Oneg Yomim Noroim Edition Volume 1

Oneg Yomim Noroim Edition 5777 ‫תשע“ז‬

VOLUME 1 ROSH HASHANAH

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Contents 5

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Wittler

Volume I

of the Yomim Noroim set

12

17

36

51

Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman

Rabbi Professor David Gottlieb

Rabbi YY Rubinstein

Dayan Binyomin Eckstein

The Gateshead Rov

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2 6 7 8 9 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Rabbi Yonasan Roodyn Rabbi Avrohom Zeidman Rabbi Zvi Gefen Rabbi Dr. Harvey Belovski R’ Barry Kagan Rabbi Shimon B Glickman Rabbi Gary Bazak Rabbi Meyer Amar Rabbi Doniel Grunewald Dayan Elimelech Vanzetta Doniel Levy Rabbi Jeremy Conway Rabbi Jeremy Golker Rabbi Benjy Morgan Osher Chaim Levene Rabbi Yosef Solomon Rabbi Shlomo Odze Rabbi Binyomin Denderowicz Rabbi Shimshon Silkin Rabbi Naftali Schiff Rabbi Aron Litwin Rabbi Benjy Gordon

32 33 35 36 37 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57

Rabbi Dov Ber Cowen Rabbi Shmuli Sagal Rabbi Yaakov Hamer Rabbi Michael Laitner Rabbi Emanuel Danan Rabbi Yaakov Benzaquen Rabbi David Lister Rabbi Danny Kirsch Rabbi Daniel Fine Dayan Yehoshua Posen Rabbi Ben Kurzer R’ Binyomin Zev Goldberg Rabbi Dr Moshe Freedman Rabbi Shimon Mordechai Cohen Rabbi Reuven Stepsky R’ Binyomin Zev Goldberg Rabbi Moshe Braham Rabbi Zach Ford Rabbi Michoel Fletcher Rabbi Yoni Golker Osher Chaim Levene Rabbi Yaakov Bennett

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4

Introduction Rabbi Yonasan Roodyn Jewish Futures Trust; Oneg Shabbos Editor in Chief; Federation ShailaText

T

he universe that Hashem created operates according to many laws of nature, many of which function according to cycles. As Jews, we are in touch with many of those cycles, be they the daily routine of shacharis, mincha and maariv, the week that always culminates with Shabbos kodesh, the months that we mark with Rosh Chodesh and the year with Rosh Hashana. These cycles are not merely a way to mark the passage of time, rather they indicative of a deeper, spiritual reality.

The world ‫ שנה‬is etymologically related to the word ‫משנה‬, to repeat and ‫ לשנות‬which can mean to learn or change (Maharal, Gevuros Hashem 51). Put simply, every year we travel through time and arrive at the same point again and access the same themes, moods and energies that were present the year before in what appears to be a repeat performance. However during the past year we have learnt more and hopefully changed our attitudes and perspectives. As a result of this, our experience of the various mo’adim, which are essentially meeting places with Hashem in time, has improved greatly (Ramchal, Derech Hashem 4:7). Rosh Hashanah marks the creation of man, the pinnacle and focus of all of maaseh bereishis. It ushers in a new year, which in effect is a whole new world.

Another year has passed, we take down our machzorim from the shelves and open them to the familiar words, words that evoke such emotion and awe. To be in touch with the cycle of ‫ שנה‬is to look at these words anew, with an enhanced

and refreshed perspective, one that can enhance our kavana and improve the quality of our tefillos.

It is therefore with a sense of tremendous pleasure, coupled with feeling of responsibility that we present this year’s Oneg Rosh Hashanah machzor companion. These articles have been written by Rabbonim and mechanchim from across the kehillah, from London and from further afield. It is our hope and tefillah that these divrei Torah enhance your Yom Tov and improve the quality of the kavana of your tefillos.

Special thanks go to all the Rabbonim who have contributed to this publication and to all those who have assisted in its publication and distribution. This large project was turned around in a very short period of time with much siyata dishmaya and as with any undertaking of this size, slight textual errors are inevitable and we apologise in advance.

Wishing you, your family and all of klal yisrael a kesiva ve chasima tova.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫ר' נתן משה בן ר' יעקב ז''ל‬ Mr Neville Gothold ‫ז''ל‬

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Wittler

JUDGMENT

The Scale of Righteousness

5

Rov of Ohr Yisroel and Menahel Ruchni, Shaarei Chaim, Manchester

M

any people ask: if we “know” that the Day of Judgment is arriving how come do we still not “feel” it? This is not really a question because one response has to do with the brain as the resting place of yediah (knowledge) and the other has to do with the heart as the resting place of hargashah (feelings).

They are distant from each other. Much of one’s spiritual work (especially in Elul) is to bring this “knowledge” into the realm of “feelings”. This yediah chushis, feeling our knowledge, means that we come to feel what we know.

Taking Things to Heart Rav Yisrael Salanter said: “If a ‘great’ person would do everything that a ‘small’ person knows, then he would truly be a ‘great’ person!” He has to act upon his knowledge in all walks of life. Indeed, this is the communal request contained within the words uvechein tein pachdechah… kmo sheyodaanu, “And so too, instil Your fear… like we have known”. We desire that Hashem instil His fear such that we can “know” – namely so that the heart merges with the brain, for our actions to be aligned with our knowledge (Rav Chaim Volozhin).

Actually, the need to bridge this gap is contained in the Torah itself: Viyadatah hayom vehashevosah el levovechah, “you shall know today, and bring it home to your heart”. Not to merely bring his knowledge into his heart – but as an instruction. There is the clear obligation “viyoda’atah hayom”, “know today”!

Knowledge is not merely to know something. Knowledge is to deeply

contemplate it using the tools of introspection and of imagination. Take the judgement of Rosh Hashanah and make it real!

Work to visualize it. Picture before your eyes the reality of what it means “how many will pass away and how many will be born” or “who will become poor, and who will become rich?” Review past events on the year gone by and contemplate how these were all determined on last Rosh Hashanah.

We find that there is a clear distinction between the means of how to acquire “knowledge” vis-àvis the means of how to take things to “heart”. When it comes to wisdom, you typically start with the large picture by contemplating the main principles and then go on to the fine details (Vilna Gaon). But when it comes to taking things to heart, the opposite approach is effective.

The emotional entrance to the heart works with “specifics” rather than “generalities”. This is the reason why the harrowing biography of one

individual in the war years produces a more powerful dramatic impact than a general discussion of many fatalities (Brisker Rav). It is the small details that have the greatest impact and which penetrate our being.

Furthermore, they also highlight new ideas and can awaken a person to see something in a new light.

Focusing on the small details are enormously influential. Consequently, it is highly commendable to pay attention to specific details. Inevitably, you will discover fresh ideas and something new that has the ability to awaken a person.

There are many examples of this principle. Rosh Hashanah is a Day of Judgment. It is a Day of Remembrance.

It is also a Day of Deliverance. Think about how Sarah, Rachel and Chana experienced salvation from their barrenness on this day (Rosh Hashanah 11a). A person will be aroused by his heart to not lose the precious opportunity which Hashem has placed in his hand. Someone who embodied this was the late Rav

Rachel Charitable Trust

6 Chaim Shaul Kaufman, zt”l, who would cry each and every year during Ya’aleh Viyavo of Neilah. He was connected with mind and heart. He knew that “tzorchei amcha merubim”, “the needs of Klal Yisrael are great”, and that now was the time to act on their account – before “kvar panah yom”, “the day has passed”!

The Scale Obviously, there is a personal obligation upon every individual to pay detailed attention to his judgment.

He is no different to a criminal facing a court case who takes great interest in every aspect of the court proceedings knowing that this fate hangs in the balance. Naturally, the accused desperately investigates every legal detail and does not leave any stone unturned to prove his innocence and escape punishment.

So too, must be our approach in the run up to Rosh Hashanah the date of our Heavenly Judgment. It should take up one’s undivided interest – such that he should not be able to think of anything else.

Though it is impossible for man to fully grasp all the ways of his Creator, he is still expected to delve into the known details as elaborated

by Chazal regarding Hashem’s judgment. Taking this to heart will inevitably assist to change man’s approach to what is happening.

Placing these ideas upon our hearts will help us change our approach.

A child can readily visualize how Hashem is weighing up on a scale each individual’s mitzvos against his aveiros, his merits versus his demerits, to determine which side will tip the balance (Rambam, Hilchos

Need to separate ‫?תרומות ומעשרות‬

Teshuva 3). Would not every adult not also view this in all its simplicity to help him attain yiras shamayim, fear of Heaven!

someone to be judged “wicked” and yet have specific merits preserved for him to benefit from them in the Next World.

Rav Yisrael Salanter (Kuntrus Eitz Pri) addresses the famous question about the judgment of Rosh Hashanah. How do we explain the fact that many wicked live in spite of their sins? What about the formulation that the judgment follows the majority and “only one who has a majority of merits is written in the book of life”?

But it is only Hashem who is privy to the depths of man’s inner desires who can determine that if someone is “wicked” such that his whole focus is about this world such that he will be exclusively rewarded here. Despite the superficial appearance of being

It is true that according to its simple meaning the judgment follows the majority. But there is an additional accounting taking place.

Though this may not change the essence of the judgment or the verdict, but it covers this up such that it is not visible to our eyes! Of course, when a Jew refers to “life” he is not simply referring to the transient life in this world but also to the eternal life in the World to Come.

The actions of a righteous person give him a portion in this present world; one who has a majority of merits is judged to be “righteous”.

This indicates that his whole existence in this world is exclusively lived in order to give glory to Hashem.

Additionally, his merits also earn him a future portion in the World to Come. The kindness of Hashem means that his eternal reward is not determined by the majority of merits; even a small merit will hold him in good stead in the World to Come.

This explains how it is possible for

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“It is the small details that have the greatest impact” successful, do not be envious of him.

He is “spiritually dead”. He will not merit the World to Come.

Feeling and Living It is a mistake to only consider powerful feelings. Where such strong emotions are inspired from outer forces, they may prove temporary and are therefore liable to pass like a fleeting cloud. But a small feeling or sensitivity generated from within by introspection can be invested with the strength to be firmly rooted within one’s heart. Like a tree, this will sprout forth and be fruitful.

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7 Being aroused to change from a specific stimulant outside of man will not automatically have an impact if this feeling is not properly cultivated.

We must treat every small feeling with great importance. This is especially working about developing sensitivity to yiras shamayim (fear of Heaven).

When the gemara states: “Words of Torah are difficult to acquire... and easy to lose like a glass vessel” (Chagigah 15a) this refer not to the memory of Torah that one has learned but to refined feelings born through toil and effort over the years (Rav Dov Sternbuch, Shlita).

Life in this world is comparable to an expensive hotel.A guest has to pay dearly even to drink a glass of cold water. But the hotel employee who is working there is able to drink water to his heart’s delight without having to pay for it. That is because he lives and works for the owner. So too, explains Rav Yisrael Salanter, the “righteous” who live in this world exclusively to serve Hashem do everything on His account. They can enjoy this world and not make their reward deducted in the World to Come.

The request “zachrainu lechaim”, “remember us for life” is in order that “vekasveinu besefer hachaim lema’ancha”, “inscribe us in the book of life” is “for Your sake”. The life of the righteous is lived out “lema’an Shemo”, “for the sake of His Name” and not their own. It is the desire to live the life of the “righteous” and not the “wicked” that cannot be called a spiritual life. It is the desire to be satisfied with Hashem’s goodness and to give merit to the public to promote righteousness.

Tipping the Balance Our fate is not certain. But we can tip the balance to our advantage. Each word of Torah learning is considered to be equal to performing all the mitzvos. This realization would excite the Chofetz Chaim who would estimate how many mitzvos that a person can merit in one minute of learning! The importance of one small moment is equally true in reference to teshuvah – a person can tip the scale with one additional mitzvah to outweigh his sins and become categorised as one of the “righteous”.

How powerful and empowering is that!

The Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva 3:2) teaches that the weighing of man’s deeds and his classification is determined not in terms of “number” but in terms of the “quality” of his actions. Hashem the “One Who know man’s thoughts” is the Judge. It is important that man’s self-accounting must consider the gravity of each sin whose severity is dependent upon the effort and difficulty involved in either doing or not doing the action (e.g. Menachos 43b). Consequently, in trying to improve himself, it is essential to begin work in those areas that are effortlessly correctable. This is especially true with regard to what man might otherwise dismiss as a “light or inconsequential mitzvah”.

There is no such thing. On the

‫לעלוי נשמת‬ Marek ben Mordechai Halevi Marek Markiewicz ‫ז"ל‬ 6th Shevat

contrary, something that is relatively “easy” for him to improve upon will cast a dark shadow over him if he does not take the opportunity and correct it immediately without too

much exertion. He must desperately work such that he shifts away from “wicked” to become “righteous”.

Consult the classic mussar work of Sha’arei Teshuva by Rabbeinu Yonah (especially the third chapter that addresses how to approach mitzvah performance).

This is the work of Elul to connect our “mind” with our “heart” as one to do teshuvah and merit “life” both in this world and the World to Come.

ELUL

The time is short the work is piling up

8

Rabbi Avrohom Zeidman Senior Educator, Gift

T

he rule of investment is minimum input, maximum output. Our work in the run up to the High Holy days should be the same. In the little time we have to prepare ourselves, what can we do to get the best outcome?

The Chofetz Chaim (Ahavas Chesed Part 2 Chapter 3) is bothered by this. If teshuvah and ma’asim tovim justify a favourable judgement, then Hashem is not taking a bribe. On the contrary, justice is being done. On the other hand, if teshuvah and ma’asim tovim do not justify a favourable judgment, how can Hashem ‘take a bribe’? Surely, this is the opposite of justice?

Any time we perform a mitzvah there are 2 aspects to it: (1) The ‘mitzvah deed’ itself (2) The ‘middah’, character trait used to perform the mitzvah. The same applies to an aveirah, sin.

for measure” means that it is the atmosphere that a person creates to which he will be exposed in his Rosh Hashanah judgement.

Now imagine there is a person who performs tremendous amounts of mitzvos whose mitzvah pile is sky high. However, what he expects of others, is of uncompromising perfection.

the sins. In contrast to the previous case, now all the imperfect tainted sins are cast aside.

In the run up to Rosh Hashanah, he may feel secure knowing that he has a rather large pile of mitzvos with only a tiny few sins. Unfortunately, when he arrives at his court case, the atmosphere is cold. Every mitzvah is scrutinised with a magnifying glass. One-by-one, his mitzvos are found to be faulty. Not one of them is purely altruistic. They all are tainted. Once all the imperfect mitzvos are ‘thrown out’, it is not clear what is left.

We therefore see that the ambience of the case is essential if not more essential than the deeds themselves!1

The ‘mitzvah deeds’ are ‘weighed up’ against the ‘aveirah misdeeds’. Not all deeds are equal; some deeds are greater than others. So too, some sins are worse than others.

On the other hand, let’s consider a rasha with many sins. Still, as the Yalkut Tehillim describes, he has ma’asim tovim, good deeds. That means to say: he has good middos, characteristics, like clinging to the middah of chesed, kindness. In his court case, though he may have a huge pile of sins and his mitzvos are small and rotten, however it is the ambience to the case that can change it all.

But the ‘middah’ to the mitzvah or aveirah works differently. The ‘middah’ sets the scene for the entire court case.

It is the ambience to be used during the trial. Middah keneged middah, “measure

Just as the rasha saw the best in others, Hashem does the same. Hashem, so to speak, picks up the rotten mitzvah extracting the bad parts – leaving the rest. Hashem then looks for mitigation in

The 2 aspects are taken to our ‘court case’ as follows:

Both cases are therefore fairly judged but their outcomes are wildly different.

We asked how can Hashem ‘take a bribe’? The answer is that Hashem does not overlook any deed. Justice is executed. However, when the deed is being looked at, it is judged differently depending on the middah being used during judgement.2 To prepare ourselves for the upcoming Yomim Noraim, let us work on our middos.

Improve our chesed. Try to see the best in others. Be less demanding and more caring. Then, please G-d, we will be judged in the same way.

1 With this understanding we can see why the Chofetz Chaim claims lashon hara, evil gossip is worse than the 3 cardinal sins. The deeds of the cardinal sins are far worse than lashon hara. However, the middah of lashon hara is more damaging than the deeds of the cardinal sins. The middah of lashon hara is terrible for our ‘court case’. When we speak lashon hara, we ignore the good and focus on the other’s faults. This same power is given over to the ‘prosecutor’.

2 Two examples of how two different views both being true: 1: ‘Half full’/’Half empty’ 2: It’s fair to say ‘this apple is wormy’ and chuck it in the bin.

It would also be fair to say ‘it’s only this part of the apple that’s wormy’ and cut out the bad bits and eat the rest. The apple can be judged as whole or made of parts.

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The Yalkut Tehillim (Chap 17) reads the verse in Mishlei 17:23 to mean ‘He [Hashem] takes a bribe from the wicked’. What is this bribe that Hashem takes? Hashem saves a rasha, wicked person from a bad judgement when he does teshuvah and has ma’asim tovim, good deeds.

Why does the judgement take place over two days and not simply all on one day?

ELUL

Here to survive or to live?

9

Rabbi Zvi Gefen Aish UK

R

eal living is more than just survival. We say zochreinu l’chaim during the aseres yemei teshuvah three times a day in Shemoneh Esrei. What is the meaning behind these words?

The Rishonim ask an obvious question.

Why is it that the day after Rosh Hashanah we don’t find that all the tzaddikim, righteous, are living successful, healthy lives while the reshaim, bad guys, have lost everything they have in their lives?

Rabbi Berkovits brings out an answer with a beautiful Seforno (Vayigash).

When Pharaoh encounters Yaakov he asked him Kamah yemei shnei chayecha?

“How many are the days of your life?” because the Egyptian king had never seen someone looking so old. Yaakov did not answer the question directly. He responded Yemei shnei meguray shloshim u’meas shana, me’at vera’im hayu yemei shnei chayai, velo hisigu es yemei shnei chayei avosai, “The days and years of my sojourns have been one hundred and thirty years; few and bad have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my forefathers”. What was Yaakov saying?

The Seforno explains Pharaoh saw the wrinkles on Yaakov’s face and associated wrinkles with real life. So Yaakov explained that there are two types of living: one is called being alive and the other is called surviving. Meguray, sojourning, means “how long have you

been in the world”. Chaim, life, means “to really live”.

Yaakov says to Pharaoh: “if you are asking how long I survived this world, then the answer is 130 years.

However, if the question is how much chaim I have had, then it is not so much.” Of course, Yaakov had experienced so much trouble in his lifetime. He had a hard time with Eisav from their very conception. He ran away to Lavan and had issues with him. He left Lavan and then had to go back to confront Eisav again. Soon after, Dina was captured and then Yosef as well.

Whilst Yosef was in Egypt, the Shechinah was removed from Yaakov and he was limited in his growth. Me’at vera’im hayu yemei shnei chayai.

Yaakov continued to say that Avraham and Yitzchak’s days of chaim within their sojourning were much more significant than his own. They had lived more fulfilled lives during their time in this world.

whole point. We want chaim – namely to be really alive. To be productive, to grow, to share, to shine and to become bigger.

Now that is chaim!

Lots of reshoim live on to survive. One reason is so that there should be nothing left of them in the eternity of Olam Habah.

Another reason is that they are here as the backdrop for the people that are truly here for the sake of chaim. All the reshoim that are around year after year, are just pawns for the sake of bringing challenges for the people that experience true chaim.

On Rosh Hashanah Hashem gives out chaim.

What Hashem gives out on Rosh Hashanah is chaim – “real life”.

Davening for chaim is to want to live a life of d’veykus, closeness, to want to bring shem shamayim, the Name of Heaven, into the world. It is to want to do what we never thought possible to ask for opportunities that will make us into better people.

When we daven zochreinu l’chaim we aren’t just asking to breathe. If that is what one is thinking, then you are missing the

That is the real chaim which Hashem wants to hand out on Rosh Hashanah.

May we all merit it!

Al Tashlicheini Le’es Zikna We generally look at this verse as asking that Hashem should not forget us in our old age.

I was recently told of an alternative explanation. There is a pureness within the naivety of children. Unfortunately, sometimes children are in situations that they experience or see things that shock their system and throws them into a mind-set of shock, fear or negativity that an adult, through life experience, is equipped to handle but a child has yet to achieve.

We ask Hashem, do not “send” us, children, into “old age”, please keep us pure and happy.

As heard from CM Kohn from Golders Green

bu b bl by og 's

Rabbi Dr. Harvey Belovski

ELUL

The Moment of Truth

10

Rov of Golders Green Synagogue, CEO of University Jewish Chaplaincy

A

t this time of the year, much thought and spiritual energy are devoted to selfexamination and introspection. Indeed, the entire period of Elul and the Yomim Noro’im is dedicated to re-evaluating our behaviour and goals for the year ahead. The mechanism by which this personality overhaul happens is called teshuvah. It is familiar, perhaps self-evident, that teshuvah involves gaining awareness that something is wrong, expression of regret, verbal confession (of the sort we say on Yom Kippur) and then resolve for the future (Ramban, Teshuvah 1:1). However, we seldom consider the critical early role which teshuvah occupied and continues to play in the psyche of a healthy human being.

The Talmud lists seven things which ‘were created before the world’; one of which was teshuvah (Pesachim 54a). Presumably, this means that teshuvah is so fundamental to human existence that it was brought into existence at the very beginning of time.

Without it, we could not improve ourselves, change our direction in life or have any means of restoring our damaged relationship with G-d or fellow men. Indeed, we could not function as humans in its absence.

Teshuvah may have existed before the universe, but the first opportunity for its implementation was not long in coming. On the first day of history, Adam and Eve sinned by eating the fruit in the Garden of Eden, providing themselves with an opportunity to repent. Their sin is often understood as an urge to express their separateness from G-d, thereby demonstrating their ability to function independently. In paradise, they could only express this by disobeying G-d’s single command to them – the prohibition of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The evil inclination, represented by the snake, played on their appetite for independence to achieve its goals. Adam and Eve were seduced

by the alluring, but improbable opportunity to achieve parity with G-d: becoming creators themselves, autonomous of any external control.

This weakness made it especially difficult for Adam and Eve to repent. Indeed, the sages note that the actual reason that G-d would not forgive them was because they refused to repent! (Bamidbar Rabbah 13:3) Indeed, their intransigence resulted in their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. G-d gave Adam the opportunity to repent, but he declined it, instead blaspheming and cursing, thereby removing himself from God’s presence. He had chosen a spiritual world inhabited only slightly by G-d. As such the imperfect world that lay beyond the sanctified portals of the garden best suited his new spiritual reality, for it best reflected his impaired vision of G-d.

This has fascinating ramifications for our understanding of our own capabilities in reevaluating our lives. G-d’s goal for humanity is for us to create a spiritual paradise on earth, permeated in every aspect by the Divine. This requires us to submit ourselves to the will of G-d in every part of our lives. We fail in this mission if we allow our desire for control to get the better of us. This malaise afflicted Adam

and Eve and is the root of all rebellion against G-d – we may be aware of His presence, but experience difficulty in dealing with the emotional and intellectual consequences of yielding control to Him. Sin, then, is characterised as disconnection from the Divine, in which one, even fleetingly, ‘goes it alone’, without reference to the will of G-d. It follows that the first instant of teshuvah is the moment at which the sinner feels a desire to reconnect to G-d; when one realises that one has favoured one’s own, selfish desires above the sublime will of G-d. One experiences a ‘moment of truth,’ suddenly recognising the need to set aside his selfish motivation and realign his life to the requirements of the Torah. In this vein, Rabbi A.Y. Kook observes that even the slightest thought of teshuvah may be considered as teshuvah itself (Oros HaTeshuvah 1). Once one is even dimly aware that one has erred and that self-improvement is necessary, the process of teshuvah has begun.

The sinner experiences the natural human tendency to express independence and power.

This, what the rabbis term ‘a spirit of folly’, leads him to sin. For a while the sinner feels independent and happy to have demonstrated control over one’s world, or at least some small part of it. Yet, sometime later, the sinner feels a stirring deep inside oneself; this is a clue that not all is well within; he starts to become conscious of the fact that one has been seduced once more by human weakness.

This earliest awakening is ‘The moment of truth’, the initial spark of the teshuvah process.

Following this, one gains a growing realisation of the need to rectify his relationship with G-d.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫ר’ מאיר יהודה בן ר’ צבי הי’ד‬ ‫נלב''ע כ’ תמוז‬

QUIZ TIME

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What are the different names for Rosh Hashana?

ELUL

Ellul – the time to change tactics

11

R’ Barry Kagan JFS

W

hen a professional tennis player steps out onto the centre court, he has a strategy and a plan on how to approach his opponent. His tactics have been clarified with the coach beforehand and many hours have been spent practicing the best technique and choice of shot. Yet, in the midst of intense rivalry and competition, as the player finds himself battling to stay in the match, the player might decide to change tactics and amend his strategy. At a critical point in the game, he may hit a stupendous shot that surprises his opponent and perhaps even his coach. It may alter the entire course of the encounter and may lead the player to victory.

In the 2nd Perek of Shir Hashirim, it says ”‫“ – “דודי לי ואני לו‬My beloved is for me and I am for my Beloved”. Rabbi Tauber explains that this posuk exemplifies our relationship with Hashem throughout the course of the year. Hashem dictates to us how to live our lives through the Shulchan Aruch - all the details from waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night are defined and scripted. We follow Hashem, we follow the dictates of halachah.

Yet when ‫ אלול‬arrives, the tactics change. The focus switches to ‫“אני לדודי‬ ”‫ – ודודי לי‬I am for my Beloved and my Beloved is for me. We now take the initiative in drawing closer to Hashem.

We go beyond what is required. Actions which would normally be ‫ רשות‬are turned into a mitzvah. We take on something extra during these days of Elul in order to express our desire to be close to Hashem.

As the Nesivos Shalom explains, it is this drawing close itself which is the best recipe for doing Teshuva. By stating

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”‫“אני לדודי‬, we hand ourselves over to Hashem. We are ‫ מבטל‬the “self” and all the egotistical desire and self-interest that goes with it. In this way, the cause of all sin is cast aside and we set the platform for ”‫ “דודי לי‬as we approach Rosh Hashanah.

