Remember us for life,

 O King who delightest in
life;

 Inscribe us in the book of
life for thy sake,

 O living God.

FATEFUL HOURS ARE NOT FIT FOR SONG,

THEY ARE APPROPRIATE FOR INTROSPECTION

The Book of Life is the heavens,
and there all future decrees are inscribed on the day of their creation.

(Ibn Ezra, Psalms, 69:29)

"The court sat, and books were
opened" (Daniel 7:10). He does not need a book, for He knows thoughts yet
unthought, but this [text] is according to our customary style of "The
Torah spoke in the vernacular."

 (Sefer
Chassidim 32, quoted in "Days of Awe" by S.Y. Agnon.)

What is the reason [for not reciting the
Hallel on Rosh Hashana]? – Said Rabbi Abahu: Said the ministering angels before
The Holy One, Blessed Be He: Master of the Universe, why does Israel not sing
hymns before you on Rosh Hashana and Yom HaKippurim? He said to them: Is it
possible that a king sits in judgement, and the Books of the Living and Books
of the Dead are open before him – and Israel sings!?

 (Bavli, Rosh Hashana 32b)

We wish all our
readers, all of the House of Yisrael, and all mankind – may the year with all
its curses come to an end, Let there begin a year with its blessings,

A year of peace and tranquillity

THE TWO FACES OF ROSH HASHANA

Rabbi Benny Lau

"It is taught in the Tekiata of the
Rav's academy: This is the day which is the beginning of Your creation, a
memorial of the first day … on Rosh Hashana the world was created" (Yerushalmi)

According to the Halakhic tradition, the
first day of creation was the 25^th of Elul, and on Rosh Hashana man
was born. Here begins the tradition which ties together the Day of Judgement,
on which men are remembered for life and for death, with Rosh Hashana, which is
– according to the Torah – "A day of blasts".

In the course of time, the festival took on a
character which integrates fear and exaltation, as per the passage
"and rejoice in trembling." The Talmud in Tractate Rosh
Hashana (Bavli 32b) relates in the name
of Rabbi Abahu: Said the ministering angels before The Holy One, Blessed Be He:
Master of the Universe, why does Israel not recite hymns before you on Rosh
Hashana and Yom HaKippurim? He said to them: Is it possible that a king sits in
judgement, and the Books of the Living and Books of the Dead are open before
him – and Israel sings!?

In contrast to this midrash, which presents a
day filled with trepidation, Nehemiah tells the Israelite people: "Go,
eat choice foods and drink sweet drinks and send portions to whoever has
nothing prepared, for the day is sacred to the Lord. Do not be sad, for your
rejoicing in the Lord is the source of your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10). Rosh Hashana is depicted as a
day of joy.

In the literature of Chazal we find a midrash
which describes the day of man's creation, a midrash which also sheds light on
the meaning of Rosh Hashana.

The midrash has reached us in many
versions, dating back to different periods, from the Talmudic period through
the medieval compilations of anthologies. All the versions may be divided into
two main families. We shall term one the Babylonian branch, the other, the
Eretz Yisrael branch. It is understood that the later the midrash, the more it
will have absorbed influences of the other branch. I do not intend, however, to
do an academic analysis of the development of the versions; we want only to
attempt to uncover the two points of view represented by these branches.

1)     
The Babylonian Branch – Sanhedrin 38b

"Rabbi Yochanan bar Chanina said:
The day of Adam's creation was twelve hours long. During the first hour,
[Adam's] dust was gathered. During the second hour it was made into a shapeless
mass. During the third hour his limbs were stretched out. During the fourth
hour a soul was cast into him. During the fifth hour he stood on his feet.
During the sixth hour he named all the animals. During the seventh hour, Eve
was paired with him. During the eighth hours, the two went up on the bed and
four came down. During the ninth hour he was commanded not to eat from the Tree
of Knowledge. During the tenth hour he sinned by eating from it. During the
eleventh hour he was judged. During the twelfth hour he was banished from Gan
Eden and he went on his way. As it is said: Man does not remain overnight in
a state of glory."

(This branch includes Avot d'Rabbi
Nathan, Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, and the Carmoli manuscript of Pesikta d'Rav
Kahana, which is clearly influenced by the Bavli).

2)     
The Eretz-Yisrael Branch – Vayikra Rabba, Parasha 29
(Margaliot ed. 5668)

For
it was taught in the Tekiata d'vei Rab: "This day, the anniversary of the
first day of creation, is indeed a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God
of Jacob… on this day mortals are recorded for life or death".

