Rosh Hashanah
Rabbi Z Aviner
We’ll cover the following themes of RH
What is there for us BN?
As
In the Torah – a “Day of Blowing” – referring to the first day of the seventh month, called Tishrei,
where the First Month is the time of the exodus, Passover.
Butat the same time the Torah recognizes a general calendar of the Sabbatical years cycles, where the year begins in the month of Tishrei, seven months ahead of Passover. Hence the first day of Tishrei is the New Year Holiday.
Slide 2 – Rosh Hashanah
The Torah ordains one commandment on Rosh Hashanah: Blowing horn, shofar. We don’t have a record on how the day was celebrated during the First Temple time, between Joshua in 1450 BC to David in 1000 BC to Jeremiah and the Temple destruction in 585 BC.
But after the retun from Babylon in 510 BC, RH became a major holiday as described in the Book of Nehemiah. The Rabbis living at that time formed the Great Assembly that composed the Amida prayer for daily usage where they listed the steps for the Messiah coming. For RH, they replaced the regular blessings with special blessings that spells out the themes of RH. This is not incidental since the idea of the Messiah and the idea of RH are intimately connected.
What are the themes of RH?
NOT ONLY is RH a New Year holiday, it is also the annual anniversary of the creation of Adam, as shown in Genesis Chapter One.
To be precise, Adam was made on Day Six, but RH celebrates also the creation of the world – six days earlier.
For instance, after blowing the horn, as ordained by the Torah, the congregation recites the flowing prayer saying
Today is the day of conceiving the world,
Today He will place in JUDGMENT
all the creatures of the worlds
Here we combine Adam’s birthday with three themes –
1 Today (like in the End of Days)
2 The world was conceived
- The world stands in judgment
All the creatures of the world
Let’s discuss those themes
Judgment –
That is very unusual. No other culture in the world would combine Man’s putative birthday with the notion of Judgment. There are many mythical stories about Mankind creation, none associated with moral judgment.
But here Adam is perceived to be born to stand a judgment BY DESIGN. That is why Adam birthday is associated with nothing else but JUDGEMNT
Where does this idea come from?
It comes from Genesis Chapter One.
For the Torah says that it was ELKM, the All – Mighty JUDGE, who created Adam on the Sixth Day. And ELKM creates things to stand His JUDGMENT.
What kind of JUDGMNET?
The Judgment of a BUILDER, says Sefer Yetzirah.
The Six Days are His Six House, Baa-yit, one inside the other. The Sixth contains all the previous ones.
Therefore the chapter begins with the latter Beith.
As a BUILDER He had a Master Plan, and after building a Day of CREATION He checked whether it was good, strong enough to support the next Day and live in it.
. If the Day was deemed good, the BUILDER allowed it to endure into the next Day. Net Palace.
If the creatures in the Day were not good anymore, unable to live and support the next one, ELKM the BUILDER eliminated them with no MERCY.
Hence for Si Days – His Judgment yardstick in creating the animals was EFFICIENCTY. No MORALITY involved. Creatures were eliminated not because they were marly bad but because they could not fit. He gives life, and takes life away. Measure for Measure. Creatures that were not fit He terminated like scaffolds that are no more needed.
So is Man. If Mankind do not fit to enter and support the next Day, the Sabbath, we too would be terminated.
And like all creatueres before us, we too are judged at the End of our Day, the Sixth Day of CREATION, before the Sabbath Day. r
Hence every creature stands ELKM’s scrutiny and judgment using efficiency as criteria. But when it comes to Adam, a creature with intellect and free will, the Judgment is based on moral issues.
ELKM knew that so tough would Adam trial be, that He wished to give Adam a chance to win.
ELKM therefore consulted the Attribute of MERCY, YHVH, asking Her to come over from her Sabbath and form a new Heavenly Court with himself, the so called YHVH ELKM Court. Her advent in the Court would offer Adam a chance to repent, ask forgiveness and start all over again. Together, like two Cherubs in loveholding Wing against Wing, the Attributes would form the Adam in their Form and Image.
Now for his trial,
YHVH ELKM would give Adam six moral Commandments in Eden. But in Chapter One, before the consultation, ELKM created Adam into one commandment only – IDOLATRY.