The process of drawing close to Hashem during Elul can be explained via an analogy by the Dubno Maggid.

The king announced that he was coming to visit a town in thirty days’ time for his coronation. A simple tailor in the town approached the leaders of the town to find out which route the king is taking to get there. They merely dismissed him and said “What difference does it make? You won’t get close to the king anyhow.” Feeling very hurt, the simple tailor jumped on his horse and rode over hills and through forests and valleys to the king’s palace. Upon arriving early in the morning, he pulled out a trumpet and started blowing his horn. In shock,

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the king woke up and enquired who the man was. He introduced himself as a resident of the town where the king was to be crowned and how he wanted to join the king on his journey to the town. The king liked the man’s initiative and invited him to join him on his carriage as the king’s entourage made their way to the town. The simple tailor provided the king with hours of entertainment during the thirty-day journey. On finally arriving at the town, when the leaders welcomed the king onto the podium, the king demanded that his new friend stand up there with him. Everybody was clamouring to get close to the king. But it was only the simple tailor who was standing there right next to him who truly felt the king’s closeness.

Elul is the time to change our tactics.

The competition of life is fierce and the battle against our yetzer hara, evil inclination, is intense. If we take the initiative during Elul, if we change our tactics and game-plan, if we focus on ‫“אני‬ ”‫לדודי‬, then Hashem will respond with ”‫“דודי לי‬. We will take our opponent by surprise and indeed, even Hashem, our Coach, as we produce stupendous deeds in drawing close to Hashem and herald in His coronation day.

Rosh Hashana is a day of judgement. Why then do we not say vidui and ask for forgiveness for our sins? You judge someone at the end of a period. Why then is Rosh Hashana at the beginning of the year?

SELICHOS

Yemei HaSelichos

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Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman Gateshead Rov

We are approaching Rosh Hashanah in the next few days but different people prepare for Rosh Hashanah differently.

A merchant who used to purchase merchandise in one city to sell in another came across a large quantity of merchandise at a low cost. He bought it figuring that he would make a good profit. But he was unsuccessful and soon realized that if he would not sell it he would be declared bankruptcy. He was advised that if he could somehow smuggle his wares across the border, the people of the neighbouring country would purchase it at a good price.

With no choice, he approached a wagon driver familiar with the region and set aside a date on a moonless night at the end of the month to cross the border.

The wagon driver arranged for a horse and wagon and an apprentice boy to help him with the trip.

That whole month, the merchant could not sleep from worry contemplating “Who knows what will happen? What happens if I get caught?”

The wagon driver was less worried. Being accustomed to smuggling, he was ready if caught to come up with some excuse: “I didn’t know what was in the wagon.... I was just hired...” Nevertheless, when the week of the trip came close, he too started to feel nervous.

The little boy wasn’t too nervous even though he knew what was going on.

The date arrived. They were about to cross the border when the border guards suddenly showed up. The merchant’s blood froze. The wagon driver’s teeth were chattering. Even the little apprentice boy was shaking. The only party that was oblivious to the goings on was the horse who carried on swishing her tail.

This is a Moshol (analogy) for the Yomim Noraim. Every person has to cross the border on a moonless night. ‫תקעו בחדש שופר בכסה‬ ‫ליום חגינו‬, a reference to the Yom Tov of Rosh Hashanah, which as the first of Tishrei, falls on a night where there is no moon because it is ‫( בכסה‬covered over). We have to cross a border into the next year. But we have to smuggle across. We don’t know if we have the right to receive everything that we are asking for in the next year. We have to cross the point where we are going to be judged.

This explains the different reactions. Great tzadikim, like the merchant, are nervous throughout the month of Elul. Others like the wagon driver start getting anxious during the week of Selichos. Others are fearful when Rosh Hashanah enters and they hear the sound of the Shofar akin to the apprentice.

But as Dovid Hamelech says in Tehillim ‫ אין הבין‬... ‫אל תהיו כסוס‬, just don’t be like the horse that doesn’t understand. Beware to be oblivious of the awesomeness of the day by acting like the horse.

Appreciation of Life We are promised that at the end of days, there will be a wave of Teshuva. It will start with ”‫“ושבת עד ה' אלוקך‬, “You will return to Hashem Your G-d” followed by an ingathering of exiles and when that will happen then ”‫“ומל ה' אלוקך את לבבך ואת לבב זרעך‬, “Hashem will open up our hearts and the hearts of our children”. We will come to love Hashem with all of our hearts and souls. But here the possuk concluding with the two words ”‫“למען חייך‬.

What do those two words mean?

The Chofetz Chaim tells the story of a prince who was saved from drowning by a homeless and impoverished man who ran into the lake to save the prince’s life. Overjoyed, the king rewarded the poor man to enter the royal treasury and help himself to silver, gold, diamonds, jewellery. Now a rich man, he lived a comfortable life consolidating his wealth. Over time many people forgot his humble beginnings. When he announced his retirement, he got up to speak at the party hosted in his honour.

“What do you think was the happiest day of my life?” he asked. “Today when you see your success” they responded. “No,” answered the rich man. “You are mistaken. The happiest day in my life was when I was hungry, starving and wearing rags. But as I entered the royal treasury to fill up my bags with riches, I paid no heed to my hunger and thirst. What I was missing out then did not mean anything to

me in the excitement of amassing a small treasure”.

That joyous day, explains the Chofetz Chaim, is comparable to this world, where one moment of Teshuva and good actions are more precious than the eternity of the World to Come. We are now in the king’s storehouse.

We therefore should be the happiest people in the world. Let us not be bothered but anything that is now missing. Let us, instead, feel pure unmitigated joy for being alive with the opportunity to serve Hashem.

Why is it that we don’t appreciate this point? Why do we focus on what we are lacking? The answer is because our hearts are desensitised such that it does not feel the truth. If only they would be unblocked, then we immediately appreciate the riches that we have and the treasures that surrounds us. There will be the future date when Hashem will finally unblock our hearts so that we truly appreciate what’s important – which is why the posuk ends off ‫ – למען חייך‬then we will appreciate the fact that we are alive.

Lost Opportunities One of the themes within the Yomim Noraim is to appreciate life and not miss out on the opportunities presented before us. We have to really understand that we are now alive in a world where an hour’s work is worth more than all of the World to Come. What an astounding statement! The Vilna Gaon famously cried on his deathbed at the prospect of leaving a world where, for a few kopecks, you can buy a pair of Tzitzis to perform a Mitzvah which you cannot do in the World to Come. You are alive. Do something meaningful with your life.

13 The name of this season Yomim Noraim means “awesome, fearful days”. What is so frightening? The Rambam characterises these days as ‫ – ימי הרחמים והסליחות‬days of mercy and forgiveness. They are dates when Hashem comes close to us: ‫ – דרשו ה' בהמצאו‬these are the days between Rosh Hashonoh and Yom

the opportunity to speak to the king when he came by your town?”

Sheepishly, the old man admitted “True, but I slept through the whole ceremony” to which the guard snapped back: “When the king finds out that you slept through his visit to your town, he is certainly not going to be interested in you!”

“But what happens if a person sleeps through these days?”

Kippur. Surely, they are days of joy rather than fear? We prepare for Rosh Hashanah with white clothing and having a haircut because we are joyous reliant upon Hashem to have mercy on us (Tur). If we are really frightened, then why do we walk around in ‘high holiday finery’?

The story is told of a king who wanted to annually leave his palace to go out to his subjects in order to understand their needs. He approached a town at an appointed hour but was delayed. The crowds waited impatiently.

But one old man got up and went home to get some sleep. Waking up several hours later, he ran out to find a deserted town square. He was told that the king had come and gone. Upon his arrival, the king met up with everyone and gave them the chance to ask for what they needed.

Naturally upset, the old man comforted himself by saying ‘Surely I can go to the palace whenever I need something’. A short time later, he had to journey to the capital. He was bitterly disappointed when his request for an audience with the king was refused by the guard at the gate for not following protocol to have arranged it in advance. The guard then asked the old man “Did you not recently have

The Chofetz Chaim explains the days in the lead up to Rosh Hashanah are when the king comes to us. We do not have to go out to him. These are truly ‫ ימי רחמים וסליחות‬and therefore joyous days.

But if a person sleeps through these days, he misses out. The fear of the Yomim Noraim is our fear of squandering this opportunity.

Reb Sholom Schwadron adds “Imagine someone would have woken up that old man when the king came only for him to turn over and go back to sleep. How terrible would he feel?”

The blowing of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah, explains the Rambam, is a wakeup call. ‫עורו‬ ‫ – ישנים משינתכם‬wake up from your sleep... this refers to all of those people who forget about what’s important in life as a result of the inanities along the way. The Shofar is our alarm clock. If we sleep and don’t hear it ring, we miss out on an irretrievable opportunity.

We should be afraid of not using this opportunity properly and making use of the chance to speak to Hashem when He is so close. Let us open up our hearts to appreciate the opportunity of being close to Hashem during this season. This is the reason why we dress up in our Yom Tov clothing. We are more than happy to be woken up a little bit and leave our slumber.

Confuse our Accuser The Mitzvah of listening to the blowing of the Shofar is fulfilled before Mussaf. But we blow the Shofar again during Mussaf as a result of ordinance by Chazal. The Gemara explains the reason is ‫ – מערבבין את השטן‬to

confuse the Soton. How exactly do we confuse the Soton? He also has a calendar and knows which day is Rosh Hashanah? So what is he getting all confused about?

The ‫ גנת האגוז‬answers by posing the question: what does the Soton do all year long? The Gemara tells us that “the Soton is the Yetzer Hara who is the Angel of Death”.

The same malevolent force that entices man to sin, turns into the Soton to then prosecute, and subsequently executes him as the Angel of Death.

How does the Soton get people to sin? The greatest cause of not serving Hashem explains the Mesillas Yesharim is ‘busy-ness’, the constant daily feeling of being busy and the forces of habit. This was the effective strategy used by Pharaoh to keep Klal Yisroel busy with work and not to let them have time to think and make a revolt.

The Yetzer Hara has a good deal going all year with keeping us busy. On Rosh Hashanah he turns into the Soton and accuses us of not serving Hashem. All of a sudden the Shofar blows – what is the Shofar saying? ‫עורו ישנים‬ ‫ – משינתכם‬if we wake up from or slumber then we will automatically do Teshuva! In other words, to arouse from our busy-ness for even one day to enable us to think, then we will surely become those that serve Hashem. At the same time that the Yetzer Hara mistakenly thinks that his work for the year is complete, we can wake up and destroy it! Not just once, but to repeat it again and again.

If a person works a whole year on a project only to see it being destroyed in one moment, he will be the most confused and frustrated person in the whole world. This is our work in these days. It is to use the opportunities that exist. It is to recognise that we didn’t earlier appreciate that we could be serving Hashem properly during the year. We didn’t recognise this during the year because we were so busy with ourselves.

The opportunity of Rosh Hashanah is far greater for it includes ‫דרשו ה' בהמצאו‬, to seek Hashem when He is closer to us. If we truly appreciate what we could really achieve, then we can also appreciate what our work should really be during the year too.

What a treasure we have that we live in this world and that we can pick up the fortunes of Teshuvah and good actions which can’t be had anywhere else.

May we merit seeing '‫ומל ה' אלקך את לבבך וכו‬

‫למען חייך‬.

"On Rosh Hashanah we are not judged on our past deeds or our future plans; we are judged on the present - how are we on Rosh Hashanah"

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe

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Rosh Hashana is when we are judged. Why then do we not have Yom Kippur before it so that we can already have forgiveness before we enter judgement?

Rabbi Shimon B Glickman

SELICHOS

Deer’s antlers, a positive approach to Selichos

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Director of Communal Activities; JEC Leeds - Leeds Kollel

R

av Yaakov Galinsky zt”l told over the following mashal in the name of the Alter of Novardok as a mashal for teshuva.. There was once a deer, which had the most majestic antlers. He loved to show off his antlers, knowing that his pride and joy were simply the best ever.

But, one day whilst showing off his headpiece, he was spotted by some hunters, who agreed wholeheartedly with him about his antlers.

Naturally, they wanted to take them home. The deer, upon hearing shots being fired, took off to the woods like only a deer can run. Unfortunately for him though, his antlers kept getting caught in the overhanging trees impeding his process. After much frustration, a remarkable solution dawned on him.

He bent down, repeatedly smashing his antlers on the ground, until, with them smashed to pieces; he could take off like the wind, to live, to see the next day.

In order to fully understand teshuva through this mashal, we have to first explore the idea of selichos. For most people, the idea of needing to apologise for all the wrong that we have done during the entire year is daunting. Throw in the few things that we would like to mention from previous years, or that we know that we should mention from previous years, and the idea of selichos, of viduy, confession, and the general season of the High Holidays becomes almost unbearable. The Rosh in Orchos Chaim states that one should spend every day of one’s life doing teshuva. This is understood to mean that as one grows in one’s Yiddishkeit, one should constantly be reflecting on what one has done in the past.

Through one’s constant growth, the severity of mistakes one has done in the past will be better understood. As such, one will constantly be spending one’s time doing teshuva. How depressing! Is this really what Yiddishkeit is all about?!

The answer is understood through the deer’s antlers! What changed within

the deer to enable it to smash its antlers?

Initially, the deer felt that the antlers were its defining feature. Its entire majesty and glory was attributed to its antlers. It took the realisation that its life was at stake due to these antlers, in order for the deer to take ownership of the antlers, to define itself without its antlers. As soon as the deer understood that the antlers were something disposable, especially when its life was at stake, it could be saved. The Alter of Novardok understands the yetzer hara in an interesting way. Not only does he attempt to portray an illusion of the beauty of doing a sin, but when that doesn’t work, he employs another tactic. He makes us feel worthless. He makes us feel owned by our previous sins. The tactic is basically one of making us feel so bad about what we’ve already done that we know that there is no point in overcoming the next test. The yetzer hara makes us feel defined by our previous sins. Our goal through teshuva is to understand that, like the deer, we are not defined by what we have done; rather, what

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫לאה בת ר’ יהודה הי’ד‬ ‫נלב''ע כ’ תמוז‬

“We are not defined by what we have done; what we have done is defined by us” we have done is defined by us. Our purpose in this world is to build a relationship with Hashem. This is done through mitzvos. It can also be done through sins that we have done in the past. When we realise that our sins do not define us, rather, we define them, we become free of them. We can then look at previous pitfalls to understand ourselves better. We can utilise what went wrong to ensure that we correct it, putting ourselves on the correct path. This is no longer a depressing remembrance of our past. This is an idea of taking ownership of ourselves.

We use teshuva to take ownership of our sins and no longer allow them to define us.

Rather, through teshuva we can arrange that zedonos na’aseh lo kizchuyos, sins perpetrated with intent turn into merit (Yoma 86b). Through utilising our past mistakes to ensure our future growth, we take ownership of our antlers, and are no longer owned by them. This is the positive lesson of selichos. It is the opportunity to take ownership of all our antlers, and define them, rather than allowing them to define us.

Rabbi Gary Bazak

TESHUVAH

What is Teshuva?

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Seed - Education Schools Programme in Jewish primary schools

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t is not very fashionable nowadays to talk about the fact that that negative actions have inevitable negative consequences and we really try and avoid the “P – word”… Heaven forbid we should actually mention “Punishment”.

Maybe this is because it’s felt to be an inferior educational method or we are on a lower spiritual level. However, I’ve personally had enough of that approach! So this article will not avoid some straight talking.

What is teshuva? Our first guess should probably be doing more mitzvos, improving our davening, learning more Torah… But the Rambam (Hilchos teshuva 2:4) indicates that these are things which accompany teshuva. But they are not teshuva itself. In other words, someone could move to Bnei Berak, change so that all his behaviour is now good and just, daven at every available moment with tears in his eyes, even change his name from Gary to Gavriel or Oshi and still (shockingly even with the name change!) never have actually done any teshuva.

So what is teshuva? The Rambam famously details 4 distinct components to teshuva ÂÂ Azivas HaChet – Relinquishing the sin ÂÂ Kabbalah LeHaba – Resolution for future ÂÂ Charata – Regret ÂÂ Vidui – Confession Rav Shalom Berman (Asher LeShlomo) points out something remarkable. The first 2 components

of this process do not need any other motivation or command to obligate a person to do them. We don’t need the mitzvah of teshuva to tell me to stop biting my nails on Shabbos and resolve not to break Shabbos in this manner again. The mitzvah of Shabbos has already told me to do that! The mitzvos themselves are the source of the first two components of the Rambam’s teshuva process.

The Nefesh Hachaim (2:7) emphasises the realities caused by our mitzvos and aveiros. A man who ingests poison cannot just say he’s sorry and all will be well – like it or not, the poison will have its impact.

So too, someone who sins cannot just say he’s sorry. The reality of evil created by our negative actions will not just disappear in a puff of smoke because we forget about it. Consequently, the first step of teshuva is to actually realise the reality of our mitzvos and aveiros and their severity. This awareness will drive our azivas ha chet and kabbalah le haba.

But even though the Rambam implies that this is a level of teshuva, it is still not the actual fulfilment of the mitzvah of teshuva. Only once you have done the first two steps, can you now attain charata – regret!

Up until now this sin had been a reasonable part of life. For example, we felt that it is acceptable to go through an entire day without any learning at all. Only now that we have actually started our two mishnayos a day, can we begin to contemplate what we could have achieved with this learning. We begin to realise how little learning we know and how serious that is.

We could even begin to learn about the amazing impact Torah can have on a person, its protective power and start to realise that we’ve lost those opportunities too! This awareness will be able to aid us in our next challenge. In that moment where we can’t be bothered to learn that little bit extra, charata will boost our chances of success. Achieving this real regret will enable us to use the teshuva to actually become closer to Hashem than we were before the sin and this, says Rav Berman, is the mitzvah of teshuva.

“A person who takes a short walk of a hundred feet and a person who walks two thousand miles have one major thing in common. They both need to take a first step before they take a second step” Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

Rabbi Meyer Amar

SELICHOS

Selichos – Knock knock, Who’s there?

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Senior Kodesh Teacher at Hasmonean High School

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eading up to the days of Rosh Hashanah we increase our mitzvah observance to help prepare ourselves for the Yom HaDin. Amongst them are blowing the shofar the whole Elul, reciting Selichos and saying an extra mizmor of Tehillim “Ledavid Hashem”.

It is interesting to note that when it comes to Pesach we have the custom NOT to eat matzah from Rosh Chodesh Nissan and some even from Purim. The reason given is that this helps to keep the taste of the matzah special.

The question that begs to be asked is Ma Nishtana Rosh Hashanah, why is Rosh Hashanah different? Surely by doing the above mentioned every day we are becoming accustomed to them and they will no longer have that special taste to them. Would not the shofar have a much greater effect if only blown for a week at the beginning of Elul; and then again 3 weeks later on Rosh Hashanah itself?

The answer to the question can be explained with a story.

A meshulach rang the bell and knocked on the door of a fancy house one sunny day. A lady answered the door rather displeased at the intrusion and exclaimed “What do you want?

One day a teacher wrote the following on a board:

How can you expect me to give you any money if I don’t even know you? I’m sorry but that’s my policy and I cannot give you anything” She closed the door and the meshulach left. He walked around the block and fifteen minutes later rang on the same doorbell again.

The lady could not believe her eyes.

“I told you I don’t give money to people I have never seen in my life! Did I not explain that to you earlier?”.

He smiled and replied “You are correct. But you forgot one thing. You do know me. We just met 15 minutes ago!!! “ This lady was clearly only prepared to give if she knew the person and could establish that the money would be going to a good cause where it was needed and would be used well.

Hashem has a similar policy.

Hashem will give us what we ask for –

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but only if we show that we are sincere and will use the gifts that he gives us for the good.

By engaging in the preparations of Elul, we are showing Hashem that we are worthy of receiving a kind gift from Him for we will use it well. The more we do in preparation the more likely it is that we will get the gifts for which we ask.

This is why we say in Selichos “like beggars and paupers we knock on Your door. On your door [Hashem], we knock the one who is merciful and compassionate”!

It says “we knock” twice. This is to teach us that we have to make multiple efforts to prepare ourselves if we want Hashem to bestow goodness upon us.

By knocking ourselves into shape, may we merit to a Kesiva Vechasima Tova.

hen he was done, he looked to the students and they were all laughing at him because of the first sum which was wrong. Then the teacher said the following.

bu b bl by og 's

“I wrote that first one wrong on purpose, because I wanted you to learn something important. This was for you to know how the world out there will treat you. You can see that I wrote eight correct sums. None of you congratulated me for it. You all laughed and criticised me because of one wrong thing I did. So this is the lesson. The world will ignore the good you do a million times over, but will criticise the one wrong thing you do. Please do not become discouraged, always rise above all the laughter and criticism, Stay strong, Hashem will always see the good things you do!”

As heard from Rabbi Bezalel Landau, Menorah Primary School

Rabbi Doniel Grunewald Many times, we tend to think of our duty to do Teshuva in terms of making an effort, and then more of an effort, to do what’s right, and put right what is wrong.

TESHUVAH

17

Some years ago I came across a very illuminating Shiur - which I subsequently received in essay form - by Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, about what he calls “Strategic Teshuva”. I felt this added a lot more perspective to the Mitzva of Teshuva, as it helped me appreciate how Teshuva should involve not only regrets and efforts to improve, but also applying our intelligence and resources - just as we do for business and for everything else in life - to doing Teshuva in a solid, practical and effective way.

Rabbi Gottlieb has kindly given us permission to present this to Oneg readers, and we hope it will inspire us all to a higher level of Teshuva in the approaching Yomim Noraim.

Strategic Teshuva Rabbi Professor David Gottlieb

Ohr Somayach

W

e all have some bad middos (character traits) and some bad habits. When we consider doing teshuva for them, we are apt to think as follows: “I am really out of control. Why do I do those terrible things? I should be stronger! How can I increase my self-control so that I can overcome those strains, temptations, etc?”

That sort of thinking can be useful. But it is not the only helpful approach. Another attack is this: “When do I fail like this? What is there in the environment? What else has happened that day? Under which specific circumstances do I fail? And, ...what can I do to change those circumstances?” The technique of changing the circumstances in which we generally fail is what I call “Strategic teshuva.”

Middos and habits generally have “triggers.”

For example, certain people provoke an angry, aggressive response. Other people may not pose a problem. Or the “trigger” might be specific activities, such as driving in heavy traffic (“road rage”), caring for fighting siblings, waiting in lines at the bus terminal, filling out government forms, and so on.

The same is true for other temptations.

Laziness comes naturally when one is surrounded by computer games, bad literature, inviting beaches and — most important — other lazy people. (A boy from Los Angeles told me it took him six years to get his Bachelor’s degree because certain courses interfered with his beach schedule!) Illicit pleasures attract most strongly when they are readily available and when others in the neighbourhood indulge.

Our first responsibility is for our actions.

When the “triggers” of the bad habits and middos occur, it is extremely difficult to stop the habits and middos from acting. One solution is to try to avoid the triggers. Change the environment. Move

your residence if you can. If you can’t, spend as much time in another environment which will provide respite from the temptation. (The most effective positive environment is doing mitzvos with other people: Learn in a beis midrash, visit the hospital with others, plan a chesed project with others, teach Torah in a school, etc.) Certain activities cause tension which triggers anger. If you cannot avoid those activities, alternate with relaxing activities.

A second solution is to add something to the environment which will make it easier to do the right thing. If you have trouble getting up for davening in shul, make a chavrusa for ten minutes before davening. Then, when the alarm rings and you reach over to push the snooze button, you will think: “But what if my chavrusa comes and I’m not there?! How embarrassing!” — and you will get up!

In many cases, you can make a contract with yourself: If I succeed in overcoming the temptation (enough times) then I will allow myself something I very much enjoy. This is what psychologists call a “behaviour contract.” Thus I have a personal incentive to do the right thing. For example: “If I get through the meeting without getting angry, I will allow myself to buy that picture for the wall/go to that restaurant/etc.”

The key is to control the environment by avoiding some things and creatively adding others so that it will be easier to do the right thing.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫חנה בת ר’ דוד ע"ה‬ ‫נלב''ע כ”ה תמוז‬

Now, some people think that this cannot be right. This means that we are only running away from our problems, not solving them! The problem is precisely this: I am not able to overcome those temptations. How do I solve that problem? By avoiding them, or by adding extra incentives?

There are two answers. First, who says that the only problem is to overcome the desire? On the contrary: Our first responsibility is for our actions.

Suppose someone cannot control a desire to steal from Macy’s. If he shops only in Bloomingdale’s or he rewards himself for not stealing from Macy’s, he has not overcome the desire — but at least he is not stealing!

Second, often we can only overcome the desire if we have a respite from the wrong actions.

As long as the bad habits and middos are active, it is very difficult to gain control.

Therefore, avoiding the triggers and adding payoffs may be the only way to gain control. Yes, the ultimate goal is to become immune to the temptations. But this may require two stages: First avoiding the triggers and adding payoffs; and then secondly, developing the psychological strength to resist. Trying to do without the first stage may make the second stage impossible.

Think of addictions. You cannot simply tell the addict: “Stop using that stuff!” He can’t stop, and all the therapy in the world will not help while he is still on the drug. But if he enters a sanatorium where the drug is unavailable, then the therapy can help him become immune to the temptation to use drugs.

Strategic teshuva may thus be the necessary first step to complete teshuva. But it is more than that. If that is all that you can manage at the moment, then strategic teshuva is enough to gain kappara (atonement). Hashem does not ask more of us than we can do. If you avoid the triggers, add incentives and start to work on immunity, then in the meantime you have kappara for all the past mistakes even before you achieve immunity. Isn’t that worth it?

TESHUVAH

Teshuvah – A Divine Present

18

Dayan Elimelech Vanzetta Rov of Kehilas Ahavas Yisrael, Edgware

T

he Torah does not cover up the sins of Klal Yisroel. On the contrary, it exposes them so that we can learn from the mistakes of our ancestors.