You see that the first man was created on the
first day of Tishrei. In the first hour, the idea was born; in the second He
consulted with the ministering angels; in the third, He made the clay into a
shapeless mass; on in the fourth, the tissue; in the fifth He formed the golem;
in the sixth, He blew in a soul; in the seventh He stood him on his feet; on
the eighth He placed him in the Garden of Eden; on the ninth He commanded him;
on the tenth, he transgressed His command; on the eleventh He judged him; in
the twelfth, He granted him a pardon. The Holy One, Blessed Be He said to him,
"Adam, you are a sign unto your descendents – just as you came before me
in judgement, and I granted you a pardon, so will your children come before me
in judgement, and I will grant them a pardon. When? On Rosh Hashana."

(This branch includes Pesikta Rabbati,
Pesikta d'Rav Kahana, Devarim Rabba (Lieberman ed.)

It is obvious that a common source served as
the conceptual basis for the two midrashim. But it is important to discern
significant points of difference between the midrashim. These points will
facilitate understanding the difference in the aims of the relative midrashim.
The Babylonian midrash describes active man. The day begins with the
unpremeditated making of man. The darshan leads us directly into man's day. Man
receives limbs and soul, and immediately "stands on his feet", a
phrase which sounds familiar to our Israeli ear – he takes responsibility for
his fate. He then assigns names. This is an act which expresses man's
sovereignty over his environment; the privilege of assigning names is given
only to the master. The next stage depicts man's sex life, even before the sin
in the Garden of Eden. (This point is
interesting for it is found at the heart of Judeo-Christian controversy
regarding the place of sex and its status in the consciousness of the Jewish
person, a subject too lengthy to be dealt with here.) At the end of the
day, man sins and is evicted from the Garden of Eden. This is a sad conclusion
to a day overflowing with activity. This description is compatible in large
part with the description of Man in Chapter 1 of Bereishit (with the
addition of the expulsion from the Garden of Eden). This is man the creator,
commanded to "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the land the conquer
her." (The division between man in
Chapter 1 and man in Chapter 2 of Bereishit has been expanded upon by Rabbi
Soloveitchik in his book "The Man of Faith", and in Rabbi Breuer's
book "Pirkei Bereishit.)

All these are totally lacking from the
Eretz-Yisrael midrash. There man is described as passive; his only act is to
disobey the command. This is man as described in Chapter 2 of Bereishit,
man placed in the garden "to work it and to watch over it", his
primary function is to walk in the garden and not to ruin the Creator's world.
When this man sins, he is not evicted from the Garden of Eden (as per the
Biblical account) but he pleads for atonement, and his prayer is accepted.

In the routine of life, and throughout the
year, modern man finds himself to be in the image of the man of the Babylonian
midrash: autonomous as possible, standing on his legs, assigning names,
creating life and attempting to conquer worlds. The man described in the
Eretz-Yisrael midrash seems subdued and trampled upon. He is the image of the
anti-hero.

But, when we reach the twelfth hour,
everything goes haywire. Autonomous man from the Babylonian Bet Midrash is
forced to pay for his actions. Authority was granted along with responsibility.
Therefore man is expelled in shame. Man of the Eretz-Yisrael midrash, on the
other hand, who, from the moment of conception, was dependent upon the
Creator's goodness, received forgiveness, and is privileged to have God's face
shine upon him.

It would seem that Rosh Hashana encompasses
both possibilities simultaneously.

A variation on the midrash, of the Eretz
Yisrael branch, appears in Devarim Rabba, Lieberman edition (p. 11): "On
the eleventh he was judged. On the twelfth he was expelled. He came to deliver
the verdict and saw that it was Rosh Hashana. He had mercy upon him and gave
him a pardon. Said The Holy One, Blessed Be He: By your life, just as I granted
you amnesty, so do I forgive your descendents on this day". (Prof. Liberian in his preface to Devarim Rabbi proves
that this edition preserves the Eretz Yisrael midrashim without any Babylonian
influence.)

Amnesty, according to this midrash, was
granted in the merit of Rosh Hashana, not like in the midrash presented above.

The piyyut for Rosh Hashana composed by Rabbi
Elazar the Kalir, one of Eretz Yisrael's first liturgical poets, describes the
sin of Adam and his deliverance thanks to Rosh Hashana:

"This day was of old planned for
judgement, For the probing of all daily actions, For men's pleading before the
Revered One, To make them this day clear of all guilt.

The first man was created on this day;
When he did not keep the law given him, This one advocated and saved him from
distress; This judgment-day He designed for all time."

