Question: We know that the Shanna Tova means a good year, but why the Lamed at the start. That would indicate going to something.
Answer: The phrase “l’shanah tovah” is short for the fuller High Holiday blessing: “L’shanah tovah tikatevu v’techatemu”—“May you be written and sealed for a good year.” The lamed in l’shanah therefore means “for” or “toward”: it expresses a hope that the coming year will be one of blessing and goodness.
There may also be a meaningful echo of the Talmudic preference to bid a living person farewell with “lech l’shalom”—“go toward peace”—rather than “b’shalom,” “in peace.” A living person is still traveling, growing, and becoming. So too, l’shanah tovah does not simply declare that the year is already good; it is a prayer that we may move toward, and be inscribed for, a year of goodness.
L’shanah Tova Tikatevu v’techatemu!
