Rosh HaShanah and Shabbat join tonight. Achot Ketanah, Little Sister, is a piyut that welcomes Rosh HaShanah.
The piyyut is traditionally sung at Maariv on Erev Rosh Hashanah, and is only heightened when it falls on Friday night, as it does this year. It addresses the people as a sister whose year of suffering is ending, pleading, “may the year and its curses end” — a song poem building toward hope rather than announcing it. It is the theology of both holidays in one text: Shabbat’s rest meeting the New Year’s reckoning.
Shabbat Shalom L’Shanah Tova uMetukah.
עוֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל כָּל יוֺשְׁבֵי תֵבֶל וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן
Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu, v’al kol Yisrael, v’al kol yoshvei tevel v’imru amen.
May the One who makes peace in the high places, bring peace upon us, and upon all Israel, and all humankind, and let us say: Amen.