A ROSH HASHANA READER 5773/2012

Transcription

1 A ROSH HASHANA READER 5773/2012

2 ,nab hukhgk k"z ohhj iurvt r"c ehzhht ejmh wr dedicated by the Meth Family in memory of Sheldon s Father Mr. Irving Meth Z L

3 Get Real! By Rabbi Yitzchak Scher/Yeshiva of Greater Washington/Kollel Zichron Amram The human being has an incredible ability to hide from reality. We are able to ignore problems or character flaws and continue on in our daily routine. We can compartmentalize emotions and feelings and not allow them to affect our daily lives. This skill at times can be very useful, allowing one to continue functioning and being productive despite difficulty, tragedy, struggles and the like. However, many times it can be a destructive process that allows us to continue down a negative path in life. Picture a person who is dishonest in business. After a while, he can very easily ignore the fact that eventually, he may be caught. He will continue down the path of dishonesty and become totally enveloped in a web of lies and fantasy. In truth, he may never be caught by a human authority. However, he certainly disregards the fact that Hashem is watching him at all times. This person lives life constantly ignoring, denying, or hiding from the all-knowing Creator. Many of us function in a world of fantasy. We put temporal pleasures before mitzvos. We put money before spiritual endeavors. We think that the source of our wisdom is our intellect and studiousness and that the source of our livelihood is our job. We think that our health in fully in the hands of the doctor. In fact, this is all an illusion because the source of it all is Hashem. The reality of the world is simply Hashem s will and our true job is to follow the Torah at every junction in life. Real pleasure is that which mitzvos provide and wisdom is only a result of Hashem s gracious desire to enlighten us. How do we absorb these truths in our lives? The world is an extremely deceptive place that hides Hashem at every juncture. For this reason, there are times in life designed to put us face to face with reality. For instance, many mitzvos in the Torah are to be done lifnei Hashem- before Hashem. Chazal teach us that being before Hashem refers to the Beis Hamikdash, which is the physical address where we stand directly before our Creator. One aspect of standing before Hashem at the Beis Hamikdash was this very point; it was a confrontation with reality. One can live life hiding from Hashem, but not if he or she is standing in His Holy Temple. At that point, the person must confront reality, understand his or her true mission in life, and know that everything else is merely an illusion or a deception. The Gemara describes the pilgrimage of the three Regalim as a time liros 1

4 v liraos- to see [Hashem] and to be seen [by Hashem]. 1 Seeing Hashem, k vyachol, forces one to confront reality and no longer hide from his or her shortcomings or mission in life. Additionally, we have daily opportunities designated for this task of confronting reality. Chazal mandated that we must daven three times a day. Rav Chaim Soloveitchik famously writes 2 that one s primary focus in davening is not on the meaning of the words, but rather on the fact the he or she is standing before Hashem. When we daven, we leave our daily routine to rendezvous with our Creator 3. At that point we acknowledge reality. We verbalize these truths. Wisdom is from Hashem. Sustenance is from Hashem. Health is from Hashem. Peace is from Hashem and so on and so forth. We put forth our efforts in all areas of life, but ultimately all is in Hashem s hands. Three times a day, we are adjured to meet face-to-face with Hashem and not hide from these absolute truths which we so easily overlook on a daily basis. The above two methods leave it up to us to take the initiative. We can decide to enter the Beis Hamikdash and meet with Hashem. Likewise, we enter in to davening and stand before Hashem. However, there is one time a year when Hashem confronts us and does not allow us to escape from reality. We must think back to the day of Adam s creation, the very first Rosh Hashana. On the same day that Adam and Chava were created, they sinned. They too felt they could deny reality and hide from their Creator. They heard the voice of Hashem Elokim in the garden and the man and his wife hid from Hashem 4 Adam and Chava tried to avoid their Creator. But Hashem confronted them. And the voice of Hashem called to the man and said to him where are you? 5 The Targum Yonasan on this verse enlightens us with his explanation: And Hashem Elokim called to the man and said to him, is the entire world that I created not revealed before me, the dark places as the light ones? How did you think that you could hide from me? Can I not see the place in which you hide? Now what happened to the mitzvah in which I commanded you? 1 Chagiga 2a 2 Chidushei HaGrach on the Rambam, Laws of Tefillah 4:1 3 Rabbeinu Yonah in Brachos 22b (in dapei Harif) actually says that when davening, one should picture himself as if he is standing in the Beis Hamikdash. 4 Bereishis 3:8 5 Bereishis 3:9 2