The gemara notes “Neither Dovid HaMelech nor Klal Yisroel were free from sinning. Dovid HaMelech with Bat Shevah and Klal Yisroel with the Golden Calf. But they sinned to show future generations that there exists Teshuvah. Dovid HaMelech to teach an individual and Klal Yisroel to teach the people” (Avodah Zarah 4b)

Though Jewish People were great Tzadikim, righteous men, who ruled over their evil inclination, there was a Divine Decree that they momentarily succumb to their evil inclination to teach future generations the possibility of doing Teshuvah, to confess their sins to the Creator, regret their mistakes, and to undertake a firm commitment to not reoffend in the future (Rashi ad. loc).

Both the Jewish People and King David did Teshuvah and were forgiven for their sins, setting a clear example of what can also be achieved by groups of people and individuals alike.

The Maharsha explains that man is free to choose his own path, be it good or bad. There is the principle “Baderech she Odom rotzeh leilech boh molichin osoh – man is taken on the path he wants to walk” (Makkos 10b). In this context, the Midrash writes: “Hashem said to Yisroel – My children, open for me an opening the size of a needle tip and I shall open for you an opening through which carriages and wagons

can pass” (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 5:3).

It is obvious that both the Jewish People as well as Dovid HaMelech wanted to tread the path of the righteous, being assisted by Heaven to ensure they did not deviate from doing what was right to control their inclinations.

Nevertheless, Hashem temporarily suspended His Divine Assistance, which led to sin, in order to teach mankind about Teshuvah. This is why we are enjoined not to consider Dovid HaMelech a sinner (Shabbos 56a).

Hashem created seven things before creating the world, one of them being the concept of Teshuvah (Pesachim 54a). What is so special about the fact that Teshuvah precedes the creation of the world itself?

The Sefer Mi Pikudechoh Esbonan explains that anyone and everyone may eventually sin, even the most pious individuals, depending on their personal circumstances. The gravity of the matter, however, lies in a persistent and continuous repetition of a sin.

When a Yid becomes a frequent sinner, blatantly and constantly defying the Will of the Creator, he becomes so engrossed in sin that it becomes very hard to divorce him/herself from

such behaviour. Sinning becomes an addiction. What was formerly forbidden becomes completely permissible and acceptable in the eyes of the sinner.

It becomes part and parcel of that person’s daily life and even a societal reality. In Hashem’s infinite kindness and wisdom, He saw fit to create something

that

preceded

creation,

something that was older than the world and humanity itself. It was above and beyond mortal understanding and with the power to save peoples and individuals – Teshuvah.

Rabeinu Yonah writes how Teshuvah is one of Hashem’s greatest kindnesses to mankind. He left us an open door for any sinner to repent and abandon his crimes. If not for His gesture of

benevolence

towards

us,

man

would remain forever enveloped by his transgressions.

“Don’t be afraid of discovering that the ‘real you’ may be different than the ‘current you.’” Rabbi Noach Weinberg

19 In addition to the lessons taught by the fact that Hashem altered the course of history in the cases of Dovid HaMelech and the Golden Calf to teach us about repentance, we may infer another important lesson. The actions and occurrences related to one person greatly influence others. They serve both as a teaching and as a

any moment, diminish our lofty Jewish status. It is not within the realm of Judaism to say “I don’t care about what others think of me!”, on the contrary, we should definitely care about what both the G-d and fellow man think of us, “Rabbi Chanina used to say: If one is found pleasing by his fellows, then he is pleasing to G-d; but if one is not pleasing to his fellows, then he is not pleasing to G-dy” (Avos 3:13).

As demonstrated by Dovid HaMelech, our Teshuvah may show the way to others in their own repentance, therefore, there is tremendous importance in achieving a heightened sense of awareness as regards our behaviour and its impact on our lives and the lives of others. warning. How important is it therefore to take stock of our own behaviour, as community members and leaders, as sons, as parents, as teachers and students, and realize that whatever we do may have an influence on those in our immediate surroundings and beyond and that such influence may be positive, B’ezras Hashem, or negative, G-d forbid.

When a Yid is viewed by others as a righteous and pious individual who is taken as an example to be followed he or she must be fully aware of his or her collective responsibilities and influence on others, for which, there is a great degree of accountability.

It is obviously not for any of us to label ourselves “role models”, however, in all likelihood, at one point or another, everyone will be seen as an “example” of something, good behaviour or bad behaviour, generosity or selfishness, Kiddush Hashem or Chas veSholom Chillul HaShem.

In everything we do, there must be a realisation that our actions cannot, at OGR Stock Denton LLP Winston House 349 Regents Park Road London N3 1DH T: +44 (0)20 8349 0321 www.ogrstockdenton.com

As demonstrated by Dovid HaMelech, our Teshuvah may show the way to others in their own repentance, therefore, there is tremendous importance in achieving a heightened sense of awareness as regards our behaviour and its impact on our lives and the lives of others.

But we also find negative examples in this context, such as individuals who succumb to their Yetzer Hara.

One should know that often times any of the aforementioned laxities in the observance of halachah will be picked up by others who may use it as an example to be followed, which is tantamount to being a bad influence.

We have to be so scrupulous and responsible in our actions. One who knows Torah but is not polite to others or is not honest in his dealings, those around him will say: “woe unto this man who, despite knowing Torah, doesn’t act in accordance with it!”

(Yoma 86a) By sinning, one is therefore not only damaging oneself but potentially damaging everyone around him: his family, his community, his society and, ultimately, the whole of Klal Yisroel.

Conversely, by doing Teshuvah, the positive repercussions cause a ripple effect from micro to macro.

Another example regarding the eternal possibility of Teshuvah is

based on the verse (Bereishis 2:1): “These are the products of the heavens and the earth when they were created (Behiborom – ‫ בהבראם‬with a small ‫”…)ה‬.

Rabbi Yehudah says: do not read Behiborom but rather BeHey Borom – ‫בה בראם‬. Rabbi Yehudah explains that the letter ‫ ה‬resembles a courtyard with its door always open (as in the courtyard of the King’s palace which is always open to welcome those who wish to be close to Him), so too in our world, the door to Teshuvah is also always open (Menachos 29b).

The Gemara goes even further and explains that in addition to the big open gate at the bottom of the letter ‫ ה‬we also find a small door between the upper part of the letter and its left leg, which comes to signify that the paths to repentance are many and are always open, one way or another.

During the month of Elul, during Rosh HaShanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur, the gates of Teshuvah are wide open to all of us and it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to realise that our decisions have a direct impact not only on our own lives but also set a precedent which will be viewed and used positively or negatively by those surrounding us now and, maybe even by future generations.

No one is big enough to ever exist without the need for Teshuvah… if Dovid HaMelech wasn’t, we certainly aren’t.

HaShem wants our Teshuvah, He wants to inscribe and seal us in the book of life and makes this time of the year an even more auspicious time in which to repent from our transgressions.

Let’s “help” Him help us!!!

After all, He is a Melech Chofetz Bachayim, a King he desires life... our life! Teshuvah enables us to acquire life in this world so as to continue crowning the Almighty as the King of all creation.

TEFILLAH

The Paradox of Prayer... and how to harness it

20

Doniel Levy Director of Project Connect, Gibraltar

S

elichos. Teshuva-tefillah-Tzedaka. High Holiday Services. A fifth tefillah: Neilah.

Whichever way you look at it, prayer seems to lie at the heart of these Days of Awe. Even outside this intense period of Connection to Hashem, a simple calculation of the number of hours a year we spend praying is staggering.

Tefillah is described as one of the pillars holding up the world (Avos 1:2) but lament that it “stands at the height of the world yet people neglect it” (Berachos 6b). Despite both its ubiquity and importance, we somehow fail to appreciate it.

10. “Tefillah [and teshuva and tzedaka] … remove[s] the evil of the decree” (Machzor) … but how can a Divine Decision be reversed? And why should saying some words achieve this?

One challenge is that when we do think about tefillah, we uncover layers of paradox and contradiction. Here are my top ten:

Famously, the name contains the mehus, essence, of an idea. So let us answer our questions by seeking to understand the word “tefillah” itself.

1. The Listener knows the whole conversation before we start…what’s the point of talking?

2. Prayer replaces Temple sacrifices (Taanis 26b) …but seems entirely unrelated to animal slaughter?

3. The mouth does all the work…yet it’s called “work of the heart” (Taanis 2a)?

4. Tefillah is a deeply personal, uniquely individual experience…and yet we all read the same prescribed text?

5. G-d only wants the best for us…so won’t we get it even if we don’t ask?

“Tefillah” comes from the root ‫ל‬.‫ל‬.‫פ‬., meaning to judge, to clarify, to decide. For example, the Torah refers to judges ordering restitution as “pelilim”. (Shemos 21:22 and Rashi; Introduction to Orot Sephardic Siddur, R. Eliezer Toledano).

Similarly, “Pinchas stood and executed justice (vayephalel)” (Tehillim 106:30 and Metzudas Tzion).

This is the key: the act of praying, “mispalel”, is reflexive. When you daven, you judge yourself.

You introspect. You analyse yourself and your desires and your motives (R’ SR Hirsch’s “The Nineteen Letters”: 14th Letter). What do you really want? Why? And for what purpose? Is this for G-d’s Greatness or yours?

request would have been bad, harmful, even dangerous) to this higher version of yourself.

In your renewed latter state, this request will help you on your quest towards self-perfection (R.Akiva Tatz’s shiur “Journey to the Self: Prayer).

It is no coincidence that a model example of a selfless, Divinely-motivated request is found in the ultimate paradigm prayer and our inspiration on Rosh Hashanah in Tefillas Chanah, who vowed that she wanted a child only so that he could be dedicated to Hashem’s Service in the Beis Hamikdash (Shmuel I, 1:11).

We can now answer all of our questions. By changing your personality through tefillah (Q7), you have sacrificed your old self and emerged a completely new person (Q2) with a new destiny (Q10): you are therefore now fitting to have your request granted (Q5, Q6). This incredibly intense work of the heart (Q3) is news for the speaker, not for the Listener (Q1).

8. The highest point of tefillah and spiritual Connection is the Amidah…but Chazal used it to institute a shopping list?

In the harsh glare of your piercing selfanalysis, you recognise the subtlety of flawed character traits which lie rotting at the base of your prayer requests. You perceive the imbalances between ostensibly magnanimous, pious, heartfelt requests and the deep-seated, hitherto unconscious unholy feelings that belie them.

Being a mispalel is seeking to align yourself with HaShem’s Value System and through this become suitable for the tools necessary to serve Him (Avos 2:4). It is therefore axiomatic that we embrace and utilise the insights afforded to us

by Anshei Knesses Hagedolah (Q4). The words of the siddur provide the direction by which we should set our compass and the coordinates of our destination, (Introduction to Mussar Ovicho

by R’ AY Kook) although each person’s journey will be entirely unique (Q8).

9. On these Days when our lives hang in the balance and one mitzvah can swing it (Rambam, Teshuvah 4) … shouldn’t we spend more time acting and less time talking about it?

And you address them. With deep introspection, you sincerely rebuild your desires anew, with your Divine mission as the core motivator. In so doing, you change yourself from your formerly lowly person (for whom the

Indeed, this exercise of characterrealignment is surely the best possible use of our time in these Days of Judgment (Q9). Let us harness the paradox and power of prayer to be answered letovah.

6. If we don’t have something, that must be because it’s bad for us…so why pray for it?

7. If tefillah does change the outcome... have we somehow changed G-d’s Mind?

ANNONYMOUS

...‫וה’ פקד את שרה‬

In intense gratitude to the Creator of the World for Remembering us last year, and in sincere prayer that this Rosh Hashanah, HaShem Remembers all childless couples in the great Jewish family.

Rabbi Jeremy Conway

SIMANIM

Meha’az yatsa masok – From the Fierce Came Forth Sweetness

21

Director of KLBD – the Kashrut Division of the London Beth Din

T

here is an almost universal custom to begin the meal on Rosh Hashanah evening by dipping the challah into honey, and then to follow with apple dipped in honey and the Yehi ratson milfanecha… May it be Your will… to renew for us a good and sweet year. Many continue with a variety of other special foods which symbolise sweetness, abundance and growth.

The custom is clearly based upon the following Gemara: “Abaye said: Since symbols are significant, one should accustom oneself on Rosh Hashana to eat gourd, fenugreek, leek, beet and dates” (Horayos 12a). Rashi comments: “Some of these grow abundantly and some are sweet – therefore they are positive symbols for the new year”. Seforim explain that the practice should not to be seen as superstition which is forbidden. Rather, as we find many times in Tanach, a symbolic act somehow helps a heavenly decree to take effect. (See Chayei Adam 139,6.)

Perhaps one might suggest, al derech hapshat, that on the solemn Day of Judgement we want to ensure there is no dichotomy between our conduct in shul and at home. So we bring our tefillos home with us – back to the dining table. If we eat something sweet, we allow the taste to inspire us “Please G-d this should be a sweet year”. Even if the mere name of the food has a positive connotation, (e.g. carrot in Yiddish is mehren, “increase”) we use it to trigger a prayer: In the coming year may our merits increase.

The minhag to eat honey on Rosh Hashanah goes back at least to the time of the Rishonim. According to the Elef HaMagen, this specifically refers to honey from bees.

Bee Honey is a unique and fascinating substance whose production is truly one of the niflaos habriah, wonders of creation! To product 1lb of honey, bees have to visit two million flowers and travel a distance equivalent to twice around the earth!

On their travels, the bees collect nectar which they swallow and store in a body cavity

known as the Crop or Honeysac.

Digestive enzymes, most importantly Invertase, are added which convert most of the sucrose in the nectar to glucose and fructose. Back in the hive, the bees regurgitate the nectar into honeycomb cells and after a process of evaporation by rapid wing movement, honey is formed.

This raises the fascinating question. Why is Bee-Honey kosher? Indeed, the Gemara itself asks (Bechoros 7b): Mipnei ma amru dvash dvorim mutar? Is there not a wellknown rule: Hayotse min hatamay – tamay!

That which comes from a non-kosher source is itself non-kosher with flying insects are the most non-kosher source of all! Achal lutisa loke arba – If one consumes waterbourne insect life, one transgresses four prohibitions; insects that crawl on the ground – five prohibitions; and tsirah loke shesh – for flying insects, there are six prohibitions because of the extra verse referring to sheretz ha’of! (Makkos 16b) So the honeybee is the most non-kosher source there is. Yet, the honey it produces is kosher!

The reason for this is a dispute. The Chachamim (Bechoros 7b) say mipnei shemachnisos oso legufon veaino mematsos migufon – because it is merely a processing of nectar not a production of a new substance.

Rebbi Yaakov learns however it is simply a gezeiras hakasuv, a decree of the Torah whose reason is unknown.

The ramifications of this dispute and halachic debate as to who the halacha follows, for what reason and under what circumstances, is the following. All Poskim allow honey and

beeswax. Many allow Propolis and Beebread (made by the bees from pollen, resin, beeswax and saliva, and used in many homeopathic medicines), and some even allow Royal Jelly (a substance secreted by the bees from their Mandibular glands) and Honeydew honey (produced by bees not from nectar but the secretions of aphids and scale insects!).

Perhaps one might suggest that minhag yisrael, Jewish customs, specifically selected the use of beehoney for Rosh Hashanah rather than sugar, date honey or any other sweet substance, is precisely because it comes from the most impure source and yet is kosher, healthy, sweet and delicious.

Conceivably this is the perfect substance to represent Teshuva. Reish Lakish taught (Yoma 86b): Gedola teshuva shezedonos naasis lo kezechuyos – so great is Teshuva that even intentional sins are transformed into merits!

Or as Shimshon put it in his famous riddle (Shoftim 14,9): Meha’az yatsa masok – from the fierce came forth sweetness. The azus-panim of aveiros can be transformed through teshuva meahava even into merits, and the unique quality of honey as tahor mitamay – pure from impure, is the ultimate representation of this.

The prayer …shetechadesh aleinu shana tova umesuka then, is not just that the material blessings of the year ahead should be sweet, but perhaps also a tefillah and a stimulus that we should merit through teshuva to transform all our sins into merits.

“A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness” Baal Shem Tov

Rabbi Jeremy Golker

TEFILLAH

Rosh Hashana – Personal Requests and the Focus of our Tefilla

22

Head of Kodesh, Hasmonean High School

S

imon couldn’t believe his good fortune.

Having only left school a few weeks earlier, he had already landed his dream job. He had always loved watches and he was now working in a boutique luxury watch shop in the West End. After only three weeks in to the job, the boss called him in.

“Simon, you have got off to great start and we love your drive and enthusiasm.

We have an important assignment and think you are just the man.”

The firm wanted to break in to the American market. Would he be willing to spend a month in New York all expenses paid?

“Definitely!” replied Simon without hesitation. He had never been to America and the chance to spend time there, all expenses paid, doing what he loved, was a dream come true.

he decided to bypass the regular yellow cabs and instead hailed a stretch limo. “Take me to the Waldorf Astoria!” declared Simon, happy to forget the small motel he had thought of staying at.

After a month of wining and dining potential clients at New York’s finest eateries and enjoying the high life, Simon returned to London.

As he returned to work on his first day back, there was a note on his desk to come and see the boss as soon as he arrived.

Simon had just one week to prepare for his trip. His firm had set up meetings and a rough itinerary but left the planning of the details to him. Armed with the firm’s credit card, Simon figured it was time for a new wardrobe.

He went shopping and came back a few hours later armed with several bags of expensive and stylish clothing.

Simon gingerly knocked on his boss’ door. The boss was sitting there waiting for him.

When he arrived at the airport ready to fly to JFK, he noticed how long the queues were and had an idea. Waving his firm’s credit card, he paid for an upgrade and sidestepped the long line.

No more economy class for me. It’s business all the way.

Simon has two options. He could either say that he wanted to have a good time and was just living it up on the firm’s expense. That road probably leads to prison.

Simon enjoyed his first ever business class flight. When he arrived at JFK,

QUIZ TIME

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ANSWERS ON PAGES 58-59

“This is your expense report of the last month” said the boss, throwing some papers at Simon. “It comes to $150,000. You’d better have a very good explanation otherwise you’re leaving here in a police car!”

Or Simon could straighten his back and look the boss in the eye and say; “You sent me to New York to drum up business. I couldn’t meet

potential clients in some shabby down market motel. They had to see I meant business. I needed to arrive in a fancy car. I had to buy expensive suits to look the part. If I would have flown economy, there’s no way I could have performed properly in my 9am meeting two hours after landing.”

“And to prove I am right, here you have some signed contracts of the business I brought in. Contracts totalling over ten million dollars!”

There is much discussion about whether it is appropriate or even allowed to daven for personal requests on Rosh Hashanah. The above analogy can guide us. Why are we davening for good health, children, shidduchim, parnassah, nachas, success, happiness and all the personal requests we implore Hashem? Is it self-serving or a means to serve Hashem? If we ask for these things as tools to generate a Kiddush Hashem, then that is fine.

If we use them as means to increase “Kvod Shamayim” (Heavenly Honour) and play our part to the best of our ability, then the request is legitimate and noble.

5. What is the judgement of Rosh Hashana on – this world or the next? livingwithmitzvos.com

SIMANIM

Simanim of Rosh Hashana

23

Rabbi Benjy Morgan CEO, Jewish Learning Exchange

“Dip the apple in the honey… may we have a sweet new year.”

His words still ring in my ears every year. Four years ago, Steve had his first ever Rosh Hashanah meal with us. I remember watching his eyes in disbelief as we ate all kinds of weird foods, said a prayer, and went on to the next one. “Some people have Raisins and Celery” someone exclaimed “for a risin’ salary”. There was a burst of laughter at the table. “Really Rabbi?

Is this the Judaism you practice?” asked Steve, “You have taught me its depth and its beauty for the last 6 months and this just seems…so um…primitive?

What are the simanim, Signs, all about? It does seem strange; we have come from a high of malchus, kingship. A new year, a fresh start, ruchniyus, and spirituality, reigniting our relationship with Hashem and our purpose and the head of a fish, and then we engage in this seemingly weird rituals.

There are many explanations. For now, I just want to dwell on one of my favourites.

The entire Rosh Hashanah is somewhat difficult to strike the right balance, we daven heartfelt prayers, and then we eat proper Yom Tov meals with all the trimmings. Our very lives hang in the balance. Sometimes we find Everyone has a potential soulmate.

Shidduch.im gives you a better chance to find yours

it difficult to find the balance of banter and conversation at the Yom Tov table. In fact, we often wonder why we are eating at all! After all, the Books of Life and Death are open?

I don’t know about you, but there’s something funny that happens to me every time I get something new – like a new yarmulka. Suddenly I start noticing all the not so new yarmulkas in Shul, or a pair of shoes, or a new hat, whatever.

Why is that? Yesterday you didn’t notice how discoloured your friend’s hat was- now- you’re noticing everyone!

Because what is important to us, what is on our minds, is what we notice. You can have two people look at the same scene, and they are aware of two entirely different things. Why? Because one sees what is on one’s mind. Simple as that. If you want to know what is important to you – notice what is it that you talk about, and what is it that things mean to you.

Back to the simanim.

Imagine a courtroom, where the defendant is being watched for his attitude such as upon leaving the

courtroom if he is taking it seriously – then, at every opportunity he will notice objects that relate to his case. If only I had one like that…he will almost pray at every instance where he notices things associated with his case. If he is serious about the crime at hand, it will be on his mind, and he will notice the things around him that relate to it. It is human nature.

Because of the balance that we need to strike at Rosh Hashanah, Chazal embedded into our very festivities a chance for more merits.

We merit to be judged favourably by showing how seriously we take the judgement.

We therefore come home from shul. As soon as we see a carrot, a piece of celery, a raisin, an apple – we recite a prayer by asking for a sweet new year. This act – in and of itself - is a merit to a sweet, and happy new year. It is not a ritual – it is a masterstroke of rabbinic genius to enable us to merit the very best judgement for the coming year.

o

Rabbi Kimche - Ner Yisrael

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ANSWERS ON PAGES 58-59

livingwithmitzvos.com

6. What pick this date of the first of the month of Tishrei for Rosh Hashana? Why not pick another date during the year?

BEGINNINGS

Let’s Start at the very Beginning

24

Osher Chaim Levene Orah

T

he famous opening line to a popular musical goes: “Let’s start at the very beginning – a very good place to start…”

Every process can be divided into three: beginning, middle, and end. But what is so special about the “beginning”?

Everything rises or falls based on the “beginning”.

That is because “beginning” is the flashing spark of inspiration in the creation of something new.

It is not just the launch-pad; it is the starting off point that carries within it the DNA of the whole project in its entirety.

Actually, whatever is destined to later unfold can be traced back to the blueprint at its point of origin. There is a saying: “Everything follows after the beginning” (Pirkei de Rebbi Eliezer 42; Eiruvin 41a). The “middle” is the natural process that follows suit – where things are now put into practice. This finally reaches its natural conclusion in the “end” where all potentiality ultimately has become actualised.

Introducing

This insight gives us a greater clarity into the start of the calendar in the arrival of

Rosh Hashanah: the “Jewish New Year” at the “beginning” of a new year. Historically, Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of mankind in Adam’s creation on the Sixth Day. Famously, this is the sombre Day of Judgment when every human being passes before the Master of the Universe to be judged. At this time, it is decreed upon the individual what the forthcoming year holds.

Man’s destiny is determined here at the “beginning” of the year. The burning question is: will he be able to make use of the opportunities and to avoid the pitfalls involved with “beginnings” on Rosh Hashanah?

That point when something comes into being is naturally accompanied with many exciting opportunities. It is bursting with life and potential. It comes with the promise of opening up of new vistas and horizons. It would be a crime to waste such wonderful prospects in a new “start up”.

Rosh Hashanah contains the opportune moments for undertaking genuine “New Year Resolutions” – ones that are realistic, attainable and destined to be life-changing. It is the time to pray for strength from Above to make your spiritual dreams come true. True, this means overcoming inertia and the natural resistance to change.

It calls for great efforts to take the plunge into the unknown and to courageously embark upon a journey despite there being no assurances that you will meet with success. But it is an investment that is wellworthwhile.

Let us step up to take the challenge to take steps to “begin” the new year of Rosh Hashanah on a right footing so that it is truly the start of great things to come.

JUDGMENT

Judgment: The True Sign of Love

25

Rabbi Yosef Solomon Director of Education, Tikun

N

obody likes to be judged. In fact, we feel uncomfortable at just the thought of it. So how are we supposed to celebrate our New Year?!

Chazal illuminate our chagim with names

which reveal their inner essence. They call Rosh Hashanah - Yom HaDin - The Day of Judgment (cue intense, dramatic and scary music now). Pure din is exacting, unforgiving and harsh so people are justifiably terrified.

Many respond with a spiritual version of fight or flight - animosity or antipathy neither of which is very helpful on the day that defines the rest of your year.

In an attempt to redefine our perception, let’s explore the Talmud’s description of Hashem’s Judgment on Rosh Hashanah.

The Mishnah (Rosh HaShanah 16a) teaches that the Universe is judged four times annually but “on the New Year all inhabitants of the world pass before G-d like Bnei Maron.”

The Gemara (Rosh HaShanah 18a) is perplexed by the phrase “Bnei Maron” and suggests three different interpretations: Here [in Bavel] it’s translated as “Bnei Amarna.” Reish Lakish explained, “Like the heights of the House of Maron.” Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel, “Like the soldiers of the House of David.”

We obviously need Rashi’s help to decipher what the Amoraim mean and discover the profound lesson that each is teaching: Ke’Bnei Amarna: Like sheep counted for tithing, exiting one after another through a small opening, because they cannot fit through all together.

When taking maasros, the shepherd counts his sheep as they pass in single file, ensuring none are lost and confirming they bear his brand.

Similarly, Hashem checks us - His flock – to see where we stand as individuals and as part of the greater whole.

Ke’Maa’los Beis Maron: the path is narrow, and two people cannot walk alongside one another, because there’s a steep valley on either side of the path: Just as there wasn’t enough room for two hikers to walk next to each other, similarly no two people are judged uniformly.

Although they might be on the same ‘level’, their judgment will always differ because Hashem focuses not only on where we stand now, but rather in relation to where we were last year.

Simply put, your position on the ladder is not as important as the direction in which you are moving.

Ke’Chaiyalos Beis Dovid: Like soldiers in the king’s army. Maron is an expression of mastery and lordship; this is how they’d count them going out to battle, one after the other.

Air-force, infantry, intelligence, engineering, medics, commandos, navy, tanks. There are many different types of soldiers in an army, all with very diverse roles, missions and specialties. So too each and every one of us is created with unique gifts, talents and skills.

Consequently, Hashem’s Judgment is in relation to our individual potential: are we developing our unique strengths.

This idea is echoed in a phrase found in the Rosh Hashanah Mussaf prayer, Hashem judges “the deeds of each person and his

tafkid”. The term “deeds” includes all the mitzvos and values we Jews collectively live by. The term “purpose”, however, denotes our unique role in God’s great cosmic plan, that only we can fulfil.

Let us now see if we can find the common denominator to all three interpretations, as this will solve our initial problem. One may suggest it lies in the process of counting.

The shepherd counts his sheep, the climbers count their steps and the King counts his soldiers.

The famous Rashi on the first pasuk in Sefer Bamidbar teaches that the reason Hashem counted Am Yisroel several times throughout our journey is because we are precious to Him. In other words, counting and judgment - is a result of Hashem’s love for us and a sign of how much he values us.

(The other occasions we were counted were in Shemos 12:37, after we left Mitzrayim and in Shemos 32:35 - after the incident of the Golden Calf.)

It’s axiomatic to Judaism that everything in Creation is ultimately a chessed, so too the judgment on Rosh Hashanah. Therefore, more than a judgment in a court case to be scared of, Yom HaDin is really more similar to a diamond dealer evaluating his precious stones (cue powerful, inspiring and uplifting music now).

Now that’s something to look forward to.

SHIR HAMALOS MIMAKIM

Tehillim 130 – Shir HaMa’alos

26

Rabbi Shlomo Odze Associate Rabbi, South Hampstead Synagogue

A

mong the additions in some Ashkenazi communities to our Davening during Aseres Yemei Teshuva is Tehillim 130: Shir HaMa’alos Mi’ma’amakim. It is not difficult to understand why this was added. A cursory reading of it will show that the third and fourth verses explicitly discuss the theme of Teshuva by stating “if You remember sins, O Hashem, who can stand before you? For forgiveness is with You, that You may be feared”. In addition, Posuk 8 states “And he will redeem Yisrael from all of their sins” which once again makes clear why we are reciting this kapitel at this time of year, as it gives us hope that Hashem will forgive us and give us a chance to start again.

What is more difficult to understand is where it was inserted: between Yishtabach and Kaddish. In Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 54 there is a dispute whether one can make an interruption at this point in the Davening. The Mishna Berurah concludes that for tzorchei tzibbur, public needs, one can interrupt.

The Magen Avraham questions this practice. He brings in the name of the talmidim of the Ari of reciting this psalm at this point because of the prohibition of making any interruption between yishtabach and yoitzer. The Vilna Gaon did not approve of this practice. His siddurim state not to recite it and so too the custom of the ‘Yekkishe’ (Jewish Germanic) communities is not to recite it.

The Aruch Hashulchan does not understand why the Magen Avraham is uncomfortable with this as it is permitted to add relevant prayers there. In fact, the Rambam is of the opinion that Oz Yoshir should be recited at this point.

This still leaves us to question the strategic importance to the structure and process of davening in placing shir ha ma’alos mi’ma’amakim specifically here according to those with this custom? This is particularly difficult as we have seen that making an interruption here is problematic according to some.

I would like to suggest that the answer lies in understanding and appreciating this section in Davening.

At this point we are transitioning into Tefillah Be’tzibur with Borechu.

“A righteous man falls down seven times and gets up” QUIZ TIME

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ANSWERS ON PAGES 58-59

7. livingwithmitzvos.com

Therefore, the psalm of mi’ma’amakim serves a dual purpose. It is a zemer – a song – just like the rest of pesukei de’zimra. But at the same time, it is a tefillah for forgiveness.

Therefore, the proper place for it is precisely at this juncture. As a later addition to our davening, it would not be possible to place it just before shemonei esrei as there all opinions agree one cannot be mafsik (interrupt).

Similarly, placing it anywhere within the brachos of Shema would also not be possible for the same reason. The obvious place for it would be at the end of pesukei de’zimra, a section of songs which already contains, in the main, chapters of tehillim.

Placing it here helps us transition to the next level in our davening bringing extra kavanah to our tefillah at this time of year. As mentioned earlier, it should inspire and motivate us to perform true and complete teshuva thereby meriting forgiveness from Hashem making it the obvious choice in the obvious place.

King Solomon, Mishlei, 24:16.

What lies behind the name “Rosh Hashana”, the “Head of the Year”?

SHIR HAMALOS MIMAKIM

Hashem Hear My Voice!

27

Rabbi Binyomin Denderowicz Rov Kehilas Mi K’amcho & Director of MishnaMail

O

nly a few weeks ago, I was asked this question for the umpteenth time. It is a question that many ask and even more think about and ponder. My questioner was a young teenager and we were in Poland together visiting kevorim and concentration camps. He asked it whilst walking together with me towards the gas chambers in Auschwitz. “I am now seeing life from a new perspective. I understand that there is so much more to life than I had imagined up to now. I would love to connect and daven to Hashem on a much deeper level.

But there’s no way he would be interested in me as I’ve done so much wrong in my life that I have shut my own doors to G-d”.

I replied by saying what a great question it was and I would happily answer it after we say a psalm from Tehillim.

We started off with the perek we all know well “Shir Hama’alos Mima’amakim Kerosichoh”.... one of 15 Shir Hama’alos that symbolizes the 15 steps leading up to the sanctuary.

There and then it suddenly hit me!

Dovid Hamelech was similarly posing the same question stuck in the depths (Mima’amakim). It was from here that he called out to Hashem...!

Hashem shim’oh bekoli - my Lord, hear my voice: Though I’m extremely distant from you and have sunk to the most remote depths, explains the Ibn Ezra, PLEASE hear my voice! But Dovid himself thought- ME? A sinner?! He surely is not going to answer this request!?!

Dovid therefore now contemplates the validity of the question. He says: Im avonos tishmor Yoh- for if you preserve my iniquities,

Hashem Mi Ya’amod?- oh G-d my Lord, who could survive?

We know the famous statement: There is no man on earth that has not sinned. We are all a bunch of sinners.

Therefore, if my question was correct, there would be no hope for anyone to survive.

But that definitely could not be!

Dovid understands this and answers: Ki imcho haslicho - for YOU is forgiveness. Rashi explains how “YOU – Hashem, did not give over the power of forgiveness to an angel to carry out on His behalf! No, it was rather you yourself Who grants forgiveness. Therefore, myself together with anybody and everybody else, do stand a chance.

The deeper seforim write, that Hashem is Infinite and works very differently to the behaviour of a flesh and blood.

When one wrongs someone who asks for forgiveness, generally one would or could grant forgiveness. If the perpetrator would do the very same thing wrong

a second time and then ask again for forgiveness, it would even harder to forgive him. The more we continue to wrong, the harder it becomes to be forgiven.

Despite our repeated sinning, we can ask Hashem for forgiveness every year for the same very sin. It is Hashem Who gladly forgives us: “He is gracious and greatly forgiving” (Shemoneh Esrei).

This idea gave Dovid Hamelech a lot of new hope and thereby continued singing; Kivisi Hashem Kivsoh Nafshi, let Israel hope for Hashem, for with Hashem is kindness and with Him is abundant redemption and HE shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

So as we embark towards one of the holiest prayers of the year on one of the holiest days of the year - the Rabbis felt it is time to squeeze in this perek of Tehillim and set this question straight in our minds. We are obligated to realise that Hashem is very interested in every word we have to say and is listening extremely carefully.

May we utilise this special opportunity and use it to the best of our ability and hopefully we’ll all merit that all our prayers to be answered for the good.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫אסתר בת מהור”ר שמואל ע"ה‬ QUIZ TIME

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ANSWERS ON PAGES 58-59

‫נלב''ע י”ט אלול‬

livingwithmitzvos.com

8. Rosh Hashana is the fiftieth day climaxing the seven weeks of comfort known as the shiva denechemta. How is this significant?

HAMELECH

Melech Hakovod – The King of Glory

28

Rabbi Shimshon Silkin Director of Klal-Chazon

H

AMELECH! This stirring proclamation sets the tone for the rest of the day: Hashem is King! But, in today’s modern world, it can be difficult to relate to “kingship” given the fact that our rulers today are democratically elected - and those that aren’t elected are typically despotic tyrants. So what does the call of Hashem’s sovereignty and all its subsequent references throughout the davening really mean?

Hayom haras olom – the day of Rosh Hashana is the anniversary of the creation of the world. Yeshaya HaNovi reminds us what the purpose of Creation was in the first place: “lichvodi berosiv” (YESHAYA 43:7) – I have created the world for My Glory.

But Shlomo Hamelech teaches “Be rov am hadras Melech” (MISHLEI 14:28), the glory of the king is only when amongst the multitudes. And so, it is upon us, the “Am”, the people, to promote that glory. Indeed, Chazal tell us that Hashem can only be King when the people gather together, as the Posuk says “Vayehi viyeshurun melech behisasef roshei am yachad shivtei Yisrael - And there was a King in Yeshurun – a reference to the Ribono shel Olom (SIFRI) when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Yisrael together” (DEVORIM 33:5). It is the people who facilitate Hashem’s sovereignty; we are the ones to glorify His name and in so doing declare His Kingship.

This teaches us that there is a direct correlation between kovod and malchus – especially Divine malchus.

This is an idea contained within the kedusha prayer. “Boruch kevod

Hashem mimkomo, blessed is the glory of Hashem from His place”, is followed immediately with “Yimloch Hashem le’olom, may Hashem reign forever”. Where there is honour there is malchus. Thus, the coronation of Hashem is achieved through His glorification. The perek of Tehilim that ushers in New Year and distinguishes the Rosh Hashana Maariv from the rest of the year describes the arrival of the Aron to the gates of the Beis Hamikdosh with the prayer of Shlomo Hamelech (see Rashi): You, gates, lift your heads and be uplifted, everlasting portals, veyovo Melech HaKovod - so that the King of Glory may enter (Tehillim 24:7).

Here, Hakodosh Boruch Hu, whose Presence in the Aron Hakodesh used to reside in the midst of the people and is about to take up residence in the Holy of Holies, is referred to as the King of Glory, twice. The Maharal writes “berov am hadras melech – zehu kvodo” – amongst the multitude of people who honour Him, that is where Hashem’s glory lies.

And so at this point in the davening we find ourselves standing at the juncture between pesukei d’zimra

and birchos krias shema, the section which contains the first kedusha of the day, indeed of the year and the section which builds up to the morning proclamation of Hashem’s sovereignty and kabolas ol malchus shomayim. And it is therefore here and now that we pause and focus on the most important fundamental of all: HAMELECH. Hashem is King, but only if we proclaim His glory. It is more than a proclamation – it is a dedication. A commitment to being a vehicle for kvod Shomayim in the world. To acknowledge Hashem’s Kingship is to recognise our role in facilitating it, a role that involves generating a Kiddush Hashem in everything we do.

The final Mishna in Pirkei Avos (6:12) boils down the entire purpose of Creation into one succinct formula: – Everything that Hashem created in His world, He did not create but for His glory. As is stated (Yeshaya 43:7): “All that is called by My name and for My glory, I created it, formed it, also I made it.” And it says (Shemos 15:1): “Hashem shall reign forever and ever.”

Klal–Chazon wish the ‫ קהילה‬a ‫כתיבה וחתימה טובה‬ Klal-Chazon is a ‘chizuk kerovim’ organisation designed to respond to the challenges of our generation by strengthening our connection with Yiddishkeit and each other. Working alongside our local schools and with the encouragement of the Rabbonim, we provide a wide array of innovative educational and experiential events, seminars, workshops and trips for hundreds of high school students, teachers and parents from across the Kehilla.

To find out more, please email info@ chazon.org.uk

SHEMA

Shema Yisrael - KNOw LiFE!

29

Rabbi Naftali Schiff Chief Executive of the Jewish Futures Trust

T

he Shema captures the essence of the avoda of the Yomim Noraim, the proclamation of kabbolas ol malchus shomayim, accepting upon ourselves the reality and consequences of Hashem’s expectations of us. We place our hands over our eyes and shut out the other senses and thoughts to focus on the meaning behind the words and their implications.

Kabbolas ol malchus shomayim is perhaps one of the most challenging, yet basic elements of our lives as Jews and lies at the heart of the recalibration that we are meant to undertake at this time of year. This is all the more important when we realise that this concept goes against the grain of wider, liberal society. We live in a world where people are afraid to categorically identify right from wrong, however, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur offer us an opportunity to get back to basics, to the crucial and basic tenet of yiras shomayim.

Shema Yisrael lies at the heart of our prayers as it is an affirmation and proclamation of fundamental chovos halevavos (duties of the heart). If we fail to carry these attitudes with us, we are subject to the vicissitudes and vagaries of transitory fads and fashions. It is not by chance that as Jews, the last words we utter each day and at the end of life are Shema Yisrael and that accompanied millions of kedoshim as their final affirmation of faith.

This idea is so important that it behoves us to truly internalise it and to share it with our children. At this time of year we can possibly go a stage further and look at the challenges of our generation and consider deeply how to both preserve and perpetuate authentic Torah living. I would suggest that whilst it used to be the case that most of the challenges were outside of the home, today they can be right inside, found on glowing rectangles of various sizes. The only panacea to this, is through living with and conveying genuine yiras shomayim, which is far more compelling and meaningful than the abstract threat of ‘fire and brimstone’. Perhaps we can translate yiras shomayim conceptually as being the ability to

‘see reality’. This is something that can then be developed into a constant sense of awareness of the purpose of life.

The very first page of Shulchan Aruch brings the Rema quoting the Rambam that the goal of mitzvah observance is to develop a sense of awareness of being in the presence of Hashem, ‫שויתי ה’ לנגדי תמיד‬, a posuk often displayed prominently in our Shuls. The Chofetz Chaim (Biur Halacha) explains that the way to internalise this message is to fulfil the six constant mitzvos. These mitzvos provide us with attitudes and perspectives that impact the choices that we make in life, to constantly be able to choose right from wrong. Every time we think of one of these ideas we fulfil a positive Torah mitzvah, giving us opportunities for an unlimited amount of reward.

Every morning at the start of Shacharis we recite the first line of the Shema, preceded by the following paragraph, which sums up this idea perfectly: “A person should always be G-d fearing in private and in public, acknowledging the truth, speaking the truth within his heart…”

These six mitzvos can be summed up by the acronym of KNOw LiFE. (1)

Know that Hashem exists. To develop a sense of clarity in our emunah and to internalise a palpable sense of trust, bitochon, in Hashem as the Creator and Sustainer of all of existence.

(2)

None besides Him. There is no other power that can either help or harm me.

(3)

One Hashem. He is the Source of everything, the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

All of life’s successes and challenges come from Him.

W

(4)

Love Hashem. Think of all the goodness that He has bestowed upon me and all the brachos that He continues to shower upon me. Feel His boundlesslove for us and love Him back!

I

(5)

Fear Hashem. Actions, thoughts and attitudes bear consequences.

Hashem is constantly aware of us and all that we think, say and do. Yiras Shomayim means seeing reality.

There is no escape from this reality and the time of accounting will come.

This understanding helps us to lead real lives rather than playing in a ‘virtual reality’

(6)

Eyes. Don’t go looking for trouble, impulsively following the passions and impulses of our hearts and eyes.

First engage the brain to decide what the right thing to do is, and then let the body follow through.

These six mitzvos are all referred to in the Shema, they are the way to develop a mature and sustainable relationship with Hashem that can stand firm against contemporary challenges.

May our kabbolas ol malchus Shomayim this year bring us to this constant state of awareness and may we all be blessed by Hashem remembering us, for true life!

‫הב' משה יוסף ז"ל בן יבלחט''א ר’ שלמה טבלי נ"י‬ ‫נלב''ע כ”ח אלול‬

Rabbi Aron Litwin

HAMELECH

Meet The King

30

Newly appointed Rabbi, Seed Manchester

T

he Shul is filled with people both young and old, everyone is dressed in their finest clothing, and the scene is set. The Chazzan ascends the bima and for the first time this new year, a melodious note emerges from his lips: HAAAMMEELLLECHH! This is the beginning and the end.

Let me explain why.

What is Rosh Hashanah all about?

Yes, I also enjoy dipping the apple in the honey. I am always humbled by the clear shofar blast and inspired by the moving tunes and prayers. What is the point of it all?

The goal of the entire Yomim Noraim can be summed up in this one word: HAMELECH! It is with this word that we commence the Rosh Hashanah service. And it is this same word that is used at the culmination of the Yom Kippur in the Neilah prayer.

This word replaces many of our usual blessings in the Ten Days of Repentance. But why?

Hamelech literally translated means ‘the King’. Why Ha-Melech, with “the” as the prefix rather than simply: ‘King’?

The commentaries explain that it comes to remind us that Hashem is not just King; He is the King of Kings.

He is the King of everything.

This is the purpose of the High Holidays: to crown Hashem as the King of the Universe, to announce to everyone how Hashem is the force behind every existence in this world no matter how small or minute.

But in order for us to crown Hashem, we must first find Him…

Here is a question that always bothered me; Why from all the great people within Klal Yisroel did Hashem pick Moshe to be the leader?

‫לעלוי נשמת איש נעים הליכות‬ ‫ר’ ברך בן ר’ מרדכי הכהן (ליטווין) ז”ל‬

Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz (1873-1936), explains that many people passed the burning bush before Moshe. But Moshe did something different;

“Hashem saw that he [Moshe] turned to look” [and as a result] “Hashem called to him” (Shemos. 3:4).

Every single movement within our world demands a reaction. We come across many situations in our daily life in which we are faced with a choice. We can walk past situations where we can clearly see Divinity or we can pass them over as mere coincidences. Moshe was the first one who acknowledged the Hashemliness in the bush. Moshe was the first one who ‘turned to look’ and in turn he was chosen to lead our nation.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, used to ask: “Where is Hashem?”

His answer was short and pointed: “Wherever we let Him in.”

The ability to see Hashem in our lives is not a function of His involvement. It’s a function of our awareness.

Our lives are scattered with opportunities to see and feel Hashem… you get to the shop till and there is no queue… as you get into the car it begins pouring so you didn’t get wet… you find the perfect parking space…

Our task it to see Hashem in these mundane situations… It is our task to cry out; HAMELECH all over our lives!

This is the purpose of the High Holidays: to see Hashem in every area of our lives, to meet the KING! Here is the point where I would usually add in a story to bring the point home. But this time, let me ask you to do something different… please add in your own story…

So many times in our lives we meet the ‘King’ but our eyes are not open. As the Chazzan recites the word HAMELECH lets all find one small time in our lives when we felt Hashem… let’s all try and envision a moment where we MET THE KING!

wishes you a sweet new year

ZOCHREINU LECHAIM

I Can Be Anything

31

Rabbi Benjy Gordon Jewish Futures Trust

‫“זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בחיים וכתבנו בספר החיים‬ ”‫למענך אלקים חיים‬ “Remember us for life, king who desires life, and write us in the book of life, for your sake O Living G-d” Why do we ask for ‘Chaim’ (life) twice – once as a remembrance (“Remember us”) and the second time for it to be written (“write us”)?

The Ramchal explains that the first time our request is in general terms. Please remember us with the tzaddikim (righteous people) and not the reshoim (wicked people). The second occasion we ask about the individual decrees which take place in this world and to ‘write us in the book of life.’

Surely Hashem knows what is best for us and will always give us what we are supposed to get? If so, what is the purpose of davening for things which may not be good for us? Why pray for those things which we think will help us to grow and make our lives easier but which may actually have the opposite effect?

Furthermore, how can one daven to be written in the book of the tzaddikim? You are either a tzaddik or you are not? So how does tefillah help?

Tefillah is the revelation of our desires and goals. This is the reason why Chazal say “What is the soul?

Tefillah”. The nefesh, soul of a person, is the source of all our desires and goals. It is when a person recognises that the desires of the nefesh can

only be fulfilled by the Creator that he turns to Hashem in tefillah to ask for everything he wants and desires.

Therefore, a true tefillah for Yiras Shomayim (fear of heaven) or a sincere tefillah to be written in the book of tzaddikim is a revelation of what a person really wants. From this point onwards, Hashem says ‘pischu li pesach k’chudo shel machat’ meaning ‘open for me an opening the size of a needle tip’ and I [Hashem] will do the rest.

Consequently, before Rosh Hashanah not only must we try to improve our actions and increase our practice of mitzvos, we must also work on our she’ifos, aspirations, to decide where we want to get to and how far we could go if everything was ‘perfect’. It is based on these she’ifos that we will daven. It is based on these she’ifos that Hashem will give to us and empower us to be the best we can be over the coming year.

We are required to believe in ourselves. We must understand that only we can achieve our own perfection and that we can achieve everything we need to achieve.

But as long as we have the desire and plan to become tsaddikim, we can daven a sincere tefillah requesting to be written with the tsaddikim. We can trust that Hashem will do the rest.

We then end off with ‘l’mancha Elokim chayim,’ ‘For Your Sake the Living G-d’. All of the above will only come about if the intentions are correct. Why do we want to attain our she’ifos? Is it in order to become greater people or for the honour or money that comes with such positions? No, it is for the sake of Hashem to increase the amount of kvod Shomayim (honour of heaven) in the world.

Thus, if you have the desire and aspirations to grow to become great, to become the best you that you can, and you are doing this for the sake of Hashem, then you are free to ask for anything. Your requests can even include those things which are way beyond what you deserve right now.

But only if the desire for growth is there.

Then, and only then, will Hashem take care of the rest.

“One question is always relevant: How can I use this to move forward?” Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller

sights n i d n a ations ges n a l p x e For k pa see bac

Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah -

Rach

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suba

ra

The Big Picture - The Big Picture

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JFT gvp Jewish Futures Trust

Virtual Reality

UVECHEN TZADIKIM

34

Rabbi Dov Ber Cowen Young Professionals, JLE

“And so, the Tzaddikim will see and be joyful and the Yeshorim will rejoice and the Chasidim will exult in song, and injustice will close its mouth and all the evil will dissipate like smoke.”

When Virtual Reality (an immersive experience in which your head movements are tracked in a three-dimensional world) first made headlines in the mid 90’s it promised to revolutionise the world. The technological capabilities of 2016 now allow a person to experience being in any place in the world at any time as I discovered when an IT expert friend of mine let me have a quick use of his VR mask.

The mask fit snugly on my face and I was instantaneously transported to a Mongolian Yurt, sitting with the family around the fire.

I was then sitting by a waterfall and then a desert. From every direction, up down, left and right, I looked around and found myself totally immersed in the experience. It was so mind-blowingly real that I literally forgot what time it was, and where I was.

And then I pulled off the mask and it all disappeared.

It was so amazingly life-like. My mind was gloriously tricked into thinking that the computer generated sequence of images created by pixelated light images was reality.

It vanished instantaneously.

Rebbe Avraham Yaakov of Sadigura zy’’a famously wrote how technology can teach us mussar. A train teaches us that every minute in life is important. The telegraph teaches us that our every word is accounted for and carries a cost - And the telephone teaches us that everything said here can be heard ‘there’. What then, is the life lesson to be gleaned from the cutting edge 3D technology of Virtual Reality?

The three U’Vcheins of the Rosh Hashanah Amidah looks to the future to

that time when the whole world will join together to proclaim Hashem’s Oneness.

What about all the powerful evil that seems to have free domain to wreak havoc?

“Injustice will close its mouth and all the evil will dissipate like smoke.”

Smoke has substance, colour and smell.

And yet, it disappears into nothingness. So too, the fake reality of evil and separation that seems so real, so powerful and so permanent, will not just crumble but will completely disappear as if they were never real in the first place.

How much credence do we give to thoughts, ideas and concepts that are smoke-like and of no substance? We invest our time, money and energy in pleasures, which, after all is said and done, reveal themselves to be empty of any tangible benefit.

Smoke-like, once the mask comes off, they too, will disappear. We were chasing nothingness.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov zy’’a, sees the evil inclination as a prankster running through a crowd showing his tightly closed hand. No one knows what it is he is holding.

He goes up to each person: “What do you think is in my hand?” Each person imagines that the closed hand contains just what he desires most and they all hurry after the prankster.

When he has tricked them enough; when he has distracted them and caused them to leave all that was truly important to them

he finally opens his hand. And there it is… completely empty!

The same is true of the yetzer hara.

Everyone thinks that “his” hand contains exactly what they need. However, in the end, the hand is opened and there is nothing inside. No desire is ever fulfilled.

The Virtual Realities programmed by the yetzer hara are like the rays of sun in a dark room. They may actually seem solid, but when a person tries to grasp the rays he will find nothing in their hand.

The three U’Vcheins point towards that time in the future when Hashem will reveal that He and His Name are one and the same.

Only then will the evil in this world reveal that its “reality” was only “virtual”. We await that time for the yetzer hara to open up its hand to show the whole world that there was nothing there in the first place.

However, every Rosh Hashanah, we can merit to taste a world with the “mask” off. We can merit to taste the “Truth” of Hashem’s sovereignty over everything that exists. Every Rosh Hashanah, also called Yom Hazikaron, Day of Remembrances, we are given an opportunity to remember, even if temporarily, that the world that we perceive of as the ultimate reality, is really just a mask that will one day be removed to unveil the truth.

"People often avoid making decisions out of fear of making a mistake.

Actually the failure to make decisions is one of life's biggest mistakes"

Rabbi Noah Weinberg

Loving Servants

Loving Servants

Rabbi Shmuli Sagal

BEYOM DIN

‫לקונה עבדיו בדין‬...‫ל עורך דין‬-‫לא‬

35

Rabbi, Sutton & District Synagogue; Director of Operations, The Evening Beis

‫ לקונה עבדיו בדין‬... ‫ל עורך דין‬-‫לא‬

I

n Judaism there seems to be an equation that goes like this: the more important the date in the calendar, the more prayers there are to recite. Because the fundamental tefillos remain fairly consistent, the vast majority of the extra pages within our siddurim and machzorim are invariably made up of piyyutim. Many are long and complicated poetic pieces which we either mumble our way through or simply skip. Others are sung in our favourite tunes, or contain a familiar refrain, thereby making them more meaningful.

There is one piyyut, however, which brings us to attention and makes us gather our emotional strength. Short and powerfully simple in its composition, it is hard not to be brought to tears as ‫ל עורך‬-‫לא‬ ‫ דין‬is chanted line by line in its traditional sombre melody. The authors of the machzor felt the message of this piyyut so significant that they chose to position it in the heart of the davening just before kedusha.

have to willingly be His dutiful subjects.

And that doesn’t just mean paying our taxes and patriotically singing the anthem. To be an ’‫ עבד ה‬demands absolute subjugation of our thoughts, feelings and actions in service of a Master. But unlike the servants of centuries gone by, we willingly and eagerly vie to become Hashem’s servants as servitude to Hashem is unlike any other of its kind.

The piyyut describes Hashem’s unparalleled attributes as a judge.

Correspondingly it highlights the great exactingness, but ultimate compassion, He exercises on the day of judgement.

The climax of the piyyut comes with the words,”‫“ – ״לקונה עבדיו בדין‬He who acquires His servants in judgement.” Though not what you would automatically expect to be the occupation of a judge on the day of judgement, this line sums up what the Yomim Noraim are all about. In fact, when we scream out these words it should simply be the heart-felt expression of our deepest desire as a Jew. Of course, we attest to Hashem’s piety and kindness, ‫לותיק ועושה חסד ביום דין‬, and we appeal to His forgivingness, ‫למוחל עונות בדין‬, yet ultimately what it is all about is being ‫– עבדיו‬ His faithful servants.

The Maharil Diskin asks why it is that a Jewish servant who wishes to extend his slavery beyond his mandatory six years has his ear pierced by his master at the end of the six years. If the reason for the piercing is because “the ear that heard at Sinai ‘the Jewish People are My servants’ and nonetheless went and sold himself to a human master - should be pierced”, then surely we should pierce his ear straight away?

If we genuinely want to crown Hashem as our King on Rosh Hashanah, then we

Rav Osher Weiss shlit’’a answers that in truth there is no contradiction between being a servant to a human master and simultaneously being a servant to Hashem.

The fact that the Torah legislates for such a thing as a ‫עבד עברי‬, a Jewish servant, clearly indicates that it is not antithetical to being an exemplary ’‫עבד ה‬. Thus, when this Jews sells himself to a human master he hasn’t done anything to undermine his honourable status as a fully committed servant of Hashem.

However, when after six years he says

”‫“אהבתי את אדני‬,

“I love my master”, at that moment he reveals that his servitude has eclipsed his being an ’‫עבד ה‬. When it comes to Hashem, our ‫ עבדות‬is completely unique.

Usually a servant can at best tolerate his master and at worse despise him. But his life is beholden to his master’s will: not an existence that anyone would chose or aspire to. Love of his master should be the furthest emotion he is feeling. Not so when it comes to being servants of Hashem. We must unwaveringly serve with devotion as we would a human master, but at the same time we love Him. We are ’‫ עבדי ה‬but also beloved ’‫בנים לה‬.

Indeed, to at once be a servant and a son, frightfully obedient and abundantly loving, is a challenging task. In respect to other human beings perhaps it is an impossible one. Yet Hashem demands it of us, and it is but another unique aspect in the unlikely relationship that is man and G-d. ‫– אבינו מלכנו‬ Hashem is our Father, our King; and we are His sons and His servants.

On the Yomim Noraim we are filled with feelings of ”‫“וגילו ברעדה‬, rejoicing with trembling, as described by Dovid HaMelech in Tehillim. Two emotions that generally cannot co-exist become the prevailing mood on the day. Here we cry out to Hashem ‫קונה‬ ‫עבדיו בדין‬, “make us Your servants on this day of Judgement”. Uniquely, as servants of Hashem we must tremble with fear before Him but also serve Him with love and rejoicing like a son.

AVINU MALKEINU

Our Father and Our King

36

Rabbi YY Rubinstein World Renowned Speaker

S

everal years ago I was giving a shiur in London. After I finished the large audience dispersed and some people waited to ask questions. After everyone was gone one man remained. “You’re from Manchester?” he asked. I told him I was. “Do you know someone called………..”. I replied that I did. “How is he getting on?” he asked. I replied that I thought he was doing well. “How many children does he have” he enquired and I answered three. “What does he do for a living and I answered that too. Then it was my turn to ask a question, “How do you know him?” The man looked uncomfortable and looked down at the floor, “He’s my son” he said.

The father explained that as a teenager his son had gone off the rails in a major way. His wife and he, had tried everything to bring him back, bribery, threats, third party intervention. Eventually, one night in exasperation, the father screamed at the son, “Get out! Get out and never come back.” His son left and never came back.

I told the father that from what I knew of his son I’d be surprised if he didn’t want to see his father again. The father replied that too much water had flowed under the bridge and that it was too late. I tried another approach. I offered to give him regular reports on what was happening in his son’s life.

The father liked this and gave me his phone number and address so I could keep in touch.

When I returned I “bumped” into his son. “I’ve just returned from

London” I said “and I met someone who knows you and was asking after you.” The son asked who it was and I told him it was his father.

“How is he getting on?” asked the son. I told the son that I was sure that his father wanted to see him and strangely he replied using the same words as his father, “No, too much water has flowed under the bridge”. I told the son that I was going down to London in two days’ time “How about if I took you to see your father?” I asked. After much persuasion it was arranged.

I phoned the father to inform him that we were coming and when. We found the house straight away. I rang the doorbell and the son looked embarrassed and uncomfortable as seconds ticked away. The door opened and there stood the man I had met a few days before. The son looked at the father with tears streaming down his cheeks. The

father too was crying. The son took one step towards his father and the father moved towards his son and they folded each other in an embrace. They walked through the door of the house and I slipped quietly away. Six months later the son and his family moved to London to be near his dad.

Reb Leib Gurwicz zt’’l says that Hashem being our King need not inspire fear. It should inspire confidence. How else could we think of asking Hashem to change his gzar din for what we have done.

Who are we to ask? The judgement will be accurate and 100% fair, we deserve it.

But if Hashem tells us He is our King; then we are His subjects! A subject can petition a King to be forgiven. Hashem chose the image of King, to encourage us to do exactly that.

No father wants his son to stay away. So we need have no reluctance to attempt Teshuva. It is not a difficult mitzvah at all, the examiner is on our side, He is Avinu Malkeinu our Father and our King.

“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent” Rabbi A.Y. Kook

AVINU MALKEINU

Sons or Servants?

37

Rabbi Yaakov Hamer Finchley Central Federation/Shaarei Orah

A

vinu Malkeinu is one of the most famous and powerful tefillos in our liturgy. During a famine, Rabbi Eliezer tried to arouse heavenly compassion with special prayers. His tefillah did not succeed to bring the rain. Rabbi Akiva then began to say “Avinu Malkeinu, we have no other king other than you! Avinu Malkeinu, for Your sake, have compassion on us!’’ and the rain fell (Taanis 25b). The Jewish custom evolved to say this potent tefillah in times where rachamei shomayim – divine compassion is particularly necessary.

Let us examine this prayer in more detail. If we are referring to Hashem as “Our Father and our King”, it follows that we are His children (banim) and His servants (avadim). Is it a bigger praise to be called, banim, sons/children or avadim, servants? This point is not so clear. There is a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Meir, under which circumstances do Klal Yisroel merit to be called banim.

Rabbi Yehuda holds it is only if we act with a certain level of righteousness that we merit this term of endearment. Rabbi Meir disagrees and holds that this is even when we misbehave and succumb to sinful behaviour, we still retain this illustrious title (Kiddushin 36a). Clearly, the accolade of banim is clearly one of great stature, love and significance.

The Midrash (Sifri, Vo’eschanan 2) enumerates ten individuals (Avraham, Yaakov, Moshe, Yehoshua, Calev, Dovid HaMelech, Yeshaya haNavi, Elyakim, Zerubavel, Daniel) who merited that Hashem called them eved. There were other individuals who referred to themselves as Hashem’s avadim but did not merit for Hashem to call them avadim.

These include Shimshon, Shmuel and

do the things which haven’t been clearly expressed.

Shlomo Hamelech! Clearly to be referred to as an Eved Hashem is a huge praise.

Which of the two is the better? Perhaps we can suggest the following. Each title has a strength and a possible weakness.

The praise of banim is the desire to fulfil the parent’s will even without an explicit command. Often a child, due to the closeness of the relationship intuitively knows and understands what the parent wants and expects. They will follow the parent’s inexplicit desire even if it has not been articulated into words. A good eved, on the other hand, is praised for being submissive and loyal to the commands of their master. This is irresponsible of whether or not they have a close relationship with the master to second guess their desires. Rather they faithfully follow the master’s instructions.

A possible weakness in being banim is taking the relationship for granted and at times to rely on their unconditional, unbreakable status as a child. This might lead to not treating the parent with due reverence. [See Taanis 19a in story of Choni Ha’me’agel] A possible weakness in an eved is they do not necessarily

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We turn to Hashem in times of great need and cry out, Avinu Malkeinu! What we are saying is that we recognize that you are our Heavenly Father. We have a relationship of a child to a parent. We try to fulfil not only Your Divine command but even Your desire even if not explicitly stated. We therefore ask Hashem for compassion like a parent would have with a child. At the same time, we are fully aware that you are Malkeinu! You are our King and we have the fear and reverence that one must have for a king. We do not take our relationship for granted and negate our will and desire for your service.

The Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet 1235 -1310) rules that even though the halachah usually follows Rabbi Yehuda in his disputes with Rabbi Meir, in the argument about when Klal Yisroel are called banim, the halachah is like Rabbi Meir. In other words, we are always called His banim! In addition, the above Midrash which discussed who is called an eved says that Hashem also reciprocates and refers to Klal Yisroel as avadim! We therefore enjoy both of these strengths.

It is with these powers that we turn to Hashem on these crucial days to arouse compassion for a year filled with beracha and hatzlacha. Avinu Malkeinu!

A COMMUNITY SERVICE OF THE

Rabbi Michael Laitner

AVINU MALKEINU

Avinu Malkeinu – How To Get Your Prayers Answered

38

US Living & Learning & Finchley Synagogue

O

ne of the most familiar and dramatic prayers of Yom Kippur is ‘Avinu Malkeinu’ (our Father, our King), in which we refer to G-d as both a sovereign and a parent – two very different roles. The differences between them illustrate a central message of Yom Kippur, as we shall explore, based on the teachings of the late Rabbi Yehuda Amital zt’’l of Yeshivat Har Etzion.

The background to this prayer is a fascinating occurrence recorded by the Gemara (Taanis 25b) which took place in the Land of Israel, sometime during the first or second centuries CE. The setting was also a public fast day, in that case, one called as a day to beseech God due to a lack of rain.

Officiating were the great Talmudic sages Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva.

Below is a paraphrased account of what happened.

Rabbi Eliezer stood before the Holy Ark to lead the service. He recited 24 blessings of the prayer for rain but was not answered. Rabbi Akiva then stood to lead the service. He said, ‘Our Father, our King! We have no king other than You! Our Father, our King! For Your sake have compassion on us!’ It then started raining…A Heavenly voice declared, ‘This was not because Rabbi Akiva is greater than Rabbi Eliezer but

because Rabbi Akiva acts with forbearance and Rabbi Eliezer does not.

It was this spirit of forbearance which seems to underpin Rabbi Akiva’s composition of the ‘Avinu Malkeinu’ prayer and perhaps why the rabbis subsequently instituted its frequent recitation by us on Yom Kippur.

Sometimes, it is not really easy to take a deep breath and offer somebody another chance. Or not to insist on having your own way or the honour or other treatment which you think is owed to you. The ability to realise that a relentless pursuit of what is good for us personally might not necessarily be good for others, is possibly a central message of Yom Kippur in the eyes of Chazal.

This message is reinforced by another Talmudic passage (Rosh

Hashanah 7a) which teaches that somebody who can act with forbearance to another will have their own sins forgiven. The supporting verse in the Biblical prophecy of Micha (7:18) which describes G-d as bearing our iniquities and overlooking our sins.

Given this background, it is no surprise that this and the two following verses from Micha are added on at the end of the recitation of the Book of Yonah, which is the Haftarah for the afternoon of Yom Kippur. Perhaps the rabbis wanted us to keep this message in mind as the day reaches its climax.

Each time we say Avinu Malkeinu throughout these ten days I hope that its background and the example of its author inspire our prayers and actions, so that we strive to build bridges with others as well as with G-d.

bub b blo y's g

O

ne day a professor asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. He handed out the question paper, with the text facing down as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked his students to turn the page and begin. To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions, just a black dot in the centre of the page.

The professor then said, “I want you to write what you see there.” The students confused got started on the inexplicable task. At the end of the class, the professor read each one of them aloud in front of all the students.

All of the students with no exceptions described the black dot, trying to explain its position in the middle of sheet etc. After all had been read, the classroom silent, the professor began to explain. I am not going to grade you on this, I just wanted to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot and the same happens in our lives. We always focus on the dark spots.

Our life is a gift given to us by Hashem with love and care and we always have reasons to celebrate.

However we insist on focusing only on the dark spots, the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the complicated relationship with a family member, the disappointment with a friend etc.

He continued, “The dark spots are very small compared to everything we have in our llives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds. Take your eyes away from the black spots in your life and enjoy each one of your blessings, each moment that Hashem gives you.

As heard from a friend

Rabbi Emanuel Danan Rosh Kollel Shaarei Halacha/Gateshead

T

HAFTARAH

Insights into the Haftara of First day Rosh Hashanah

39

info@ shaareihalacha.com

he haftara of first day of Rosh Hashana is from the beginning of Sefer Shmuel. The story of the birth of Shmuel.

After many years of childlessness, accompanied by immense pain and struggle Chana gave birth to Shmuel, one of the greatest Neviim who ever lived. In fact, Chazal inform us that in a way he was equivalent in stature to Moshe and Aharon combined.

This haftara is read on Rosh Hashanah as it is directly connected to the Krias HaTorah about the birth of Yitzchak Avinu after many years of barrenness. Sarah Imeinu and Chana were Nifkad (related to Pekod, pakid) on Rosh Hashanah meaning that it was decided with certainty they were to bear a child. A person who is set aside for a specific task.

Until now their tafkid (purpose) was to live their life and serve Hashem without children. On Rosh Hashana their tafkid changed. They were to bring a new child into this world and raise him. Rosh Hashana is the time of year that we declare that we are Hashem’s Pekudim. We are here to do His Will. ‘Thy will be done, not mine’. How befitting to lein about the pekida of the righteous women of Israel on this day.

In this small write up I have collated some material in explanation of the first few pesukim of the haftara.

‫שמואל א פרק א‬ ‫ן־ה ָר ָמ ַת֛יִ ם‬ ָ ‫וַ יְ ִהי֩ ִא֨יׁש ֶא ָח֜ד ִמ‬ ‫ּוׁשמֹ֡ו‬ ְ ‫צֹופ֖ים ֵמ ַה֣ר ֶא ְפ ָר֑יִ ם‬ ִ ‫ן־אלִ יהּ֛וא‬ ֱ ‫ֶא֠לְ ָקנָ ה ֶּבן־יְ ר ָֹח֧ם ֶּב‬ :‫ֶּבן־ּתֹ֥חּו ֶבן־צּ֖וף ֶא ְפ ָר ִתֽי‬ Min Haramasayim - ‘The hills’. This place consisted of two peaks which stood across each other and were within seeing distance. (Rashi, Megilla 14a) Alternatively Min Haramasayim means from the ones who were placed on a lofty place, i.e. the ones that were lifted from the pit of geihinom and escaped death-the sons of Korach. (Megilla ibid) Elkonoh was a descendent of Korach through his son Aviasaf who did not die with Adas Korach. It is interesting to note that it was the knowledge that he was to have a descendant as great as Shmuel the son of Elkonoh) that caused Korach to challenge Moshe Rabeinu (Rashi Bamidbar 16;7).

The word Efrasi at the end of the Passuk seems redundant for we are told at the beginning that he came from Har Efrayim. It means one of the following: (a) Took his Levite portion in Har Efrayim i.e. he was the Levi to whom the Matanos Leviya were given. (b) A man of stature, from the Loshon of Apiryon) (c) Efrasi does not apply to Elkonoh but to his father Tzuf. The passuk is coming to tell us that Elkonoh came from a family that had already settled in Efrayim for a few generations.

‫וְ לֹו֙ ְׁש ֵּת֣י נָ ִׁש֔ים ֵׁש֤ם ַא ַחת֙ ַחּנָ ֔ה וְ ֵׁש֥ם ַה ֵּשׁנִ ֖ית‬ :‫ְּפנִ ּנָ ֑ה וַ יְ ִה֤י לִ ְפנִ ּנָ ה֙ יְ לָ ִד֔ים ּולְ ַחּנָ ֖ה ֵא֥ין יְ לָ ִדֽים‬ Abarbanel points out that Chana was not an Akara-barren. With reference to Sarah and other childless women the word akara is used. Here, Hashem prevented Chana from conceiving by way of a miracle. Why? Because Hashem yearning for her tefillah.

An undiagnosed prognosis can cause one

to despair. Chana took that desperation and channelled it to her Father in heaven. This is supported by fifth verse which says Hashem closed her womb – namely that there was a functioning womb to close.

‫֔ימה‬ ָ ‫וְ ָעלָ ה֩ ָה ִא֨יׁש ַההּ֤וא ֵמ ִֽעירֹו֙ ִמּיָ ִמ֣ים יָ ִמ‬ ‫לְ ִה ְֽׁש ַּת ֲחֹו֧ת וְ לִ זְ ּבֹ ַ֛ח לַ ה' ְצ ָבאֹ֖ות ְּב ִׁשֹל֑ה וְ ָׁש֞ם‬ :'‫ּופ֣נְ ָח֔ס ּכ ֲֹהנִ ֖ים לַ ה‬ ִ ֙‫ֽי־עלִ ֗י ָח ְפנִ י‬ ֵ ֵ‫ְׁשנֵ ֣י ְבנ‬ Elkonoh went up to Shiloh miyamim yamimah- yearly. Although there is an obligation to go to the Beis Hamikdash for the three Regalim, it is possible that this was only once the Beis HaMikdash was built. But there was no obligation to go up to Mishkan Shilo.

There is another indication that there was no obligation from the fact that the passuk praises Elkonoh for going up to Shilo. If it was an obligation it would not be worthy of mention.

Others render every Moed.

miyamim

yamimah

Ralbag suggests that although he went up to Shilo for all the Regalim but he only took his whole family with him once a year.

Rashi comments that every year he took a different route thus encouraging Klal Yisrael to perform the mitzvah of ascending to the Mishkan like him.

‫וַ יְ ִה֣י ַהּיֹ֔ום וַ ּיִ זְ ַּב֖ח ֶאלְ ָקנָ ֑ה וְ נָ ַת֞ן לִ ְפנִ ּנָ ֣ה‬ :‫֖יה ָמנֹֽות‬ ָ ‫נֹות‬ ֶ ‫֛יה ְּוב‬ ָ ֶ‫ל־ּבנ‬ ָ ָ‫ִא ְׁשּתֹ֗ו ּוֽלְ כ‬ On the day that he used to offer the sacrifices. Elkonoh gave a portion of the sacrificial meats to Penina and her sons.

For any Halachic or other queries or to book Rabbi Danan for a function/event please contact info@shaareihalacha.co.uk Wishing a Kesiva Vachasima Tova to all our readers

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ANSWERS ON PAGES 58-59

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With difficulty the Rabbis allowed the four additions in Shemona Esrei of asking for our personal needs – ‘‫זכרנו לחיים וכו‬. Why, ideally, should these not have been added? Why do they not fit in with the davening on Rosh Hashana?

֙‫ת־חּנָ ה‬ ַ ‫ּולְ ַחּנָ ֕ה יִ ֵּת֛ן ָמנָ ֥ה ַא ַח֖ת ַא ָּפ֑יִ ם ּכִ ֤י ֶא‬ :‫ָא ֵה֔ב וַ ֽה' ָסגַ ֥ר ַר ְח ָמּֽה‬ To Chana he gave the choicest portion because he loved her and therefore felt compelled to appease her for her pain of childlessness. To display his love, he gave her a better portion than the rest. Perhaps the passuk emphasizes that he gave her this portion because of her childlessness – not to think it was because he loved Chana more than the others. Displaying this would arouse jealousy in Penina and her children. This was a lesson that Elkonoh had probably learnt from his ancestor Yaakov Avinu. (See Shabbos 10a about Yaakov arousing the brothers’ jealousy by giving Yosef the special garment.)

Rabbeinu Yeshaya explains that the word apayim means ‘faces’. The portion that he gave Chana had both sides with meat.

above that the whole reason for Chana’s

actions.

childlessness was to stir her to deep felt tefillos.

repeated

act

again

with this. Later, Chana refers to Penina as her

severe and harder to truly repent than a one off sin

in an arrogant manner.’ Although Chana is

of greater magnitude. This

referring to all prideful people who have for

especially so when the defect is camouflaged

a particular period of time achieved success,

by other intentions that are virtuous.

nevertheless her intent was specifically about

The Chofetz Chaim (Klal Yud Hilchos Loshon

Penina who arrogantly looked down on her co-wife. Chana had five children, three sons and two daughters. As Chana gave birth to each one, Penina buried two of her children. As Chana became pregnant for the fifth time Penina beseeched her for mercy and to daven not to lose her last two children. As a result of this but are reckoned as Chana’s children. This is why, despite

As he gave Chana her share, he felt the pain

Chana having only five biological

himself. It was on Yom Tov in particular- a time

children, the Passuk refers to her

of rejoicing, a time when all he family members

having seven children. What a

are together that the pain of barrenness is felt

severe punishment!

these happy times of the year

an

enemy and in her song states ‘Do not speak

Abarbanel offers an original explanation-

the joy that Elkonoh ought to have had during

and

can develop to become more

Apayim is from the loshon af- Anger or anguish.

that the pain of Chana’s situation diminished

again

However, there is a tremendous difficulty

prayer those children survived

more acutely. Furthermore, it could be added

Moreover,

HAFTARAH

40

“This is the way of the Yetzer Hora; to camouflage certain things with a veil of sincere motives. So, although the action was desirable since it was tinged with an aspect of arrogance, hurting a fellow Jew has grave ramifications”.

Alshich suggests the following. There were

Hora) devotes a chapter to when one may and

two intentions in Penina’s actions. Firstly,

should speak negatively about a fellow Jew.

there was an element of jealousy because

This is when it is done for a constructive

Elkonoh loved Chana more. This jealousy

reason (e.g. giving information for shidduchim

‫וְ כִ ֲֽע ַס ָּ֤תה ָצ ָֽר ָתּה֙ ּגַ ם־ּכַ ַ֔עס ַּב ֲעבּ֖ור ַה ְּר ִע ָמּ֑ה‬

brought about arrogance in Penina. (A person

or to an employer about a potential employee).

with low self-esteem is prone to becoming

One of the seven conditions is for the one

:‫ֽי־סגַ ֥ר ה' ְּב ַע֥ד ַר ְח ָמּֽה‬ ָ ִ‫ּכ‬

arrogant. It is used to assure himself that

relaying the information to have the intention

Penina caused pain to Chana. Chazal (Bava Basra 16a quoted by Rashi) explains that her motivations were for sake of Heaven.

She hurt Chana with words to provoke her to ‘storm’ (hare’ima) the heavens with her tefillos. Rabeinu Gershom (Bava Bssra) adds that just as ‘ein re’omim belo geshomim’ there is no thunder without rains. So too, powerful tefillos will not go unheeded. She used to tell her ‘Did you buy your kids new clothes? Did

he is really worth something. One who is

that it be constructive (Ibid, Halacha Beis,

comfortable in his own shoes, is happy with

condition 5). If the speaker is intending to

his relationship with his Heavenly Father and

speak for the purpose of degrading his friend

needs not to prove to himself or to others of

although that information may be used for a

his superiority. Secondly, her intentions were

constructive purpose he has transgressed the

leshem shamayim. She could reassure herself

issur of loshon hora. This is most remarkable

that her motives were pure. This is the way of

because the very same words spoken with

the yetzer hora; to camouflage certain things

the right intentions are a mitzvah but when

with a veil of sincere motives. Though the

spoken with the wrong intention fall under the

action was desirable, as it was tinged with an

prohibition of Loshon Hora.

you bath your kids?’[It seems that the intention

aspect of arrogance, hurting a fellow Jew has

This is the power of bein adam lachaveiro-

here is not that she actually said these words

grave ramifications. Chana, in her soul and

the intent must be purified of any unbecoming

but that she made it obvious to Chana the joy

through prophecy saw and more importantly,

intents.

of having children and the work involved. To

felt this arrogance displayed by Penina and

Penina, as her name depicts was as

be pragmatic; she shoved it in her face. She

was therefore able to incorporate it in her Shira

precious as pearls. Therefore, a taint in her

purposefully did not carry out her chores

which was inspired by Ruach hakodesh.

in a sensitive manner as would be befitting

behaviour warranted a very strict outcome.

Hashem is scrupulous with the tzadikim

She was forgiven by Chana for her actions, so

for a person of Penina’s stature.] This flows

like a hairsbreadth. This is why Penina

much so that Chana prayed hard enough that

beautifully with that which was mentioned

received such severe repercussionsfor her

her last two children remained unharmed.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫גאלדא בת ר’ אברהם אליעזר הי”ד‬

Rabbi Yaakov Benzaquen

ET SHAAREI RATZON

Et Shaare Ratzon – The Rejoicing Heart

41

JLE/Genesis and Rav of Gibraltar MinyanHendon

R

osh Hashana is a day full of contradictions.

It is the first of the Yomim Noraim, The Days of Awe. But it is also a Yom Tov - a day of celebration. We are supposed to wear special festive clothing and rejoice, but we are not allowed to recite Hallel. After all, how could we possibly sing Hallel as the books of Life and Death are opened for us to be inscribed?!

There is a piece of Sephardic Liturgy (authored by Rabbi Yehudah Abbas 12th century) recited on the day that portrays this powerful contradiction of emotions.

This piyut (liturgical song), which is in many ways emblematic of the tefillot of the Yomim Noraim, is the poem of Et Shaare Ratzon.

It is a beautiful description of the sentiments and conversations surrounding Akedat Yitzchak (the binding of Yitzchak). The piece exquisitely weaves midrashic literature into the recited storyline, painting a rich picture of the emotions of Avraham, Yitzchak and Sarah during this harrowing episode. Perhaps the most poignant part of the piyut is the description of Avraham Avinu’s feelings as he is about to slaughter Yitzchak: The light of day turned To night in their eyes, And his flowed mightily,

myriad

tears

His eye crying bitterly and his heart rejoicing.

What powerful imagery!

Avraham Avinu was shaken and overwhelmed with emotions – but with contradicting emotions!

On the one hand, Avraham cried bitterly about to slaughter his most precious son – the one he yearned for! Yet Avraham’s heart also rejoiced in the knowledge he was able to faithfully fulfil the command of his Creator!

It could only be in a giant of a person such as Avraham that these two reactions (‘crying bitterly and his heart rejoicing’) could coalesce so easily. They did not cancel each other out; two opposing feelings were both present simultaneously.

Most of us would not have been able to cope with this conflict. Not able to bear such a paradox and the onrush of emotion, we would inevitably allow one of the feelings to overpower and neutralise the other. Our bitterness would

not allow us to feel the joy of fulfilment or the joy of fulfilment would suppress the bitterness.

But Avraham knew that these two emotions are both legitimate and necessary. He was able to truly live with both fully.

Perhaps the author of this piyut was trying to teach an even further level of greatness in Avraham Avinu’s emotions. The author speaks about how myriad tears flowed mightily, and we cannot help but assume, at first glance, that these must be the tears of the eye described in the following line: ‘the eye that cries bitterly’.

But it could well be that the tears are also coming from the ‘rejoicing heart’!

How powerful it is to imagine that tears of bitterness may flow alongside tears of happiness!

Maybe that is the reason why only one eye is crying bitterly, for the other is tearing with happiness!

“Torah is not education, it’s transformation”

Rebbitzen Dena Weinberg

SHOFAR

The Greatest Shofar Blast Ever

42

Rabbi David Lister Rabbi, Edgware United Synagogue

It will come to pass on that day that a great shofar will be blown. And the lost will come from the land of Assyria and the banished from the land of Egypt, and they will bow down to Hashem in the holy mountain of Jerusalem. (Yeshayah 27:13).

The shofar that we hear on Rosh

Let’s take a trip to

Hashanah is not just the echo of an

the “Land of Happiness”.

ancient commandment. It is also

Here there is everything

a foretaste of the shofar heralding

you could wish for. Entertainment

the ultimate salvation of our people

of every conceivable description is

from exile and our ingathering to the

freely available: gourmet cuisine, golf,

Promised Land.

sightseeing, fast cars, scuba diving,

the sky, to get a glimpse of the infinite, because every shred of the inhabitants’ moral fibre is dedicated to the grim missions of coping and of getting by.

Rabbi Shmuel Yosef Zevin uses a

lying on the beach, trekking through

For all these people, the great shofar

close analysis of Yeshayah’s words

the African bush, Jacuzzis, movies,

booms forth its message of deliverance.

to show how we can experience

chocolate – you name it. The only

To those addicted to pleasure, it

the deliverance of the shofar in our

limits are set by the imagination and

preaches a wordless lifestyle, beautiful

the appetite.

and stunning in its quiet simplicity,

own lives.

Assyria,

It’s not that being happy is a bad

reminding us that happiness does not

Ashur, is linked to the Hebrew word

thing. But one can get preoccupied

come from without but from the hush

for happiness, just as “Ashrei yoshvei

with the wrong kind of happiness,

of the heart.

vaysecha” means “Happy are those

constantly seeking amusement instead

To people crushed by hardship of

who dwell in Your house”. The Hebrew

of the true happiness of a job well done

one kind or another, the shofar is a

for Egypt – Mitzrayim – means dire

and a special relationship with Hashem.

message of freedom, a personal New

straits: “Min hameytzar karasi” means

And the wrong kind of happiness is a

Year gift from Hashem to us. It may be

place where one can get lost.

anything from the complete resolution

The

Hebrew

word

for

“From the strait I call out.”

Looking at Yeshayah’s verse afresh,

The “Land of Oppression” is totally

of our troubles to a simple reminder

we can understand it in a way that

different but it is just as damaging. The

that we are at liberty to decide whether

applies to us right now. Yeshayah

inhabitants of this bleak country are

to accept our burden as the will of

announces redemption for those who

hemmed in by financial difficulties,

Hashem.

are lost in the “Land of Happiness” and

dogged by health problems or drained

those who are banished in the “Land

by emotional problems. The horizon

beckons us to a better life, inviting us to

of Oppression”.

is

cluster around Hashem and rise to His

‫הלכה‬ ‫ומעשה‬

Practical Halachic Solutions

ugly

and

cramped,

dominated

Wherever

we

live,

the

shofar

by massive, looming issues. It is

presence, receiving the gifts of serenity

impossible even to get a proper view of

and wisdom for a meaningful New Year.

Halachic Wills | Hetter Iska | Complete Kitchen Kashering | Private ‫ | דיני תורה‬Private ‫שבת שטרות | עירובין‬ Run by Rabbi Yehoshua Frickers & local ‫תלמידי חכמים‬ Contact R’ Shimon Blum on 07962 081 954 or email info@halachicsolutions.org

SHOFAR

The Sounds of the Shofar

43

Rabbi Danny Kirsch JLE

T

he Rambam teaches us that the piercing sound of the shofar is a wakeup call, obligating all to reflect, introspect and respond, and whilst it’s clear that the unique mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah is to hear the sound of the shofar itself, the Gemara at the end of Rosh Hashana learns many comparisons, connections and Halachos from the blowing of the chatzotzros (the silver trumpets mentioned in parshas Behaalosecha) and the blowing of the shofar of Yom Kippur at the beginning of the Jubilee Year (as mentioned in parshas Behar).

Whilst learning in Kollel in Zichron Yaakov, I had the privilege of being taught

by Rabbi Elfeinbaum a close talmid of Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz zt’’l. One Elul he challenged us to look at the use of chatzotzros blasts mentioned above and ask what we could learn from them in our preparations for Rosh Hashanah.

challenges we are faced with, are our own very personal, and very real daily battles, ‘and they shall be for a remembrance for you before Hashem, your G-d …‘. Hearing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah gives us the confidence to triumph over our own inner enemies and be victorious against incredible odds.

With reference to the chatzotzros we see that a long tekiah blast sends a message to the entire community to gather at the Ohel Moed. Other sounds signalled the need to begin traveling or other actions to take place.

In Bamidbar 10:10 we are told “on a day of gladness, and on your festivals, and on your new moons you shall sound trumpets …”

Likewise on Rosh Hashanah when we hear the shofar blasts, it’s a call to gather together. In addition it’s a call to move!

Not to stand still, life’s journey obligates us to cover ground and move forward in a meaningful direction, The pesukim in Behaalosecha continue ‘When you wage war in your land against an enemy who oppresses you, you shall sound shofar blasts’.

On Rosh Hashanah we remind ourselvesas the Mesilas Yesharim teaches us ‘that one finds himself planted in the midst of a fierce battle’. Our daily struggles with our yetzer hara, all of the large and small

On Rosh Hashanah we reflect on the times of joy and happiness we have been blessed with. The day obligates us to crown G-d as our King in all situations and on a daily basis.

However let us consider; do we not all say when things are good “I’ll fulfil my promise and commit to Hashem”? I will truly dedicate myself to Him. Did we? Do we? Will we?

The shofar at the beginning of the yovel year, heralds in an era of incredible opportunity- servants who had previously led a life answering the directives of their earthly masters – become free, property owners who had been forced by circumstances to sell

their ancestral homestead, find themselves once again living in the comfort of their own land (there’s no place like home!!). On Rosh Hashanah the yovel shofar message reverberates through the hearts and souls of all. It’s time for a fresh start! It’s time to go home! It’s time to get back to where I belong.

Rabbi Yitzchak Ziskind once shared a lovely story with me. Custom officials make it clear that they don’t want imported goods.

With strict rules strongly enforced. On a trip to South Africa, Rabbi Yitzchak was reminded that it was illegal to bring in any food stuffs, no agricultural produce. The customs official checking through his cases found an illegal apple and launched into a verbal attack on Rabbi Ziskind telling him about his illegal behaviour. Rabbi Ziskind looked at the apple and realised it had a sticker on it identifying it as a CAPE apple, born in South Africa exported to England.

Responding to the official he exclaimed ‘This is a South African apple. This is where it belongs, I’m bringing it home! This is not an import. I’m repatriating the apple’.

The amazed official, not knowing how to respond, let him through – free to enjoy the apple he had brought home.

The shofar cries out ‘It’s time to come home’, ‘It’s time to return to where you belong’. Don’t stand still and don’t be afraid of your enemies. With Hashem’s help and our resolve we can succeed.

“Yeshuas Hashem ke heref ayin.

The salvation of God is like the blink of an eye” Pesikta Zutreta, Esther 4:17.

Rabbi Daniel Fine

SHOFAR

A Rosh Hashanah story : A day of good hearing

44

Community Rabbi, Stanmore and Canons Park US and the Hasmonean Beis Programme

W

hen Rabbi Berel Wein was a young boy, in 1940’s Chicago, his father woke him up one morning, telling him excitedly ‘hurry, dress in your finest, we are going to meet a very special person.’ Leaving the house as soon as possible, they headed towards the airport and onto the tarmac (in the days when one could still do so) and waited for their important guest to land. When the plane landed, the door opened and out strode someone who clearly had a tremendous presence. He was tall, wore a top hat and walked holding a regal cane in one hand and brandishing a Tanach in the other. Rabbi Yitzchak Halevi Herzog zt’’l had come to visit America. As he marched down the stairs, he was a true picture of aristocracy.

After exchanging pleasantries and handshakes with the various Rabbis and dignitaries who had come to greet him, Rabbi Herzog was whisked off to the Skokie yeshiva where he would give a shiur klali on the complex topic of ein shliach le dvar aveira . Indeed, as he entered the hall the place rose almost in unison - packed to the rafters, standing room only - followed by pin-drop silence in anticipation for the shiur.

Rabbi Herzog delivered a first class Gemara shiur in the classic Yiddish vernacular of the time, with clarity, firmness and novel ideas and interpretations - the audience lapped it up. But it was after the Gemara shiur was over that the audience witnessed something that would be indelibly etched onto their memories.

Rabbi Herzog paused for a minute and then switched to a rich, royal English.

Shaking his head, he reported the audience that “today I had an audience with the Pope. As you know there are thousands of Jewish children who escaped the Holocaust through being taken in by Christians.

Sobbing parents had to choose between the sombre fate awaiting their children at the hands of the Nazis or handing their children

to their Christian neighbours, hoping that they would survive the war to be reunited with their children once again. Yet as the war ended, many refused to give these children back - raising them as Christians who would be oblivious of their real heritage. I demanded of the Pope the release of our 10,000 Jewish children. The Pope was unmoved; he said that in their religion once someone is adopted, baptised and converted as Christian he remains so. None of my advances could help the situation.” At this point Rav Herzog put his head on the lectern and began sobbing uncontrollably.

The entire hall sat there mesmerised as the archetypal ‘aristocrat’ broke down in childlike tears - tears than lasted five entire, heartpiercing minutes. Wiping away the tears, Rav Herzog rose like a lion and declared, “Friends, today the Jewish People lost 10,000 people, I want to know what you are going to do for the Jewish People to make sure we can rebuild from these 10,000 people”. And with that Rabbi Herzog sat down. But this was not a mere theatrical performance. This was a genuine passion, love and care. As each person filed past congratulating Rav Herzog on his lecture, Rav Herzog had only

‫לעלוי נשמת‬ Yachid bat Dov Ber Yetta Jaffe ‫ע''ה‬ 15th Kislev

one question for each of them: “so, have you thought about what you are going to do for the Jewish People yet?”

Everyone has their own lives, own worlds, and own concerns and worries. But there are times in life when we are privy to be raised higher to rise above our individual causes and think in grander, greater and loftier terms. Rav Herzog encouraged his listeners and well-wishers to do so, and Rosh Hashanah is a day upon which we are all given the opportunity to subscribe to a higher purpose, plan and concern in life.

The bodily organ represented by Rosh Hashanah is the ear - we hear the sound of the shofar. The ear is the protruding organ of the head which ensures that it is not spherical: reminding us that we are not selfenclosed and self-enveloped: we can hear and connect to something outside of our own selves. We can develop a higher, more lofty and refined perspective on life. Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance - days in which Daniel pushed himself in the most trying conditions to avoid the unkosher bread and wine which was being fed to him while held captive by king Nebuchadnezzer in Babylon exile.

On Rosh Hashanah we lay down the foundations for our own participation, involvement and subscription to the Divine investment in us. As I saw once in a birthday card ‘today is the anniversary of the day G-d felt this world would not be the same place without you’.

Dayan Yehoshua Posen

UNESANEH TOKEF

“Kivnei Moroin”

45

Director of Beis Din Operations, Federation

A

s we approach Rosh Hashanah, we are each obliged to make a ‫חשבון הנפש‬, to look back at our actions over the last year and years and see how we have done. The first mishna in Meseches Rosh Hashanah tells us that every year on Rosh Hashanah all people pass before Hashem ‘‫’כבני מרון‬, like sheep. The gemoro in Rosh Hashanah daf 18a quotes a number of different opinions how to explain the words of the mishna, ‘kivnei moroin’ The first opinion in the gemoro is that all humanity passes in front of Hashem like sheep who pass in front of the farmer, so that he can demark every tenth one of them for Maaser Beheimoh. The second explanation is like the ‘ma’alos bnei moroin”, like the narrow steps leading up to the mountain of Meron, which required people to pass in single file. The third explanation given, is like the soldiers of Dovid Hamelech’s army, who also filed in front of him, one at a time.

The obvious question on this gemoro is, why are the second and third explanation necessary, and what are they adding to the first explanation?

Reb Chaim of Volozhin zt”l explains that the gemoro is telling us a very powerful message: All three explanations are true, and each refers to a different aspect of what we are judged for on Rosh Hashanah.

The first is the most basic; we are judged on the actual actions we have done, both good and bad, which is compared to the sheep passing through.

The second area we are judged for is compared to ‘ma’alos’ - steps/levels.

Reb Chaim explains that this refers to how we performed in comparison to

our own personal ‘ma’alos’ – our own personal strengths and attributes. Did we reach our potential? For example, Reuven might have given £1,000 tzedoko, and Shimon might have given £5,000. However, in proportion to their annual income it is possible that Reuven gave a larger percentage of his income to tzedoko than Shimon.

Similarly, Reuven might have spent more hours learning Torah each week than Shimon, however considering the amount of spare time Reuven has available, and his capabilities in learning; Shimon’s achievement taken in perspective might be more impressive!

The third level of what we are judged for is comparable to soldiers in an army. Reb Chaim explains that

if a foot soldier is killed in battle, of course it is very sad, but the loss is only really felt by his friends and comrades. In contrast, if a captain is killed in battle, the loss will be felt by his whole unit, who relied on his leadership and guidance. If a general is killed by the enemy, the repercussions for the whole army may be huge. In other words, there are some people who have only a small sphere of influence, and they are judged on whether they had a positive or negative influence on those around them. However, there are those who may have the potential to have a positive influence on a wider part of the kehillah, or the people they come into contact with at work etc.

We have to realise that on Rosh Hashanah, not only will we be held accountable for the actual actions we have done over the past year, but also whether we have maximised our capabilities both in what we could have achieved personally, and what we could have encouraged those around us to achieve!

May we all learn bear this in mind, so that iy”H we will all pass ‘kivnei moroin’ and merit a kesiva vechasima tovoh!

“If I am not for me, who is for me; and if I am (only) for myself, what am I. And if not now, when?” Hillel, Pirkei Avos, 1:14

UNESANEH TOKEF

“Vechol Ba’ei Olam” All of Humanity

46

Rabbi Ben Kurzer Assistant Rabbi, Edgware United

I

t is hard to think of a more climactic part of any service than Unesaneh Tokef, the crescendo of the Rosh Hashanah musaf. The awesome power of the day is described in detail and the author draws a vivid picture of what is at stake to help us internalise the need to repent. The famous line of ‘Who will live and who will die’ awakens us to renew our commitment to make the most of our life and maximise our potential.

But there is another part of this prayer that should also make us sit up and think hard about our actions. “vechol ba’ei olam ya’avrun lefanecha kivnei maron” – “All mankind will pass before You like members of the flock”. Most of us focus on the second half of the phrase and discuss what ‘kivnei maron’ means (even the translation given here is debated).

However, let us analyse for a moment the first part – who is this referring to?

The phrase ‘ba’ei olam’ is an unusual phrase and suggests that this refers to anyone who has ever entered this world. Not only those who are alive today but any soul who has been through this world at any point in time. At first this seems strange – why should those who are no longer living in this world continue to be judged each Rosh Hashanah? What could have changed since last year?

This is particularly puzzling in light of a story told about R. Eliyahu of Vilna, the Vilna Gaon.

It is said that as he was on his deathbed, he stroked his tzitzis and cried. His students asked him why he cried and he explained that in this world there was so much opportunity to garner reward – even just spending a bit of money on some string and tying it to your clothes could build your credit. He continued, “I am crying because in the next world I will have no more opportunity to do mitzvos – this is my last chance to earn reward for such simple things”. So why do those who have passed away continue to be judged?

The answer is that many of our actions have consequences and ramifications. If we once invited someone for Shabbos, that would have counted in our favour the following Rosh Hashanah. But if, as a result, that person began to

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keep Shabbos themselves, each week that they continue to do so, counts in our favour and each Rosh Hashanah, that merit is added to our tally. The smallest things we may have done without realising, could continue to have an impact for years after we are gone. A kind word, a brief smile or a helping hand could all have changed the way a person views life and affect their actions as a result. This is particularly true for our families; after we are gone, we can continue to amass reward for the wonderful things our children and future generations do.

Such is the power of everything that we do – even the smallest, seemingly insignificant actions.

So as we stand on Rosh Hashanah and pray for the coming year, let us also realise how great our influence can be on this world and commit ourselves to ensuring that the impact we make is a positive one that allows us to be judged favourably for many years ahead.

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HAYOM HARAS OLOM

If we are like sons

47

R’ Binyomin Zev Goldberg Author of “Koloh D’Yaakov” on the weekly Parsha and Moadim

“…Today [G-d] will place in judgement all the creations of the world, whether we are like sons, whether we are like slaves; if we are like sons have mercy on us like a father on his sons, if we are like servants, our eyes are directed towards you….”

The above words form part of one of the most famous parts of Davenning over the Yomim Noraim.

After having blown the Shofar, Klal Yisroel appeals to Hashem for mercy, and that appeal allows for two different approaches as outlined above. The first requests mercy since we are like Hashem’s children and the second compares us to slaves who live within their master’s ability to grant life and death, and therefore look up to him. So too, we look up to Hashem. The Bnei Yissoschor endeavours to explain this second approach, and with his approach builds a new understanding of the entire section.

He begins, by citing the Gemoro (Sanhedrin 92B), which discusses how Hashem commanded the Novi Yechezkel to resurrect the dead of the valley of Dora.

Yechezkel did so, and the bones of these resurrected people came and hit Nevuchadnezzer, the king of Bovel at the time (where the Jews were exiled) on his face. The Gemoro elaborates that, at least according to the opinion of Shmuel, the people who were resurrected in that valley were heretics who denied the principle of the revival of the dead. The Bnei Yissoschor cites the Proshas Derochim, who explains why Hashem chose these people to be those through whom He would perform this miracle. He writes that at the time of Yechezkel, there was a movement of people who felt that the exile of the Jews to Bovel had sealed the tomb of Jewish life. When Yechezkel asked them to do Teshuvoh they replied, “When a master sends away his slave, or a husband divorces his wife, does one maintain their hold over the other?” They implied with this that since Hashem had allowed the Jews to be conquered and exiled, that He, as their master, had sent them away. In which case, just as the master has no obligations to the slave in such a scenario, so too the slave, in this case Klal Yisroel, has no obligations to the master, meaning Hashem.

The Gemoro there relates how Hashem answered this argument.

The Proshas Derochim, as preamble to his explanation, also brings a further debate, found in Kiddushin (36A), between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehudah, which focuses on the Possuk, ‫ּבָ נִים אַ ֶּתם‬ ‫לו ֵֹקיכֶ ם‬- ֱ‫לַה‘ א‬, “You are sons to Hashem your G-D”

(Devorim 14:1). Rabbi Yehudah was of the opinion that Klal Yisroel are only referred to as the sons of Hashem when they deserve it, that is when they are fulfilling the Mitzvos as Hashem requires. However, Rabbi Meir held that even when Klal Yisroel are not acting appropriately, they were still entitled to the appellation of, “Sons of Hashem.” As proof of this Rabbi Meir cites several Pessukim where Klal Yisroel were known as children, even when discussing their improper actions. The Proshas Derochim adds another discussion to this mix; that of a heretic and Rabbi Avohu. The heretic asked Rabbi Avohu, “If Hashem buried Moshe, as the Torah attests, and Hashem is referred to as a Kohen (in other Pessukim,) then where did Hashem go to Mikveh afterwards to purify Himself?” Tosfos there notes that the heretic did not ask a more basic question; how could Hashem bury Moshe at all if Hashem is referred to as a Kohen, and Kohanim are not allowed to contract impurity through burying someone. Tosfos explains that the heretic did not wish to ask this, as since Klal Yisroel are referred to as sons of Hashem, that would make it permissible for Hashem to bury Moshe since Kohanim are allowed to bury close family members.

He be involved in touching dead bodies? The answer must be, asserts the Proshas Derochim that the Halocho actually accords with Rabbi Meir, that even when Klal Yisroel are sinners, they are still known as sons, and therefore Hashem can be involved with even the dead bodies of sinners since they are His family members. Hashem illustrated this exact point by reviving even the wicked sinners who had lived at the time of Yechezkel. In doing so, Hashem showed that even though they were sinners, they were still considered His sons and He could, therefore, involve Himself in their resurrection. By extension, Hashem responded to their argument that they were free of Hashem’s Mitzvos, since this had been based on their belief that the Halocho accorded with Rabbi Yehudah and sinners are not sons of Hashem. Through their resurrection, Hashem showed that the Halocho accords with Rabbi Meir, and since Klal Yisroel are always known as Hashem’s sons, there is no possible reason to suggest that this relationship can ever be broken, and there is no reason therefore to commit sins based on the argument they gave above.

The Prashos Derochim draws these seemingly disparate points together in the following way. When the Jews at the time of Yechezkel argued that Hashem, as their Master, had set them free, they were evidently following the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah cited above.

That is, they believed that it is only when Jews are behaving well that they are known as sons of Hashem and therefore have an everlasting relationship that cannot be broken. However, when they are sinning, they understood that they are known as slaves and can be treated as such, meaning they can be sent away and consequently, were now exempt from even trying to fulfil the Mitzvos. It was precisely to respond to this argument that Hashem chose to revive these same people. It is known, based on a Possuk in Yechezkel that all resurrection of the dead is done by Hashem himself, and not via a messenger of angel.

However, the question arises as to how Hashem can do that. Since He is described as a Kohen, how can

Based on this, the Bnei Yissoschor returns to his explanation of the statement we began with. The Piyut (liturgy), he explains, approaches Hashem from both perspectives, that of Rabbi Yehudah and of Rabbi Meir. We first declare, “If like sons,” meaning that since the Halocho follows Rabbi Meir, we beseech Hashem to have mercy on us like a father has mercy on his sons. However, if the Halocho is actually like Rabbi Yehudah, and since we are sinners we have lost our title of being Hashem’s children, and become merely Hashem’s slaves, then we make a different request. We declare that even if this is so, “Our eyes hang upon You,” meaning that we are not like the generation of Yechezkel. Even if they were correct, and Klal Yisroel are the slaves of Hashem, we are not using that as an excuse like they did to caste off the yoke of Mitzvos. Rather, we look towards Hashem and dedicate our lives to him in the hope that in this merit, we will secure mercy.

"A person should be willing to give up all his tomorrows for one today, so that he doesn’t end up wasting all his todays on one tomorrow"

Rav Yosef Yozel (The Alter) of Novardhok

VECHOL MAMINIM

“Vechol Ma’aminim” Everyone believes

48

Rabbi Dr Moshe Freedman Rabbi, North West End Synagogue

T

he quality and style of our tefillah is reflected in the deep messages which our paytanim have hidden in their works, often in plain sight. Yet the way we express those piyutim through our tefillos also contains significance, especially when it appears to break the original thematic patterns.

It seems that this piyut was originally written with linked themes between an opening statement followed by a secondary refrain which begins ‫‘ – וְ כֹל ַמ ֲא ִמינִ ים‬everyone believes that G-d’…, and then describes a quality or attribute of G-d. For example, ‘Who tests (‫ּבֹוחן‬ ֵ ‫ ) ַה‬and examines hidden secrets’ links to the second part of the stanza ‘Everyone believes (‫ּבֹוחן‬ ֵ ‫ֶׁשהּוא‬ ‫ )ּכְ לָ יֹות‬that He examines thoughts…’

This pattern relates some of the most central principles of our faith; the Oneness of G-d, that He is all-powerful, all-knowing and so on.

Nevertheless, it is commonly sung by beginning with the secondary refrain ‫וְ כֹל‬ ‫ ַמ ֲא ִמינִ ים‬followed by the next statement, creating a daisy-chain pattern linking each section to the next. The last stanza which is sung is‫וְ כֹל ַמ ֲא ִמינִ ים ֶׁשהּוא‬ ‫‘ – ָּת ִמים ָּפ ֳעלֹו‬Everyone believes that His work and actions are perfect’ links back to the first stanza, ‫ל‬-‫וְ כֹל ַמ ֲא ִמינִ ים ֶׁשהּוא ֵא‬ ‫‘ – ֱאמּונָ ה‬Everyone believes that He is the G-d of faithfulness’ through a verse in parshas Haazinu. Moses describes God as (Devarim 32:4) ‫הּצּור ָּת ִמים ָּפ ֳעלֹו ּכִ י‬: ַ

‫כָ ל ְּד ָרכָ יו ִמ ְׁש ָּפט ֵאל ֱאמּונָ ה וְ ֵאין ָעוֶ ל ַצ ִּדיק וְ י ָ​ָׁשר‬ ‫הּוא‬, ‘The deeds of the Rock are perfect, for all His ways are just; a faithful G-d,

without injustice He is righteous and upright.’

G-d is described as ‫ – ָּת ִמים ָּפ ֳעלֹו‬His deeds are perfect, which refers to G-d’s middah of din, strict justice (Rashi, Rashbam, Ramban) and ‫ל ֱאמּונָ ה‬-‫ – ֵא‬a faithful G-d, meaning He is loyal to His word to reward the righteous for their deeds (Rashi).

While this links the end of the piyut back to its beginning, what is the deeper message being conveyed?

We live in a physical world of cause and effect; when we perform one physical action there is a predictable and inevitable physical reaction. The spiritual world does not work like this.

In order to maintain our Free Will, we do not see the immediate spiritual damage we do when we indulge in sinful behaviour, nor do we see the good that we bring through our righteous deeds. G-d must be hidden just enough in this world to grant us the opportunity to grow and develop by ourselves (see Ramchal, Derech Hashem 1:3:1). Therefore He sows the light for the righteous (Tehillim 97:11) and delays punishment for the wicked to give time for teshuvah (Shemos 34:6).

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫ר' נתן משה בן ר' יעקב ז''ל‬ Mr Neville Gothold ‫ז''ל‬

There is however a risk that since the righteous suffer and the wicked seemingly prosper, our loyalty to G-d may dwindle. What is the point of performing His ‫ מצוות‬if there is no tangible benefit? Why should we refrain from sinful behaviour when we see others apparently getting away with it? While belief in the traits of G-d set out in the central part of the piyut are reasonable and believable, we will get nowhere in developing our relationship with God unless we feel some sense of justice and fairness.

This piyut

is

why

stiches

beginning.

the

end

together

‫ָּפ ֳעלֹו‬

‫ָּת ִמים‬

of

the

with

the

‫ַהּצּור‬

–

just as G-d will ultimately punish even the smallest acts of evil, ‫ֵאל ֱאמּונָ ה וְ ֵאין ָעוֶ ל‬ – He will store up reward for even the smallest acts of righteousness (Taanis 11a, Yalkut Shimoni 942). While we cannot perceive spiritual causality, our emunah means that we remain loyal to the idea that for better or for worse every act we do, however trivial in our eyes, is significant and has an immeasurable, everlasting effect.

Foundation Stones for Life

MALCHIYOS ZICHRONOS SHOFRAS

49

Rabbi Shimon Mordechai Cohen Author of The Majesty of Rosh HaShanah (Mosaica press)

I

t would be the most crucial act that Am Yisroel would do to acquire Eretz Yisroel. Moshe Rabbeinu had said that it would not be in their merit that they would inherit the land (– see Devorim 9, 5.) Now, however, that would all change. There was something that Yisroel were commanded to do which would become such an enormous source of merit that they could now be granted Eretz Yisroel in their own zechus. This was the setting up of three sets of stones, upon which the entire Torah would be engraved. In this mitzvah, Moshe told Yisroel ‫למען אשר תבוא אל הארץ‬... – “In order that you shall come to the land…” (Devorim 27, 3.) The Ohr HaChaim explains that this means “Now, you will come to the Land in your own merit. No longer will you be dependent on zechus Avos.” The zechus of setting up these stones would be so tremendous that it would stand them in good stead throughout the conquest of the Land. What was it about this particular act that would be so great and meritorious?

Entering Eretz Yisroel opened a completely new era for Klal Yisroel, in a number of ways. It would be a great military challenge, in which Divine help was essential. From now on, Yisroel would need to fend for themselves, while fulfilling their commitments to Hashem and His Torah. What would really be their priority once they would have a land of their own? In which direction would they go? The act of setting up stones upon which the Torah was engraved, the same Torah that they had received and learnt in the Midbar, was a declaration and commitment, literally set in stone, that “It is for the Torah’s sake that we have come to the Land” (Ramban). The

stones would be for the Land what a mezuzah is for a house (Abarbanel.)

A noticeable, lasting sign this is a sanctified place, where everything that we do is devoted to Hashem. Making this firm commitment while stepping through the miraculously split Yarden, (from where some of the stones were taken) would be sufficient to allow the merit of all their future zechusim to accrue to their account in advance.

Does this have anything to do with Rosh HaShanah? Plenty. Entering a new year, with the Yemei HaDin just beginning, even the greatest tzadikim tremble. What tremendous merits are needed! Who can say with confidence that he has enough credit

in his Heavenly bank account to make it through? And yet, Chazal tell us that the tefillos of the Yomim Noraim achieve something spectacular. “The people that are created shall praise Hashem” (Tehillim 102). “These are the generations who would (be condemned to) die as far as their deeds are concerned. However, they come and daven before You on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and You create them anew... That is the meaning of ‘The people that are created shall praise Hashem.’” What is the particular power of the tefillos of the Yomim Noroim that it is they that make all the difference?

In our tefillos of Rosh Hashanah, we speak constantly about Hashem’s kingship. Instead of pleading for our own needs, we pray for Hashem to be recognised as King throughout His creation. In Musaf of Rosh Hashanah, three significant sections are added to the tefillah, the importance of which is emphasised by the sounding of the shofar. Malchuyos, in which we declare and accept Hashem as our King.

Zichronos, in which we ask for His favourable remembrance, and Shofaros, when we recall the role of the shofar in Divine revelation throughout the generations.

The Majesty of Rosh HaShanah available at Hebrew bookstores or email shimco13@gmail.com / 07971 015 052

50 What is the role of these lengthy

being given the opportunity to rebuild

Kohanim first rested. The third set was

tefillos? The Sefer HaIkarim writes that

our lives on fresh foundations, upon

in Gilgal, the point of entry into the

they are the vital key to a favourable

the principles which are at the heart of

Land, and was later relocated to Har

judgement. These tefillos are far more

the entire Torah. Malchuyos, Zichronos

Eval. The Maharsha explains that these

than declarations of Hashem’s praise

and Shofaros are the foundation stones

three sets of stones represent the same

or entreating Him for our needs. They

of life. Like the stones that Am Yisroel

three Principles that the Sefer HaIkarim

represent the foundations of our faith,

set up upon entering the land, they are

enumerates. The stones which Moshe

the

reciting

a powerful declaration of intent. Just

Rabbeinu, through whom Hashem had

these tefillos, we are accepting the

as, like Ramban explains, those stones

revealed His Torah, set up in Moav, were

fundamental tenets of Torah faith that

announced: “For the Torah’s sake

a reminder of the Principle of Torah

they encapsulate, committing ourselves

we come here,” so too, these tefillos

Min HaShomayim. Those that were

to living according to those Principles

determine that we come to a fresh

placed in the Yarden, a place where

throughout the year. When reciting

year of life wanting one thing – the

a great miracle occurred, symbolised

Malchuyos, where we cite ten pesukim

fulfilment of our purpose in life, a life

the Existence of Hashem. And those

which declare Hashem as King, we are

that is founded upon the Principles of

that were eventually located at Har

recognising His awesome existence.

the Torah’s truth. Taking on a chumrah

Eval, the place where the Principle of

He is King, the source of all existence,

here, a little teshuvah thought there –

reward and retribution were enunciated,

without Whom nothing could exist,

all very good, but not sufficient. On

correspond to that same Principle.

even for a moment. In Zichronos,

Rosh Hashanah, Hashem grants us a

(The Maharsha himself cites the Sefer

we recognise His knowledge and

programme for life, based on Principles,

HaIkarim in Rosh HaShonoh 32a, with

awareness of all that exists, and that in

on Ikarim, and it is in this way that we

reference to Malchuyos, Zichronos and

His Providence there is absolute justice,

can merit life. With this programme we

Shofaros, and in other places.) We learn

a system of reward and retribution. And

commence ten full days of meaningful

that in both situations - upon Yisroel

in Shofaros we recognise Torah Min

teshuvah, culminating in the purity

embarking on a new life in the Land,

HaShomayim, that the Torah, which

and atonement of Yom Kippur. It all

and upon our embarking on a new year

was given amidst the sounding of the

starts with Malchuyos, Zichronos and

of life, the same three Principles are

shofar at Sinai, is Hashem’s eternal

Shofaros, for these are the foundations

of crucial importance. Not to merely

word.

of teshuvah, the principles of life.

profess faith and then to carry on as

Ikrei

Emunah.

When

We focus on these themes, teaches

The comparison does not end there.

before. On the contrary, to make the

the Ikarim, because they encapsulate all

As mentioned above, the three tefillos

Torah’s Principles the mainstay of our

the Principles of faith. And it is through

of Malchuyos, Zichronos and Shofaros

lives and the starting point of complete

perfect faith that we can emerge

correspond to the three Ikarim – the

teshuvah. Just as those stones served

meritorious in Hashem’s Judgement

existence of Hashem, Reward and

as a Mezuzah for the Land, a constant

on Rosh Hashanah.

Retribution, and the Divine origin of

reminder of the sanctity to which

Why is the merit of Emunah so

the Torah. The Gemora (Sotah 35b)

its new inhabitants had committed

great? We saw above in the words of

there says that there were actually

themselves, the Ikrei Emunah serve

the Yalkut that through our tefillos on

three sets of those stones. One was

throughout the year as the foundation

Rosh Hashanah, it is as if we have been

set up by Moshe in the Plains of Moav.

of our mitzvah observance, the life and

re-created. This means more than being

Another was placed in the Yarden

soul of our Yiddishkeit.

granted another year of life. We are

itself, on the spot where the feet of the

SHANA TOVA from Kesher

www.kesher.org.uk 02082091955

MALCHIYOS

Malchiyos

51

Dayan Binyomin Eckstein Belzer Dayan

E

veryone is aware that when we approach the prayers of Rosh Hashanah, the emphasis of all our prayers on this day is for the ultimate revelation of ‫ מלכות שמים‬over the whole world.

Although we beseech Hashem for mercy and to be inscribed in the Book of Life, that aspect of the prayers should not be stressed in our feelings as much as the yearning for the revelation of Hashem’s Glory and Kingship so that ‫וידע כל פעול‬ ‫כי אתה פעלתו‬.

We are instructed to add on to our Mussaf prayer three sections.

Let us concentrate on the first addition which we include in the fourth blessing: that of malchiyois, “Kingship”. The Gemarah states: ‫אמרו לפני מלכיות שתמלכוני עליכם‬, “Recite before me malchiyois so that you should accept on yourselves My Kingship”. This needs an explanation as there is already a twice-daily mitzvah of reciting the Shema whose main theme is similarly ‫קבלת עול מלכות שמים‬.

What is the specific instruction of malchiyois on Rosh Hashanah if we are accepting upon ourselves the Kingship of Hashem early day is saying the Shema?

By acquiring an understanding of the significance of the Yom Tov of Rosh Hashanah, we will be able to understand the answer to our question. We say in our daily prayers ‫המחדש בכל יום תמיד מעשה‬ ‫בראשית‬, Hashem recreates the entire creation daily. Each day there is a fresh ‫השפעה‬, emanation and divine outflow, which gives life and vitality

to that day. Every month we have Rosh Chodesh which contains within it the life-force for the entire month which is then individualized on a daily basis as mentioned.

Rosh Hashanah is the ‘head’ of the coming year and the ‫ השפעות‬of the day of this New Year contains within it the life-force for the entire year which we are just entering.

Erev Rosh Hashanah, the last of the ‫חיות‬, the life-force, which emanated the previous Rosh Hashanah ends.

And the fresh ‫ חיות‬only comes down after Tekias Shofar. In other words, until we blow shofar, the world hangs in balance as if on a scale (which is appropriately the sign and mazal of the month of Tishrei).

The two cups of the scale are each shaped like the letter ‫ט‬. Together, they have the numerical value of ‫( ח”י‬chai, life) and that is the sustaining force keeping the world alive. The mitzvah of shofar is the conduit unveiling the life-force of the New Year. This comes down in its entirety on this Yom Tov. It is then split up into twelve monthly

portions, which are subsequently split into thirty daily segments.

The Jewish People daven fervently on Rosh Hashanah because their souls sense the seriousness of the day. They feel that the prayers of the day will provide for the world its life force for the entire year.

Therefore, whilst we need to accept upon ourselves ‫עול מלכות שמים‬ daily, this ‫( קבלה‬acceptance) is only effective for that particular day. On Rosh Hashanah we therefore have to make a ‫ קבלה‬which will have an impact upon us for the entire year.

The tefillah of malchiyois has to be said with a ‫ מסירת נפש‬which will have an effect on our own souls and on the entire world for the whole of the coming year.

One who wants to prepare himself properly for this awesome day needs to study our holy seforim and learn the meaning of the prayers in order to correctly fulfil the requirement of saying malchiyois.

Through this, may we all merit to see very soon the Kingship of Hashem revealed over the entire creation and experience a ‫שנה טובה‬ ‫שנת גאולה וישועה‬, ‫ומתוקה‬.

"I do not want followers who are righteous, rather I want followers who are too busy doing good that they won’t have time to do bad"

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

MALCHIYOS

Malchiyos

52

Rabbi Reuven Stepsky Director Shema B’ni

The Gemora in Rosh Hashona 16a states: “Omar Hakodosh Boruch Chu -Imru lefonai b’Rosh Hashona Malchios Zichroinios vshoifrois. Malchios kedai shetamlichuni alaichem…”.

Hashem says “Recite before Me on Rosh Hashona [verses of] Kingship, Remembrance and Shofar. Pesukim of Kingship in order to accept My Sovereignty upon yourselves...”

During Mussaf we recite pesukim relating to Hashem’s past and present Kingship as well as His ultimate Kingship in the future.

We need to understand; what do Chazal mean when they instruct us to recite these ten specific pesukim of Kingship in order to accept ‘My Sovereignty upon yourselveskedai shetamlichuni alaichem’?

This statement implies that we are only mekabel ol malchus shomayim now with these pesukim, but how can that be? We’ve already said many brochos with the words Melech ho’oilom, we’ve sung Hamelech with the traditional Rosh Hashona melody, we’ve said Hamelech hakodosh , we’ve done the ultimate kabolus ol malchus shomayim by saying Krias Shema! Hashem’s Malchus is mentioned numerous times in the nusach ha’tefilla as well as in the special piyutim, eg melech elyon and Hashem melech , the list is endless! So what do Chazel want us to achieve through these ten pesukim of malchiyos? In fact, every day we are accepting upon ourselves ol malchus shomayim from when we awake “Moide ani … melech chai v’kaiyom”, brochos ,davening, benching…..so what’s unique about these ten pesukim of malchiyos?

The Meor V’shemesh explains that Chazal are teaching us an inyan godol in avoidas Hashem. Hashem Yisborach created and continues to create this world and everything in it, the stars, planets, galaxies and universes which continue to expand on

a daily basis. He also created and sustains all the spiritual worlds with all its spiritual entities. Why did He make such an awesome creation?

In order for us to recognise that He is the ruler over everything and that He is the sovereign over all the World.

With that recognition we declare His greatness and speak about His splendour.

We acknowledge that He choose us to be His Am Segula to perform His Mitzvos and dedicate every part of our lives to serving Him. We declare His Oneness with love every evening and every morning. Then we dedicate ourselves with joy, to love Him with all our hearts and are even prepared to give up our lives al Kiddush Hashem.

What an incredible lofty mission we have! However how many of us are able to constantly live on this lofty madreiga?

How many of us have this in mind with every machshova, dibur and maaseh we do? The Yetzer hora distracts us, and even while we are saying the words V’ohavto eis Hashem Elokecha. How many of us are at the madreiga of R’ Akiva who craved every day to be m’kayem the mitzva of Uv’chol nafshecha?

In fact, the Shuchan Aruch Orach Chaim 231 dedicates a full siman teaching us that every aspect of our lives should be with the intention to serve Hashem. Eating, drinking, sleeping and all physical pleasures should all be l’shem shomayim as the possuk says “B’chol d’rachecha da’eyhu” Know Him in all your ways. In fact, the Mishna B’rura (seif koton 5) quotes the Chayai Odom who says: I’ve seen Anshai maaseh who make the following declaration before they eat saying

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫ר’ חיים בן ר’ יעקב ז"ל‬ ‫נלב''ע יו”כ תש”ט‬

“Behold I want to eat and drink in order that I will be healthy and strong to serve Hashem”.

This is also included in kabolas ol malchus shomayim-that everything we do is for the sake of heaven. This is our mission as clearly stated in the Shulchan Aruch but how can we gain the clarity, the koichos and the stamina to live at this lofty level?

Explains the Meor V’shemesh; “ha’eitza levo lidai midda zo –the advice to acquire this level is; on the two days of Rosh Hashona we should be prepared to passionately accept upon ourselves and crown Hashem with all our hearts and all our souls with ahavo and simcha. Through this, we will build a storehouse of energy for the whole year ahead. This will enable us to be mekabel ol malchus shomayim when we say krias shema every day. With every act we do we can draw down the kedusha from Rosh Hashona. Every act that we do leshem shomayim during the 48 hours of Rosh Hashona will be able to be moishech that kedusha and devaikus upon the whole year.

With this we can understand the words of Chazal; Imru lefonai malchiyos-say before Me at least these pesukim of malchiyos with full kavona with all your heart and soul, with simcha and ahava.

Kedai shetamlichuni alaichem-in order that you should have the kochos to live every aspect of your life throughout the year l’shem shomayim.

Malchiyos R’ Binyomin Zev Goldberg

MALCHUYOS

53

Author of “Koloh D’Yaakov” on the weekly Parsha and the Moadim

):‫“אמרו לפני מלכיות כדי שתמליכוני עליכם” (גמ' ר''ה טז‬

“Say on Rosh Hashanah (the pesukim of) Malchios so that I will be King over you” What does it mean to accept Hashem as our King?

The great Czar of Russia was taking a tour around his country. Of course, wherever he visited, the city made a great reception for him. The very first place he visited after leaving his palace was the Imperial Capital, St. Petersburg.

All the dignitaries and ministers who lived in the capital gathered for a huge reception, as was befitting, in honour of their ruler.

From this city, the Czar travelled to the next biggest city - Moscow.

There too, he received an honourable reception but not quite as major as the one he had had in the capital city. Each city and town he visited thereafter, did the maximum that they could do to honour him.

There was a very small village of simple-minded people who had a strange custom. Whenever a visitor would come to town, they would gather stones and throw them at the visitor (!) as he entered the town.

When the news came that the Czar was approaching their village, the head of the village called everyone to a meeting. “In honour of the upcoming visit of the Czar to our town,” he announced. “May I ask of everyone that we honour him accordingly and we please do not throw stones?”

They all agreed and waited excitedly for his arrival.

When the Czar finally came, imagine his surprise when he saw that there was nothing grand arranged to welcome him. In his honour, the town simply did not throw stones!

To see Him as the King of the world.

To say with feeling, ‫מלכנו ואתה עמך‬

‫אנו‬, we are Your people and You are our

In the previous generations, on Rosh Hashanah, when Hashem King of all Kings would come on His “visit”, they would honour Hashem with a grand reception. This means, they had a total and complete acceptance of Hashem and a wholesome teshuva, completely changing their ways.

King.

The generations that followed, who were greater than us but not quite as great as those before them, still honoured Hashem with a genuine acceptance of Hashem and also changed their ways.

niftar. A relative told over at the Shiva

But we are so far from that, unfortunately, like the villagers, we are just expected to make sure “not to throw stones” at Him.

an expression in English ‘I can do the what if I know the why.’” Meaning, that

Rav Nosson Meir explains this as follows.

to do it.”

Wachtfogel

The simple-minded villagers were able not to throw stones only because they recognised who the King was. Our level on Rosh Hashanah is to simply recognise the existence of Hashem verbally in our davening.

This, in a world that completely ignores His presence, is something of great value to Hashem.

A big tzaddekes, who was niftar recently, suffered from a terminal illness for some time before she was the following powerful story.

When the niftar first found out about her diagnosis, she could have been very broken and upset. Instead she said with tremendous strength, “There is

we can do something even if it’s hard, as long as we understand why we have “But I can do the what, because I know that there is a why!” She could accept it because she knew that Hashem had His reason why, even though it was hard.

That’s true recognition of Hashem.

DO YOU HAVE A SHAILA? ASK THE federation

SHAILATEXT 07860 017 641

Zichronos Rabbi Moshe Braham

ZICHRONOS

54

Deputy Head: Director of Jewish Life and Learning - Immanuel College Preparatory School

W

hat is the purpose of the brocho of Zichronos? The Gemoro tells us that the Ribono Shel Olam says, “‫ִא ְמרּו לְ ָפנַ י זִ כְ רֹונֹות‬ ‫טֹובה‬ ָ ְ‫‘ – ”ּכְ ֵדי ֶׁשיַ ֲעלֶ ה זִ כְ רֹונְ כֶ ם לְ ָפנַ י ל‬Say ‘zichronos’ before Me, to elevate the memories of yourselves before Me for the good’. (‫)ר”ה טז‬ We are aware that Rosh Hashanah is the Yom Hadin, the day of judgement, and for any judgment to take place there must be a recollection of the events or actions that require analysis. But, surely remembering our deeds from the previous year is just a preliminary step in the judicial process. Why does the concept of Zikoron take such centre stage on Rosh Hashanah? Not only is it the focus of the 2nd of the three main brochos of mussaf but it is even the name chosen by chazal to refer to this auspicious day in most of the tefillos hayom!?

As a bochur, I was privileged to have spent time around a great gaon and tzaddik who was reputed to possess a photographic memory. Rav Chaim Kreiswirth zt”l was famed for his absolute knowledge of Shas Bavli and Yerushalmi.

I personally witnessed his ability to locate a daf of Gemara by revealing only the last few words on each daf as he flicked through the pages. When giving a shiur, he had no need to look up a reference in Shas as he could recite it verbatim by heart. Yet, even with the Rav, there was a need for an element of recall, summoning the desired information he required to the forefront of his mind. Such is human memory, the activation of one’s power of recall, bringing forth stored knowledge in to one’s conscience.

From the wording of the zichronos, it is clear that we refer to the memory

of Hashem. This begs the question, how is our traditional understanding of memory pertinent to the eternal Creator before whom all of history, past, present and future is laid out like a vivid portrait? Furthermore, the Shelah Hakodosh (among others) points out an obvious contradiction in the text of the bracha of zichronos which begins with the words ‫ – אַתָּה זוֹכֵר מַעֲשֶֹה עוֹלָם‬You (Hashem) remember the deeds done in the universe, which implies that Hashem is not k’v’yachol conscience of everything.

Subsequently we say ‫כִּי אֵין שִׁכְחָה לִפְנֵי כִסֵא‬ ָ‫ – כְבוֹדֶך‬For there is no forgetfulness before Your Throne of Glory, which implies that all things are constantly and consistently held at the same level of conscience.

Rashi’s commentary on the first of the ten Pesukim of zichronos - ‫“וַיִזְכֹּר‬ ”...ַ‫‘ אֶלֹקִים אֶת נֹח‬Hashem remembered Noach’ (Bereishis 1:8), reveals the true meaning of the ‘zikaron’ of Hashem.

Rashi explains that this name (Elokim) represents judgement and is transformed into the characteristic of mercy through the prayers of the righteous. In other words, the verb ‫ זכר‬zecher, when used in reference to Hashem Yisborach, means the activation of one of His midos. In the case of Noach, it was the activation of the midas harachamim to release Noach from the teivah, giving him new purpose – the responsibility to rebuild the world.

Based on this Rashi, Rav Chaim Friedlander zt”l explains that Zikoron is not just a prerequisite to din but is in fact the actualisation of it. On Rosh Hashanah, Hashem bestows upon us our purpose for the year along with all the tools we need to achieve it. If we are deserving, Hashem will employ His middah of rachamim. It should also be stated that the opposite would result in ‫הֶסְתֶר פָּנִים‬, where Hashem holds back the resources we need to reach our potential ‫ח”ו‬.

Through this we have solved the (apparent) contradiction cited earlier and understand the importance of this bracha.

Through our tefillos of zichronos, we can bring about a positive judgement on ourselves. Perhaps we can suggest that this is because through this powerful tefillah we embed in our minds the knowledge that Hashem is aware of all our actions, that he allocates our purpose in existence. As result we make ourselves conscience of our obligations in this world and behave accordingly. When this happens, Hashem, middah k’neged middah, ‘remembers’ us and bestows upon us our purpose and the shefa bracha and the we so much need on this special day.

“If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you!”

Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

Shofaros

SHOFAROS

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Rabbi Zach Ford Kerem School

T

here is a well-documented debate among the Rishonim about how the mitzvah of tekias shofar is actually fulfilled, namely, is one required to actively blow the shofar blasts or is one only required to hear them?

Rabbeinu Tam defines the obligation as needing an act of blowing in order to fulfill the mitzvah – clearly evident from his preferred text of the bracha ending with ‘al teki’as shofar’ (See Rabbeinu Tam as cited by the Rosh, Maseches Rosh Hashana, 4:10). The Rambam (Hilchos Shofar, 3:10) however, is explicit in his ruling and clearly defines the mitzvah as being fulfilled through hearing the shofar blasts as per his prescribed version of the bracho ending with ‘lishmo’ah kol shofar’. Indeed, most Rishonim follow this view and agree that the blowing is only part of the hechsher mitzvah – the preparatory acts which facilitate the mitzvah of hearing the blasts.

Over the course of the calendar year, we are, inundated with opportunities to fulfil mitzvos left, right and centre – most of which involve us actively doing something in order to be mekayeim the mitzvah. Indeed, it is most profound that the fundamental mitzvas hayom on Rosh Hashanah requires us to show restraint in our own actions – ‘down tools’ as it were – and simply listen to the raw and unarticulated voice of the shofar. I say this is profound because truthfully, I believe that listening is not always something that we actively stop and do all that often. The world as we currently know it, is filled with constant commotion, hubbub, noise and opinions – often our own. The very nature of a globalised world incessantly feeds us with a 24/6 interconnectedness that barely relinquishes its grasp until our heads hit a pillow, hence entering the realm of unconsciousness. How much of our day is truly set aside for listening to the subliminal messages sent our way?

Rabbi Eliakim Koenigsburg suggests that the ikar avodah of Rosh Hashana and

indeed teshuvah, involves the fine art of straight listening.

In order for a person to do real and meaningful teshuva, they have to give up their habitual tendencies, disconnect from self-absorption and instead, tune in to their inner spiritual being. But here’s the punch line - you actually have to stop and tune in to your inner spiritual being. The analogy given is that of a voicemail message. When we receive a voicemail, we know that someone has bothered to contact us and leave as message – presumably because what they have to say is of relative importance – but due to everything else that constantly vies for our attention, we don’t always listen to these messages, at least not straight away.

And yet, if we don’t press the voicemail button at all to activate those messages, then they may as well cease to exist.

Rav Koenigsburg, Shlita, cites a famous story told in the name of Rabbi Noach Weinberg zt’’l. The latter was once trying to convince a long-haired motorcyclist to join his yeshiva, although despite his great efforts, the boy resisted.

‘Rabbi, you don’t understand, I don’t need to go to Yeshiva – you see, G-d and I - we’re really tight.’.

The inquisitive Rabbi Weinberg urged him to elaborate on what he meant by this.

The boy explained that he was once riding his motorbike at speed down a mountain and after turning a corner, he suddenly lost control of his steering when a large oncoming truck came hurtling towards him.

Having to veer sharply off the road in order to avoid the truck, he was now heading over a cliff – still not able to gain control of the bike. As he went over the cliff, he caught

sight of a branch protruding from the side of the mountaintop and somehow managed to cling on to it for dear life as he watched the bike nosedive into a ball of flames. Having walked away without a scratch on his body, he proceeded to tell Rabbi Weinberg, ‘You see? That’s why I say G-d and I are tight…clearly G-d must love me, after all, I mean who do you think put that branch there in the first place?’

In his most inimitable way, Rabbi Weinberg responded with a smile. ‘You’re absolutely right, G-d clearly did put that branch on that mountain to save you. But tell me something….. who do you think sent that truck that forced you off the side of the road in the first place?’

The seventh posuk from the shofaros section states ‘All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers of the Earth - you will see when the banner is hoisted up upon the mountains, and the shofar sounds, you will hear!’

(Yeshaya, 18,3) Put into context, Rashi explains1 that the Novi is describing the ultimate geula – where the spiritual banner of Klal Yisroel’s return from exile will be raised for all to see and the sound of shofar will be heard throughout the entire world, signalling our return. May we be zoche to use this Rosh Hashana to good effect and through listening to the rights channels, merit the aforementioned geulah shleima.

1

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫ר’ אשר יהושע בן הר’ר יוסף חיים ז"ל‬ ‫נלב''ע ה’ שבט‬

Rabbi Michoel Fletcher

HAYOM HARAS OLOM

Like Children or Servants

56

Mechaber Sefarim, Do You Know Hilchos Shabbos? and Do You Know Hilchos Brachos?

Menucha Publications. Any comments: rabbimfletcher@gmail.com

“Today is the birthday of the World. Today all creatures of the World stand in judgement whether as Your children or Your servants. If we stand before You as Your children, may You have mercy upon us like a father has mercy on his children. If, as Your servants, our eyes look toward You until You will be gracious to us and judge us favourably as light, O Awesome and Holy One.” It seems that there are two options:

likely to respond grudgingly, knowing

you are like a ben bayis of Hashem. He

that he has no choice. In fact, he was

has mercy on you like a father for a

hoping that the master would have

The chances of a favourable verdict

son. If a son says to his father “Wash

asked another servant. He really can’t

are clearly much higher if we’re judged

me in hot water, wash me in cold

be bothered. But he wants to escape

like children. We can look forward to

water, give me nuts, almonds, peaches,

without a whipping and he brings

love and mercy. If we’re judged like

pomegranates, the father gives him…

to be judged like children or servants.

servants, we will be judged with midas

If this is how we would be treated

hadin – strict judgement. How can

if we are judged like children, it’s

we ensure that we will be judged like

imperative to be judged this way. Our

children?

year and our whole future may be

Our desire to be judged like children

dependent on it.

takes on even more urgency if we

We’ll be delighted to discover that

look at the Gemoro Taanis (23a). The

indeed we ourselves can choose how

Gemoro is discussing the famous story

Hashem will be judging us this Rosh

of Choni Hame’agel who, in a time of

Hashono. It’s quite simple.

the drink.

When we have a mitzva to do, maybe getting up early for selichos, learning, Shabbos, do we comply because we have to, because we’re afraid of eternal punishment etc. or is it with simcha?

“Baruch Hashem, I have the opportunity to do another mitzva”.

If our attitude to mitzos is the former, our relationship to Hashem is like a

famine, made a circle around himself

What is the difference between how

and swore that he wouldn’t move

a child responds to a request from his

from the circle until Hashem sends

parents and how a servant responds to

rain. When a few drops came down he

his master? If parents ask their child

argued that it wasn’t enough. When

for a drink the child jumps up, only

torrential rain began he complained

too happy to help. They ask, “Do you

that it was too much until Hashem

want a cold drink, a hot drink, with

sent gishmei bracha. Reb Shimon ben

sugar, milk?” They serve it with a

We’ll be judged with love and mercy.

Shetach was not pleased with Choni.

smile and enthusiasm, full of love for

We can even ask for nuts, almonds,

“If you weren’t Choni, I would have

their father and mother. When a master

peaches and pomegranates and b’ezras

put you in nidui but what can I do since

asks his servant for a drink, he’s

Hashem, He’ll give them to us.

servant to a Master and we’ll be judged accordingly – with strict judgement.

But if we are really happy to do our Avodas Hashem, and we try to do it in the best possible way, our relationship to Hashem is like a child to a parent.

Rabbi Yoni Golker

HAYOM HARAS OLOM

“Hayom Haras Olam …”

57

Assistant Rabbi, St John’s Wood Synagogue

O

ne of the most stirring tefilos on Rosh Hashana is the prayer “Hayom Haras Olam” where we supplicate before G-d and say, “If you regard us as children have mercy on us like a father would to a child, and if we are your servants then we are totally reliant on you”

The Gemora in Bava Basra (10:1) states that at the time when we are doing the “will of G-d” we are called children, and when we are not doing His will we are referred to as servants.

Rav Yitzchak Blazer, asks is his sefer Kochavey Ohr, why does the Gemora refer to a person who doesn’t obey G-d as a servant? Surely that would be a rebel!? He answers, based on the Chovos Halevovos, the inference is from the word “Retzono” “the will” of G-d; A son does the will of his father even when his father doesn’t request it, if he knows it would be his father’s will. A servant however, merely does exactly what is required and nothing more. This says Rav Blazer, is the intention of the author of this Piyut. As we approach the new Jewish year we are praying that our relationship should be on the level of following the will of Hashem, lifnim Meshuras Hadin, going beyond what is required of us and just like a child does what his father would want, so too we should try and go above and beyond in our service of Hashem.

Parking a car in some parts of inner city areas has become something a nightmare in recent times, whether it is congestion charges, permit requirements or red routes. There

was one fellow, looking to park in the centre of town that had his own ingenious solution. After driving round the block a couple of times, he would pull up to a curb with red stripes. Getting out of the car, he would reach for his trusty can of black spray-paint, and proceed to spray out the red stripes the entire length of his car. How much of the time do we do just that in our relationship with G-d?

How much of the time do we try and alter the rules to suit ourselves and our own ideas of right and wrong?

Rosh Hashana is a time to come clean, to clean off the spray paint from the pavement of our lives, before we get more than just a ticket.

Fearing G-d is out of fashion right now. It’s acceptable to be in awe of His Majesty, to sit on the top of a mountain and commune with Beyond. But fearing? Come on, God’s a nice God. He won’t really punish me for speaking lashon hara or for adjusting my income tax a little. All that punishment stuff is really for kids anyway. Why do I need something so

crass as fear when I have awe?!

There can be no true awe without real fear.

The essence of fearing God is to accustom ourselves to be aware that He is watching us all the time; that He knows what we are thinking; that He sees every move we make – every move that we don’t make but would like to.

If there is a time in the day when we visualize standing in front of the Creator more than any other, it is during the Amida prayer that we say three times daily. (Amida, quite literally means, “standing.”) If there is a day in the year when we try to visualize standing in front of the Creator more than any other, it is Rosh Hashana.

Rosh Hashana, a day that should strike fear into our hearts, “…who will live, and who will die …who by water, and who by fire.” Who in a bus, and who in a restaurant…Rosh Hashana is a time to come clean, to clean off the spray paint from the sidewalks of our lives… before we get more than a ticket.

With this in mind, let us hope we can return to Hashem as true children to create a deeper and stronger relationship.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫ר׳ יחיאל נתן בן ר׳ שמאי ז״ל‬

Story heard from Rabbi Dov Brezak

TASHLICH

Tashlich: Cast to the Depths

58

Osher Chaim Levene Orah

O

n the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah (or during the Ten Days of Repentance), there is the widely accepted custom (traced back to the medieval ages) to go to a river, sea or body of water (if possible with live fish or a running wellspring). There, one recites the tashlich service that mainly consists of reciting three verses from Michah (7:18-20) that relate to G-d’s Thirteen Attributes of Mercy including the key phrase: “Cast (tashlich) the sins of Israel into the depths of the sea”.

But the ritual – and the very notion of casting sins into the depths of the sea – is troubling.

Reciting the verses is clearly to invoke G-d’s Mercy to be spared the punishment for man’s sins by using the power of teshuvah. But is it possible to literally empty out one’s pockets of his sins as if they were something that is portable? Is it really that simple to disassociate sins from the sinner to easily cast them off?

And why specifically ‘throw’ them into the waters?

Who we are is not always reflected by what we do. The inner essence of a Jew is pure as it reflects his elevated soul.

In other words, there is always within a Jew a spiritual component that can never be contaminated. What happens when man sins, however, is that he dirties the outer layers that surround

or being made an “outcast” (see e.g.

Tehillim 19:15; 71:9).

his inner essence. But his sins do not completely overtake him. Therefore, you are never allowed to write him off. It is always possible for a Jew to rid himself of his sins by engaging in teshuvah. In effect, this is the process that strips away the trappings of evil that conceal his intrinsic purity and thereby “return” man to his innermost pristine essence.

The Ten Days of Repentance stretching from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur cleanse man by helping him to re-identify himself with his unsullied original state. Here the sinner takes steps to correct his behaviour by reconnecting to his King on Rosh Hashanah. He then takes whatever sins that he has surrounded himself with over the course of the year and “casts them away” – the term “tashlich” being often used to indicate “rejection”

Symbolically, man casts his sins into the depths of the sea. The waters represent the otherworldly realm inside which man cannot survive. The oceans are largely detached from human existence. It is only on the ground that there is the notion of human ownership (as in the English title “landlord”). Not so in the seas where there is no real “ownership” or title deeds for man to lord over. Consequently, the best way that man can empathically declare that his sins are not him and are “disowned” is to casting them into the sea depths – discarding them into the most distant point removed from both mankind and most distant point removed from the heavens above. Like water voids all forms that are immersed into it, man’s sins are similarly nullified within the water that permits the Jew to purify himself to complete the teshuvah process.

ANSWERS 1. There are different types of judgement for different people. Each one is given a separate day. The first day is more difficult judgement, ‫דינא קשיא‬, with the second day being less severe, ‫דינא רפיא‬.

2. Rosh Hashana, as we call it, is named after it being “the head of the year”.

In the tefilla we refer to it as Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance, as all our actions are brought and remembered before Hashem. In the Torah it calls it Yom Terua, after the commandment to blow of the shofar on Rosh Hashana. Another name it is called by is Yom HaDin reflecting that it is a day of judgement.

3. The focus of Rosh Hashana is not atonement. The time for that is on Yom Kippur. Rather, the day of Rosh Hashana is a time to commit ourselves as servants submissive to the will of Hashem – Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shomayim. A servant does not list his faults but rather that from now on

he commits to carry out the will of his master. Mention of sins through vidui and the like goes against showing that this person can be loyal.

It follows that first comes the commitment to be submissive on Rosh Hashana, then on Yom Kippur we put this into practice by saying vidui and showing remorse for having sinned in the past.

4. See answer 3. The judgement on Rosh Hashana is not simply about the past. This will be done after a person dies and then his whole life is reviewed and analysed Above. Rather it is about the future. How will the next year be, depends on a commitment by a person to show how he can be a loyal servant to Hashem.

5. There is a big argument amongst the meforshim as to what we are judged on, on Rosh Hashana. Tosfos (Rosh Hashana 16b) holds that it

SHABBOS SHUVA

Shabbos Shuvah

59

Rabbi Yaakov Bennett Limmudei Kodesh Teacher, JFS

A

lthough the entire period we find ourselves in is known as the Aseres Y’mei Teshuva (Ten Days of Repentance), this Shabbos represents a zenith. Simply known as Shabbos Shuva, our sages tell us that the Teshuva reached on this Shabbos is more powerful than the weekdays of this time of year. What is it about the physical and spiritual experiences we partake in on a Shabbos that makes this higher level Teshuva possible?

The Nesivos Shalom (Rabbi Sholom Noach Berezovsky) beautifully links this Shabbos to a Pasuk in Shir HaShirim. “Ani yeshana, v’libi er – I am sleeping but my heart is awake” The Rebbe explains that the phrase ‘I am sleeping’ refers to our spiritual state during the days of the week, but on the onset of Shabbos ‘my heart is awake’ we awaken into a heightened level of spiritual sensitivity. Just as the body, when we sleep, becomes heavy and our sense of consciousness is dulled, the heart goes on beating and pumping blood around the body, quite simply the heart never sleeps, so too, our spiritual activities on Shabbos keep us going through the entire week. The magical gift of Shabbos is not just an opportunity for some well needed and deserved R&R, but a chance to wake up from our spiritual slumber during our busy weeks and reconnect and re-inspire ourselves to connect with our innermost selves, our neshamah. Even if, in the week we don’t feel the chance to gain the space,

time and energy to gather the will to want to change for the better, on Shabbos that time is more easily accessible. Longer time spent in Tefillah, moments spent with our families and opportunities to learn Hashem’s Torah enable us to open our hearts and minds to the idea of Teshuva. The Rambam in his laws of Teshuva uses this same metaphor, describing the sound of the Shofar as a call to the sleeping to wake up and do Teshuva.

A fascinating Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 22) similarly displays the power of Teshuva on Shabbos. After Kayin murders his brother Hevel, he meets his father Adam. Adam asks his son how were you judged for your sin? Kayin replies “I have done Teshuva and made a compromise (with Hashem).” Adam immediately falls on his face in amazement, “This is the power of Teshuva and I did not know!” At which point Adam composes the words later recorded by Dovid Hamelech in Tehillim “Mizmor Shir L’Yom HaShabbos.”

A number of questions arise from this Midrash, but let us focus on perhaps the

goes on judgement of the Next World. The Ran learns that it is going on the din of this world.

6. The Ran (to Rosh Hashana 16a) brings that it was on this day, the first of Tishrei, according to R’ Eliezer, that Odom was created. On this day he sinned and was judged and was forgiven. This shows that this is a good day for man to be judged on.

7. A root and seed contains in it all what will be in the future. A head contains in it the main part of man that instructs the rest of the body of how to act. Rosh Hashana, the “head of the year” is where it is determined how the whole of the rest of the year will pan out. The whole future of the next year is decided on this one day.

8. The seven weeks of comfort following the churban come to tell us that Hashem remains with the Jews even in Golus. Rosh Hashana, as seen in the tefillos, is when we express that it is now the time for Hashem to again be revealed openly in the world, like was seen during the times

most obvious one, why does Adam respond to his newly found appreciation of the power of Teshuva by praising Shabbos, surely this should have been ‘Mizmor Shir L’Teshuvah?’

We will need another Midrash to help us understand. The Midrash Tanchumah tells us that Kayin is given a sign by Hashem when he is told he will be exiled into a nomadic wandering existence, this sign is in fact Shabbos (as we say in Kiddush, Shabbos is an eternal sign). This sign would enable Kayin to reconnect to Hashem despite his banishment into a lowered physical existence. When Adam heard his sons successful Teshuva he understood that the power of Shabbos had enabled his son to come to a state of reconciliation with Hashem. Thus Adam created the words of “Mizmor Shir L’Yom HaShabbos.”

Let us try and use every moment of this special Shabbos to invigorate ourselves and our families, not only with our physical rest but with our spiritual endeavours in in order to greet Yom Kippur in the right way and have a true Chasima Tova for all of Klal Yisrael.

of the Beis Hamikdosh, only now to be seen throughout the whole world. After this, we no longer need to continue the weeks of comfort!

9. On Rosh Hashana we are meant to realise that we are not in this world for our personal needs. Rather we are placed in this world for a purpose of carrying out the will of Hashem, whatever that may entail.

In Shema we say ‫ בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך‬and this means giving up our personal desires in life to submit them to what Hashem wants. Rosh Hashana is the coronation day when Hashem is revealed as King of the world first seen as the day when man was created on the sixth day of creation, the first of Tishrei. On this day the focus is for man to show he is a loyal servant to Hashem. Therefore, personal requests are not really in place. However, the Rabbis realised that people are not holding on this high level and therefore allowed these additions.

Rosh Hashanah is replete with mitzvos. All too often, however, people become confused by the details and find it hard to connect the ‘what’ with the ‘why’; and mitzvos can be relegated to meaningless ritual rather than meaningful points of connection.

The purpose of this card is to share a bird’s eye view of the various mitzvos and customs of Rosh Hashanah and to offer some suggested explanations that will enhance their performance. We hope that this will enhance your experience over the day and provide some food for thought to stimulate discussion both at home and in shul.

EREV ROSH HASHANAH WHAT: A custom on erev Rosh Hashanah is to visit the graves of departed WHY:

loved ones Rather than being a morbid experience, this offers us an opportunity to appreciate where we come from and to learn lessons from the lives of those who came before us. The realisation of our own mortality ought to motivate us to make the most of every day and to maximise our opportunities through thinking about what we would like to be remembered for.

WHAT: A custom for men to go to the mikvah on erev Rosh Hashanah WHY: A convert immerses in a mikvah and becomes a ‘new person’, similarly it is our desire to do teshuvah and become new people.

WHAT: Apologising and repairing relationships WHAT: Hataras nedarim (annulment of vows) WHY: We want to begin the New Year with a clean slate – no unfulfilled commitments, no grudges against us.

WHAT: Some have the custom to fast erev Rosh Hashanah until after WHY:

minchah To impress upon ourselves the seriousness of the coming Day of Judgement.

WHAT: Many extra slichos (prayers of repentance) said morning before WHY:

Rosh Hashanah This serves to focus us on the themes of the day ahead.

WHAT: The Shofar is not blown on the eve of Rosh Hashanah WHY: This enables us to appreciate the message of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah all the more.

WHAT: Bathe and have a haircut in preparation for Rosh Hashanah WHAT: Wear our finest clothes WHY: Rosh Hashanah is known as the Yom Hadin (Day of Judgement).

Rather than being paralysed by fear, we wash and groom ourselves with haircuts and new clothes. This is an expression of our confidence in our relationship with the Creator and our appreciation that judgement means that our lives matter. The fact that we are worthy of being judged is the essence of the celebration of Rosh Hashanah.

WHAT: In a shmittah year (every seven years), a ‘pruzbul’ document must be signed in order to retain a loan.

ROSH HASHANAH NIGHT WHAT: Shanah Tova greetings.

The official greeting for Rosh Hashanah night is: ‫ תכתבנה ותחתמנה לאלתר לחיים טובים ולשלום‬/ ‫לשנה טובה תכתב ותחתם‬ L’shanah tova (for a man: tikasev v’techasem) (for a woman: tikasavna v’techasamnah) (some add: l’altar, l’chaim tovim ul’shalom) May you be written and sealed for a good year (immediately, for a good peaceful life)

Some communities partake of symbolic foods known as simanim at the evening meal.

Physical actions can affect what goes on in the spiritual world. The simanim represent specific blessings that we are hoping to receive on Rosh Hashanah.

On Rosh Hashanah, even mundane eating can be elevated to form a prayer.

These simanim vary from community to community, however, here are a few of the classics…

WHAT: Round challot WHY: The word ‘shanah’ (year) has a triple connotation. It means ‘learn,

‘repeat’ and ‘change’.

As we approach a new cycle of the year (represented by the round challah), we face the challenge: Is this year going to be simply a repetition (shanah) of the last one? Or will I use each situation as an opportunity to learn (mishnah) and change (shinui)?

Hopefully, each year we make choices for change that are positive, and each year we will climb higher and higher, creating an upward spiritual spiral.

WHAT: Apple and honey –‘May You renew us for a good and sweet WHY:

year’ Apples are good for our health, but sometimes they taste sour.

Honey is always sweet. Our year should not only be ‘good’ but we should also find it sweet in doing good too.

WHAT: Head of fish/ram –‘May we be as the head and not the tail’ WHY: We ask for the strength to stand by our convictions, to act as leaders and not follow the crowd.

WHAT: Pomegranate –‘May our merits increase as [the seeds of] a WHY:

pomegranate’ Pomegranates are jam-packed with hundreds of seeds, representative of the Jewish people who are full of mitzvos and acts of goodness and kindness.

WHAT: A custom not to eat nuts or vinegar during the meal WHY: One reason for the nuts is that the Hebrew for nut (egoz) has the

same numerical value as ‘chet’, often translated as ‘sin’, but really meaning ‘missing the mark’. Refraining from eating nuts, symbolises our desire to distance ourselves from any bad this coming year.

As to the vinegar, since we want a sweet new year, we avoid sour tasting foods.

WHAT: Second night of Rosh Hashanah, we bring out a ‘new fruit’ when WHY:

lighting candles and during kiddush.

There is technical halachic reason for this. There is a doubt whether Rosh Hashanah is considered two separate festivals, or one long one. If it’s two – then each day requires a new shehecheyanu blessing. If it’s one – then only on the first night should shehecheyanu be said. To dispel any doubt, we also have in mind a new fruit, which also requires the shehecheyanu blessing.

This is also a wonderful opportunity to experience the marvellous taste of Hashem’s beautiful and bountiful world and say ‘Thank You’.

ROSH HASHANAH DAY WHAT: Shofar blowing (unless Rosh Hashanah is on Shabbas) WHY: The sound of the shofar is a call to action, a spiritual alarm clock that tells us to restart, refresh and reframe life’s priorities. Now is the time to wake up and smell the coffee!

WHAT: Rosh Hashanah mussaf service is divided into three main sections: WHY:

malchuyot - G-d’s kingship, zichronos – memories of the great moments of Jewish history and shofarot - the impact of the shofar.

Malchuyos depicts the unity of the perfect world, zichronos – memories, are the context defining who we are in that world. When we recall our collective memories before Hashem, we position ourselves as another link in the Jewish people’s voyage through history. The memories of zichronos are beyond nostalgia, they lift us out of the smallness of our limited lives, raising us to see ourselves as part of the unravelling tapestry of the great Jewish journey. The call of the shofar brings us to clarity, alertness and focus. It connects us to our deepest selves so that we are not fooling ourselves when we declare our grandiose visions or our part in Jewish history. This is because Judaism is not only about belief in G-d, but also very much belief in man.

WHAT: Words of Torah said at Rosh Hashanah meal WHY: Eating is an opportunity. We can just fill our stomachs, or we can

charge ourselves up with the energy to achieve meaningful things.

When we make time to share ideas about deeper issues in life, like where we are going and who we are trying to become – we upgrade the meal into something memorable. The traditional dvar Torah or ‘words of wisdom’ is rooted in this concept.

WHAT: Custom not to sleep on Rosh Hashanah day WHY: On the day when life is being given out, we show how much we

value it. Rather than wasting time, we engage in meaningful actions throughout the day.

WHAT: Rosh Hashanah afternoon it is customary to go to a body of water WHY:

and recite tashlich.

Tashlich comes from the Hebrew word meaning “to cast,” we symbolically cast our sins into the water and leave our old shortcomings behind us, thus starting the New Year afresh.

WHAT: Prayer WHY: Every culture celebrates their New Year differently. For us it is about

KEY =

EREV R.H.

R.H. NIGHT

R.H. DAY

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Prayer is the ultimate human expression of the universal longing to connect to the Infinite. But what we ask for is also very much an expression of who we are. The Rosh Hashanah prayers teach us to ask for the ultimate; for a perfect world, one where peace reigns supreme, where evil is a distant memory.

We pray that mankind should unite with a sense of common purpose and destiny and live for eternity with these values. Rosh Hashanah is about recalibration, clarifying our values and setting our sights. on the future.

US EIN Number 46-4571313

taking stock of the past, thinking deeply about the present and refocussing for a better, more fulfilling year to come…

On Rosh Hashanah we ask Hashem for chayim (life). Life is something we often take for granted, in truth it is the most precious gift. We never know when our time will be up, so on Rosh Hashanah our prayers for life are accompanied by a desire to maximise our opportunities to lead the best life that we possibly can.

ONEG YOMIM NOROIM 5777 ‫ תשע’’ז‬EDITION | VOLUME 1 (ROSH HASHANA)