Hence IDOLATRY encompasses all other Commandments, like a tree with offshoot brunches. On RH, the anniversary of Adam creation based on Chapter One, the only Commandment that form the base for Adam judgment is IDOLATRY.
To remind you – what consists of IDOLATY?
This is seen in the miraculous verse:
Let Us Make Adam in Our Form and Our Image.
Here, speaking in plural, ELKM opened the door for idolaters to think there are more than One Creator. They would think that He had Partners in making Adam.
The verse also tells us Who are those putative Partners?
The answer is – whoever is mentioned in the Chapter. To each one of them ELKM said in plural – Let us, you and Me, make Adam in Our Form and Our Image. ELKM is a great provider and by those consultations he built Adam to rule Earth, but at the same time he also planted in Adam the seeds of the IDOLATRY traps for Adam trial.
These were precious gifts, that came with a price – each consultant has become an attractive trap of IDOLATRY.
Oneness too is a part of the IDOLATRY trial. For ELKM consulted YHVH and made us. One may assume that they are two Gods, or that it is better to prefer One Attribute over the other.
Kingship
Passion for idols
It is as if the very fact that ELKM consulted these items in the making of Adam, has endowed them with a magical power in Adam heart and mind. Adam would forever be tempted to ENTHRONE them over himself, rather than enthrone the real CREATOR.
With this Commandment of IDOLATRY as a trial, Adam is ready to proceed in history towards the End of the Sixth Day.
Chapter One says that at that point, ELKM would judge Adam along with the entire BUILDING. To win, Adam would have to have already elevated himself from being good like all animals, to be Very Good.
He would have to have wined ELKM’s Law of IDOLATRY, win also the other 5 Commandments of Eden, and he would have to find face in YHVH eyes as well, like Noah. This would make him Very Good in the eyes of the Heavenly Court. (the full court is shown in the text only in pne place in the Torah- in its session before Noah’s Flood)
If Adam would win, he and the entire CREATION would enter the Sabbath.
If Adam would fail, he and the entire CREATION would be terminated.
Today –
The Heavenly Court does not wait for the End of Days.
Every year, on RH, the Court ascends on the Throne of JUDGMENT and assesses Mankind how well we have proceeded towards the End of the Days trial.
Hence RH is a day of
The anniversary of Adam creation,
Where Adam and the world stand in judgement,
In particularly the Judgment of IDOLATRY,
And the acceptance of Hashem Kingship on us instead of the idols to their kind.
The Judgement on RH is on Mankind, an don each individual.
It decides our fate for the next year.
Let’s read some texts.
Before blowing the Horns be recite the following Psalm
Psalm 47
Psalm 47
O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto EeLoKeeM with the voice of triumph.
2 For HaaSheM most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
5 EeLoKeeM has ascended with a shout, HaaSheM with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to EeLoKeeM, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
7 For EeLoKeeM is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
8 EeLoKeeM reigneth over the heathen: EeLoKeeM sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.
Here we mention all nations, Mankind.
RH is Mankind’s High Holiday.
We mention 7 times the name ELKM – against the Seven Commandments
It says: Today,
ELKM has ascended by the (silver Trumpets)
YHVH has ascended by the horn
Each Attribute ascends on His or her Throne to judge Mankind.
The Judgment is harsh, yet Hashem is there too to offer forgiveness to those who has repented.
Then, in the Amidah prayer, which was composed by the Rabbis of Great Assembly, we quate three groups of verses –
10 verses for Hashem’s Kingship,
10 verses for blowing the Horn,
10 verses for Hashem remembering us.
Like He remembered Noah in his Ark.
Kingship – aleinu
They shall not graze or corrupt on any holy mountain, for the whole earth has known Jehovah as water to a covering sea
As Isaiah ch2 says The Messiah will come and
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lordfrom Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
As Zechariah ch says:
2: 14
10 “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. 11 “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. 12
14: 9
And Hashem will be the KING over all the Earth
On that Day Hashem will be One and His Name is One
Now we understand why the Rabbis composed the Amida – which lists all the stages necessary to bring the Messiah,
Then for RH replaced the stages with the themes of RH,
To indicate that the Messiah would lead Mankind to win not only the End of Days Trail , but every year trial of RH .
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Rosh Hashanah
Rabbi Zvi Aviner