5 Hashem exhorts Adam, teaching him that nobody can ever hide from Hashem. Hiding from Hashem is hiding from reality. We cannot defy gravity, and we certainly cannot deny Hashem! This was the very first Rosh Hashana. Hashem did not wait for Adam to confront Him, rather He confronted Adam and forced him to grapple with reality. Hashem lets him know that he cannot hide from his shortcomings and cannot hide from his Creator. Every year on Rosh Hashana Hashem confronts us all in the same way He confronted Adam on that very first Rosh Hashana. Where are you? Do you think you can hide from me? The verse in Tehillim 6 states Before Hashem when He comes, when He comes to judge the earth The Midrash 7 tells us that He comes on Rosh Hashana. He comes on Yom Kippur. Hashem comes to the world on these days. As the verse states, when he comes we stand before Hashem. There is a time on the calendar when we are forced to confront reality. We cannot deny Hashem or our failures. On Rosh Hashana Hashem comes and He remains close until Yom Kippur. During that time we cannot hide. Just as Adam was exposed on Rosh Hashana and had to face reality, we too must look Hashem in the eye and cast off the fantasies that so often take over our lives. Rosh Hashana has the same quality of lifnei Hashem as was felt in the Beis Hamikdash itself. In fact, Rosh Hashana and Beis Hamikdash have the exact same gematria 8 (numerical value.) The difference is that instead of us traveling to the Beis Hamikdash, on Rosh Hashana the Beis Hamikdash comes to us 9. As noted above, even on Yom Kippur, the process of atonement occurs lifnei Hashem, as it says before Hashem you shall be purified. 10 The close encounter with Hashem on Yom Kippur is an essential part of the purification process! A hallmark of this season is the vidui (confession) which is recited in selichos and on Yom Kippur. The Sefer Hachinuch 11 writes that one of the purposes of confession is to acknowledge that Hashem sees all. When we sin, we pretend as if He does not see. Verbalizing that we have sinned before you concretizes the idea that we have transgressed directly under the watchful eye of Hashem. Confession brings us to grips with the reality that we had previously ignored. This is the power of the refrain of Al Cheit She Chatanu Lifanecha - for the sin which we have 6 96:13 7 Vayikara Rabba 30: See Emunas Itecha by R Moshe Wolfson Shlit a who discusses this idea at length in several contexts 10 Vayikra 15:30 11 Mitzvah 364 3

6 sinned before You uttered so many times over Yom Kippur. Contrary to my feelings at the time, the sins were all directly before the Creator of the universe. As we enter into this profound and inspiring period of the year, let us seize the opportunity to live life with full awareness of reality. Let us learn to reject our fantasies, our false images of life, and grab on to the only absolute reality, Hashem. May we all merit a kesiva v chasima tova! The Light at the End of the Tunnel By Rabbi Reuven Kasierer/Yeshiva of Greater Washington/Yeshiva Gedolah Throughout the time period of the Yamim Noraim, from Rosh Chodesh Elul through Shmini Atzeres, we add into our tefilos the extra chapter of Tehillim 12 L David Hashem Ori, twice a day. There are many messages and lessons that are apparent in this chapter and they are all truly important and significant. The question, though, is what this chapter s particular relevance to the time period of the Yamim Noraim really is. The Midrash 13 expounds on this chapter and says that Ori is on Rosh Hashana, Yish ee is on Yom Kippur. Yish ee, meaning salvation, is indeed a sensible description of Yom Kippur, as the purpose of Yom Kippur is to atone for our sins. Rosh Hashana, though, being alluded to as Ori, my light, is more perplexing. How is light a description of Rosh Hashana? If anything, we might view the day of Rosh Hashana as being dark and gloomy as it is the greatly feared Day of Judgment? The Gemara 14 learns from a different pasuk in Tehillim 15 that says ba keseh li yom chageinu mishpat l Elokei Yaakov - in the hiddenness of our holiday is judgment for the G-d of the Jewish people, that this judgment day refers to Rosh Hashana. The Gemara understands the word Ba keseh, hiddenness, to refer to a day that the moon is hidden, and so the verse is referring to a holiday that takes place on a day that the moon is hidden, cannot be seen. The only holiday that we have where the moon is hidden is Rosh Hashana, as it takes place on the first day of the lunar month, wherein the moon is not visible. This passage from Chazal seems to suggest that there is a darkness connected to Rosh Hashana, as it is the only holiday with no moonlight it is instead ba keseh li yom chageinu Shochar Tov Tehillim 27, Rosh Hashanah 8a

7 Another Chazal that even more starkly points out these contrasting aspects of Rosh Hashana is another Midrash 16. The Midrash says that on Rosh Hashana the sun comes to Hashem to prosecute the Jewish people. Hashem responds to the sun: but you are only a single witness 17. (A single witness testimony is halachically often not sufficient to bring charges in many cases.) The sun then goes to find the moon to bring along with him, but can t find it (and thus, lacking a second witness, charges against the Jewish people are dropped). This Midrash is most problematic as it clearly depicts the duality of darkness and light - there is lack of moonlight, and yet the sun is in full force. What also has to be understood is what is the sun s problem is with the Jewish people, and why is the moon unavailable to prosecute the Jewish people? It also seems as though the role of the sun should be bright and positive and the lack of moon darker and more adversarial, and yet the opposite seems to be true; the moon makes itself scarce so as to protect the Jewish people, and the sun is the accuser. To begin understanding these statements of Chazal we must first explain another Midrash. The Midrash 18 in Rarshas Mikeitz, expounding a pasuk in Iyov 19, says that there is an expiration time for darkness, a time limit to how long the world will run in darkness. Why? Because so long as there is a yetzer horah there is death and darkness in the world. So too, Yosef was given a time as to how long he would be locked up in the dark prison; once this time came to and end, Pharoah had his dream. What is this darkness and yetzer horah that the Midrash is referring to, and what does it have to do with Yosef being in prison? The key to understanding Chazal s message is Rav Eliyahu Dessler s explanation of light and darkness. R Dessler 20 explains that parallel to the physical creation of light and darkness in the world, there was also a conceptual /spiritual creation of light and darkness as well. Physical light is what the eye can t see at all until it is reflected off of something that absorbs the light to some degree. We can t see air because it does not absorb light. Darker colored objects are physically easier to see because they absorb the most amount of light. Just as the physical component of light is what allows us to see the world, and with the absence of light nothing can be seen in the physical world, so too there is a conceptual light that was created as well which is a light that helps us see and perceive spiritual concepts. This 16 Yalkut Meam Loez, Tehillim 81:4 17 See Devarim 19:15 18 Breishis Rabbah 89: :3 20 Michtav MayEliyahu vol. 3 p

8 conceptual light is a code word for gaining a greater lucidity of Hashem's presence, Torah and mitzvos in this world, and darkness is anything that detracts from that clarity dulling our sense or spirituality. The only way to have light in the world, explains R Dessler, is if there is a contrast of darkness to reflect the light and to help the light stand out and be noticed. The purpose of the world is to work on strengthening and increasing the clarity of Hashem and His Torah in the world. But without the option of having a lack of clarity, through the physical world which covers up these spiritual ideals, there would be no work for man to do in this world. In Tehillim 21 it says Oteh or ka salma - Hashem dons light like a cloak. This implies that light is something that covers up Hashem and not something that reveals Hashem. This, R Dessler says, is what the concept of light is. Light is not a complete revelation of Hashem because any non-contrastable light has no revelation at all. Only a revelation through a cover up that contrasts the clarity allows for a true clarity of Hashem to come out in the world. Just as physically if nothing in the world absorbed light just reflected light then the eye would see nothing. The physical world covers up the spirituality that is contained within it. The goal of the world is to bring out the spiritual light from within the physical darkness. Adam HaRishon before his sin had the ultimate level of clarity of Hashem, as Chazal 22 say metaphorically that he was able to see from one end of the world to the other. Only after his sin did this clarity and light get diminished, as Chazal say that Hashem put His hand on Adam and lessened him to one hundred amos. From that point onward the goal for the rest of creation was and still is, to regain that level of clarity that once was. Our objective is to look past the darkness of the physical world that we perceive and to connect to Hashem in everything we do. In Tehillim 23 it says that in olam habah layla ka yom yair night will be bright like the daytime; similarly the pasuk in Isaiah 24 says that in olam habah Hashem will be for us the light of the world, for when we reach our goal, then the spiritual light of Hashem will be brought out fully. With this we can understand the Midrash above about a time limit to darkness. It is referring to the darkness that conceals Hashem in the physical world. This darkness and confusion has a built-in end to it. The goal we are striving towards is to get to Breishis Rabbah 12:5, also see Chagiga 12a : :

