DOUBLE DAYS: ROSH HASHANH 5775

Shira Smiles shiur

Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein

            Of all the holidays in the Jewish calendar, only Rosh Hashanah is mandated as a two day holiday both within and outside Eretz Yisroel. Why is this so? Rabbi Dessler in Sanctuaries in Time gives us the simplest, most practical answer. As the Torah commanded, the new moon was to be proclaimed based on the accounts of two eye witnesses coming to the Sanhedrin. The onset for every holiday was then easily calculated from the time the new moon was proclaimed to the day in the month that Hashem designated as the holiday. If the witnesses were delayed, there was little effect on the onset of the holiday, for they were all further into the month. Hashem, however, commanded that Rosh Hashanah be the first day of the month. If the witnesses were delayed, the proper day of observance would be missed. The Sages, therefore, declared Rosh Hashanah to be observed based on their astronomical calculations as the thirtieth day of Elul and set the second day as the first of Tishrei. This would cover either day of an eye witness account should there be a delay in the arrival of the witnesses. This practice of observing two days of Rosh Hashanah (although they have become the first and second days of Tishrei) has since become standardized.

            However, Rav Dessler then raises a second question. Rosh Hashanah has an additional designation to that of yom tov; it is also the Day of Judgment. We now have fixed the Day of Judgment to actually be the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Why then do we repeat the basic liturgy of the first day on the second day, reciting that “God sits in judgment over all His creatures” and other such phrases?

            Rabbi Shmuel Tal, the Tal Chaim, writes that indeed all of our energy should be devoted to our prayers on the first day. If we are indeed praying with the proper focus, we will find we need a second day to achieve the full emotional connection we want. The first day then becomes the building block for our teshuvah and Hashem’s full coronation on the second day.

            Beyond this need, the Shvilei Pinchas, Rabbi Pinchas Friedman of Belz,  quotes the Ari Hakodesh who notes that there is a difference between the two days. Day One is a day of strict judgment, while Day Two is a day of judgment tempered with mercy, a mirror of Hashem’s formulation in creating the world. Originally the world was to be created under the terms of strict judgment, but Hashem foresaw that the world and mankind could not exist under those guidelines. So Hashem added the element of mercy to temper the judgment, so that the world and mankind could survive.

            Nevertheless, we are not all judged at once. The extremely righteous, like Rabbi Akivah, are judged on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, under the rubric of extreme justice, while most of us are judged on the second day, our judgment tempered with mercy. Each of us is judged individually, on our own time and in our own way. As the Zohar says, if one suddenly begins crying on Rosh Hashanah, whether on the first or the second day, with no apparent reason, it is because his soul is being judged at that moment.

            The Shvilei Pinchas continues to build the connection between the two days of Rosh Hashanah through the command of blowing the shofar before Hashem as a reminder of the binding of Isaac, and as symbolic of our binding ourselves on the altar for Him.

             Continuing from the Zohar, the Shvilei Pinchas explains that Avraham Avinu, the paradigm of chesed, mercy and loving kindness, was commanded to bind Yitzchak, the model of strict justice and awe on the altar. On the first day of Rosh Hashanah we read the Torah selection about the birth of Isaac, of strict justice; on the second day we read about the binding of Isaac. The Zohar explains this to mean that Hashem wanted Avraham’s attribute of mercy to bind and restrict the flow of strict justice and harness it with kindness.

            When we blow the shofar and accept the yoke of Heaven, we are doing more than coronating Hashem over the world. We are proclaiming that we want a closer relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu, a relationship that transcends the physical world of order and limits and reveals more of Hashem’s Kingdom until every creature recognizes its Creator. When we do this avodah on Rosh Hashanah, Hashem invokes His attribute of mercy and seeks to bestow goodness upon us also beyond the natural order and limits. The first day’s service leads to the growth within the second day’s service. We move toward bringing Hashem into every aspect of our lives. We move Him from the macrocosm of being King over the world to being King over the microcosm of my personal world, wherever and under whatever circumstances that might be, for He has created it all. Thus, coronating Hashem is not only an intellectual exercise but also an emotional mission that must be actualized through deed.