Professor Goldshmidt (Machzor Yerushalayim for Rosh Hashana, Goldshmidt ed., p. 180.)
understands the words "zeh melitz" [here translated "This
one advocated"] as referring to The Holy One, Blessed Be He, explaining
that God was advocate for man, saving the day for him. However, according to
the midrash in Devarim Rabba, it can be argued that the word "zeh"
– "this one" – refers to Rosh Hashana (perhaps because of appearance
of the word "zeh" in the passage "This ["zeh"] is the day which is the beginning of Your creation"); the poet intends to
tell us that it was Rosh Hashana which saved man from the sentence, and The
Holy One, Blessed Be He, established it in law for future generations. This
promise by the Creator, that for all generations man's sins will be forgiven on
Rosh Hashana, provides the festive and lofty aspect of Rosh Hashana.

Just as Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of
Bereishit came down from heaven bound together, so are the two aspects of man
bound together, and are to be found in every being.

We stand in Rosh Hashana prayer as free men,
the king's troops who pronounce Him king over us with the sounding of the
blasts which possesses the power of force along with responsibility for
actions.

We
also stand as abashed mortals, who plead that their father have mercy and
forgive.

If as children, if as servants, our
eyes beseech you to be gracious to us and pronounce our sentence clear as
light.

The author is Rabbi of Ramban Synagogue and the
Himmelfarb High School, both in Yerushalayim, and heads the Woman's Beth
Midrash program in Beit Morasha.

NOW, LORD OUR GOD, PUT THY AWE UPON ALL WHOM THOU HAST
MADE … NOW, O LORD, GRANT HONOR TO THY PEOPLE"

One cannot ignore the fact that in
the common perception of many generations, there sprouted the corrupted and misleading conception that His Name, Be It Extolled, has
a special attitude to Israel and to dealing with their affairs.

True, there does exist a special
relationship, but it receives expression not through greater privileges but in
the obligations and missions with which Israel is charged, to be God's
witnesses on earth, to work for the perfection ("tikkun") of
the world under the reign of the Almighty. In the framework of this universal tikkun,
and only following the yearning for "Now, Lord our God, put thy awe upon
all whom thou hast made" will there come the tikkun of "Now, O
Lord, grant honor to thy people, glory to those who revere thee, free speech to
those who yearn for thee, joy to thy land and gladness to thy city."

The anticipation of the redemption
of Israel is not a function of Israel's being Israel, but of Israel being a
"a nation in awe of You". If Israel does not meet that qualification,
it deserves no special relationship.

Rosh Hashana is intended for every
man who – in honest consciousness – considers himself to be a believer, who is
willing to examine whether he is capable of serving God out of love. Such a
person is in no need of the "Unetaneh Tokef" prayer with its
descriptions of the celestial Day of Judgement; such a person accepts Rosh
Hashana as the day in which man meditates upon the lofty idea of perfecting the world under the reign of the Almighty.
The redemption of Israel receives its meaning through the realization of this
ideal; Israel has been appointed to be the ideal's messenger on earth.

(Y.
Leibowitz: Discussions on Israel's Festivals and Appointed Times, pp. 169-170)

The Sound of Teruah – Sob or Sigh?

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Does Not Differentiate
Between One Cry And Another

Throughout the years and in most of
the Diaspora, there have existed doubts regarding the nature of the teruah mentioned
in the Torah. Is it the wail of wailing women? Or is it a sigh, such as that which a person sighs again and again when his heart is
greatly troubled? Or is it the two together, the sigh and the sob which usually
follows it, for this is the nature of one deeply worried, first he sighs and
then he wails. Therefore we execute all three.

 (Rambam, Laws
of Shofar 3:2)

"You shall observe a day of
teruah" – and we interpret this: You shall observe a day of
sobbing." It is written in connection with the mother of Sisera (Judges 5): "Through the window
peered Sisera's mother, behind the lattice she whined." One
[authority] says she sighed , and another says she wailed.

(Bavli,
Rosh Hashana 33b)

Said Rabbi Elazar: From the day the
Temple was destroyed, the gates of prayer have been shut, as is written (Eicha 3:8) "And when I cry and plead,
He shuts out my prayer."

But even though the gates of prayer
were shut, the gates of tears were not
shut, as is written (Psalms 39:13) "Hear my prayer, O Lord; give
ear to my cry; do not disregard my tears; for like all my forebears I am an
alien, resident with You."

 (Bavli, Bava
Metsia 59a)

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