9 that level of clarity that we are told we will have in olam habah. What gets in the way of this clarity is the yetzer harah, physicality and anything else that detracts from our focus on avodas Hashem. Yosef was in prison for ten years and then Hashem added two more years to his stay as a punishment for putting his faith in the sar hamashkim, Pharoah s drink server, and not in Hashem 25. R Tzadok HaCohen 26 explains that those ten years were given as a chance for Yosef to perfect his clarity of Hashem even through the darkest parts of this world. When Yosef chose to rely on the sar hamashkim he displayed a slight taint in his clarity of Hashem s control of this world and therefore required an additional two years to purify himself completely. At the point when Yosef was released he was completely pure and had perfect clarity of Hashem in the world. The day that Yosef was released from the prison was on Rosh Hashana, as Chazal 27 say, based on a pasuk in the same chapter of Tehillim 81 that says ba keseh li yom chageinu. The very next pasuk following the words judgment for the G-d of Yaakov says He appointed it as a testimony for Yosef when he went out over the land of Egypt that when Yosef went out of prison to rule over Mitzrayim it was on the day of Rosh Hashanah. This special level of clarity that Yosef was able to attain was something especially attributed to Rosh Hashana. Adam Harishon was created on Rosh Hashana 29. On that same day of creation that Adam had the greatest clarity of Hashem, he committed his sin 30, ruining that level of clarity for future generations to come. The day of Rosh Hashana is the day where we have the ability to focus our energies and abilities to see Hashem in our lives and to uncover the darkness and see the light within it all. The avodah of Rosh Hashana is to regain that perspective that Adam Harishon once had and then lost, and that Yosef was able to attain on that day. This is why the word ori in L David Hashem is an allusion to Rosh Hashana, as it is the day given to us to refocus our vision - to start searching to find more of Hashem in our lives and treading out of the immense darkness that this world has within it. We have to uncover all of the layers of coverings to reveal Hashem 25 See Rashi Breishis 40:23 26 Parshas Mikeitz 27 Rosh Hashana 10b 28 Tehillim 81:6 29 Zohar Breishis 37a 30 Sanhedrin 31b 7

10 behind it all. Yosef was given the name Tzafnas Paneach 31 meaning He who reveals that which is hidden 32. That was not just a specific title to Yosef for his dream interpreting abilities, but it also stemmed from his overall ability to pull out the light from the dark, the kedusha from the tumah, the clarity from a world of hiddenness. Rosh Hashana specifically comes in the time of month that the moonlight is hidden, ba keseh li yom chageinu. The message is that the light of Rosh Hashana has to be revealed from even the darkest of nights. We can more easily connect ourselves to Hashem during those high points of spiritual clarity throughout the year, but that is not enough. Even in the dark nights the focus has to be to regain what Adam had and what Yosef worked so hard for, so that Hashem will be our light and the darkness will cease to exist. May we all merit seeing the light and finding Hashem throughout our days and lives and may we all see together the ultimate day of redemption that will take us to the eternal clarity. 31 Breishis 41:45 32 Targum Unkelos 8

11 In Loving Memory,nab hukhgk hukv hcm cegh,c vtk ksbhhre Mrs. Carol Rosen Langsam kguukguu van,c khyg Mrs. Ethel Rosen by Larry and Aviva Rosen and family

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