions. During the ten Days of Awe from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, we are encouraged to do teshuvah, which frequently is translated as “repentance,” but actually means “return.” Every year, we are challenged to return to our core values and traditions, to become better versions of ourselves.

For 5777, I believe our collective challenge is to return to community. These days, the concept of unity may feel more elusive than ever. But we must continue actively to repair the fraying bonds among our people, even as we recognize there will always be dissent in Jewish circles. Indeed, the Talmud, one of the cornerstones of our tradition, is a compendium of canonized disagreements. Our rabbinic sages fundamentally believed that discussing and embracing disagreement strengthened — and even united — us as a people.

Considering that Jews represent less than .2 percent of the world’s population, we need — for the sake of our collective future — to recapture that willingness to embrace difference and hear voices that may be vastly different than our own.

And so, at the dawn of UJA-Federation’s second century, I invite Jews of all backgrounds and orientations to come together to collectively address our common challenges and pursue our common opportunities.

Together, we can make certain that far fewer of our neighbors go hungry. We can stand up to the growing scourge of anti-Semitism in Europe and help empower Jewish students on college campuses. We can care for Holocaust survivors, many already living at or near the poverty level, as their needs increase. We can make certain that every child has the ability to experience Jewish summer camp and other transformational Jewish experiences. And we can invest in Israel to ensure its vibrant and thriving future.

Together we can create the Jewish future we want for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren.

This year, let us return to each other and the community that gives us strength, awakening the possibility of all the good we can do together.

Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah