According to Jewish thought, on Rosh HaShanah the world is judged, and we are judged. And G-d determines what kind of a year we will have. (As the famous liturgical poem goes, “Who shall live, and who shall die . . . “)
Ten days later, on Yom Kippur, we ask for atonement of our sins.
These two days are considered the holiest days in the Jewish calendar.
But wouldn’t it make more sense if we asked for atonement and got a clean slate before we sit in judgment before G-d? In fact, over the entire liturgy during Rosh HaShanah, sin is hardly mentioned at all? Why is this?
Follow me inside for more questions (and some answers)
A couple of tangents, and then I'll come back:
Let me ask three more questions before I get to some answers:
- According to tradition, Rosh HaShanah was not the day that the Universe was created, but rather, Rosh HaShanah marks the day that Adam and Chava (aka Eve) were created (i.e., the sixth day). On this first day of their existence came their sin of eating from the forbidden tree. Afterwards, Adam and Chava run and hide, and (Genesis 3:9) G-d asks them: "Ayeka" -- where are you? Didn't G-d know where they are?
- A major part of the Rosh HaShanah liturgy involved us, the people, crowning G-d as King. What does that mean? Isn't G-d already king?
- The traditional Torah reading (still done by Conservative and Orthodox) on the first day of Rosh HaShanah opens with Sarah giving birth to Isaac (which, traditionally, also took place on Rosh HaShanah). But the reading continues, and includes Abraham’s expulsion of his handmaiden, Hagar, and their son Ishmael. They go out into the desert and run out of water. Hagar gives up hope, but G-d appears and says to her (Genesis 21:17), “Do not be frightened; for G-d has heard the lad’s voice, there in the place where he is.” What’s the point of including this in the Rosh HaShanah Torah reading? And, further, what is the point of the seemingly extra phrase “there in the place where he is”?
As you might be guessing by now, the answers to all these questions are very closely related.
- Why is G-d asking Adam and Chava where they are? Rashi gives a famous answer (citing the Midrash) that we learn good manners from this; that G-d was just politely starting the difficult conversation. A deeper, and more relevant, interpretation is that G-d was asking "OK, you've sinned -- so now what? Where are you holding? Where is your head at? Are you on my team or not?"
- Why do we “crown G-d as King?” Yes, G-d is already the king, but G-d wants us to accept him/her as our king. (Just like, I suppose, you can be the coach of a football team – the contract says so! – but if the players aren't listening, it will be a terrible team. The players have rejected the coach, no matter what the contract says.)
- And, finally, in the verse “Do not be frightened; for G-d has heard the lad’s voice, there in the place where he is.” what is the second clause needed for? Rashi, quoting the Talmud and the Midrash notes a famous story that as G-d was about to help Hagar and Ishmael, the angels starting arguing with G-d. They told G-d to "let him die, because you know his descendants will wreak havoc on the world." G-d rejects the angels’ plea, answering that s/he is judging Ishmael "where he is standing now" In other words, right now, today, he is blameless, and that’s how G-d will judge him.
And so it is with us on Rosh HaShanah. Putting all of this together: on Rosh HaShanah G-d is asking us, where are we standing now? Not our sins of the past, but, rather, right now, what are our plans for the future. On Rosh HaShanah, are we planning on being on G-d's team, or not? (And, you know, when one is submitting a resume, you don't put on it all the times you were late for work! ;-) )
It’s sort of a weird mixture. On one hand, Rosh HaShanah is a day of awe, of fear and trembling, the Judgment Day. On the other hand, the past (for this day, at least) is irrelevant. G-d wants us to succeed. G-d is only looking for an honest effort from us going forward.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, in an essay this week, noted: "Surely the beginning of the days of repentance should begin with repentance? The answer is one of the deepest truths of Judaism. To mend the past, first you have to secure the future."
Are we going to look forward? Or be slaves to the past? R Sacks points out:
After the flood, it seems, Noah looked back. Overwhelmed by grief he sought refuge in wine. Before the flood he was the only person in the whole of Tanakh [24 books of the Hebrew Bible] to be called righteous, yet he ended his days drunk and disheveled. Two of his sons were ashamed to look at him.
We look forward. Our Torah reading starts with the miraculous birth of Isaac to Sarah, and the haftarah’s subject is the miraculous birth of Samuel to Hannah. Children are, obviously, our future.
Sacks can’t help but note:
If other nations really cared about the future instead of trying to avenge the wrongs of the past, we would have peace in some of the world’s worst conflict zones.
And that is our call on Rosh HaShanah. Where do we stand? Are we going to move forward? In which direction? What do we plan to do with our lives this coming year? Pursuing foolishness or pursuing a meaningful thoughtful life? Are we going to be slaves to our past? Or try to build a better future?
And so, while taking nothing away from the awe and trembling of the day, Rosh HaShanah is also a day to be optimistic. To use an over-worn cliché, it really is the first day of the rest of our lives, and G-d’s judgment is not on our sins, but on what we plan – today – to do with that "rest of our lives." Or at least the rest of the year.
And then, after all that -- after we decide in our minds what we want to make of ourselves this year, that then we can worry about atoning for all our sins in the ten days leading up to Yom Kippur.
I wish everyone a L’Shana Tova – a good year, filled with health and meaningful happiness.