            Rabbi Pincus continues his discussion by reminding us that the theme of the day, emphasized through proclaiming God’s sovereignty, is renewal, for, “This day is the beginning of Your deeds; a remembrance of the first day.” While we know intellectually that Hashem is the Creator, the idea has become worn. Our avodah on this day is to revitalize the concept, to read the words of the prayers with a renewed sense of wonder at their meaning. For example, when we start a blessing with Boruch, instead of just translating it as “blessed”, think of the root of the word, a bereicha, an overflowing pool of blessings which Hashem wants to give us. We are renewed in our understanding of Hashem’s infinity and His love for us.

            So too must we approach the performance of the mitzvoth, with renewal and freshness. This is the message of the first day. The second day brings with it the sense of preciousness. On the first day of Rosh Hashanah our relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu is from the back. We are in the same place, we are aware of Hashem’s presence, but we do not feel closely attached to Him. On the second day, however, the relationship is face to face, as the cheruvim in the Beit Hamikdosh. The shofar sounds then enter our heart and open us up to a closer relationship, to a time when the cherubim are face to face rather than turned to the side. The first day gets us to our obligation; the second day gets us to work toward a relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. The first day is necessary to bring us to the second day. We transform our relationship from one of obligation to one of love.

             In Maayan Hamoed Rabbi Sholom Meir Wallach leads us in a different direction to explain the two days of Rosh Hashanah. He quotes the Koshnitzer Maggid  that, although the two are not exclusionary, the first day is reserved for us to concentrate on our inner world, to ask for spiritual growth, while the second day is available for us to focus more on the outer, physical and material world. However, nowhere in the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah do we seem to have these requests, as we have in the weekday liturgy where we ask Hashem to heal us and to give us sustenance, for example. Where can we include these requests in our Rosh Hashanah prayers?

            Rabbi Avraham Yisroel Rosenthal gives us an interesting point taken from the Sefas Emes. In Kemotzeh Shalal Rav he posits that the reason many have the tradition of having simonim, symbolic foods on the yom tov table is to allude to requests that pertain to the physical world, such as leadership and fertility. The focus of the day itself, as the Siddur of the Vilna Gaon emphasizes, is on God’s grandeur and sovereignty. We allude to the physical in the liturgy only by reciting that we should be remembered for life, for He is a King Who desires life.

            Nevertheless, writes Rav Walkin in The World Within, Rosh Hashanah is a time to also pray for oneself and the sustenance of one’s children. Anyone who focuses exclusively on God’s grandeur without including personal prayers, his prayers are tainted with falsehood. As Rav Biderman points out in Beer Hachaim, not asking for Hashem’s help is the physical and material realm carries a hint of apostasy, as if we are saying we can handle these areas on our own.

            Rabbi Moshe Stern balances the two aspects of our prayers. In Modah Labinah, he writes that both personal, physical material requests and spiritual requests are important parts of our Rosh Hashanah prayers. But our personal requests should not be for personal aggrandizement, but for the glory of the living God. Give us health, Hashem, so we can serve you, enough money so we can pay our children’s tuition to learn Your Torah. And where can we add these prayers? After the last paragraph of the Shemonah Esrai, after Elokai netzor and before Yehi ratzon.

            And our requests should not be selfish, says Rabbi Jakobowitz, but should extend to others in a similar position. Hashem, my daughter needs a fitting shidduch. But she is not the only one. Please send all the young singles their appropriate matches soon. Hashem, heal my Yanky from his illness, and heal all the other “Yanky’s” from their illnesses. This idea is similarly contained in the lines traditionally said with the symbolic foods: That we should be as a head …, not that I should be…Rabbi Jakobowitz points out that chazal instituted personal tefillot  when the aron kodesh is open, as well as at the end of the Priestly Blessing.

            Rabbi Mattisyahu Solomon points to four phrases in the liturgy that encapsulate all our spiritual requests and all our material and physical requests: Kadsheinu bemitzvosecha – sanctify us with your commandments, Veten chelkeinu beTorahtecha – and grand us our share in Your Torah study,  Sabeinu mituvecha – satisfy us from Your goodness, Vesamcheinu beyeshuasecha – and gladden us with Your salvation.

            The liturgy is not meant to be a rote recital, but rather a guide to our thoughts, writes Rav Eliezer Meislish in Imru Lefonai Malchuyot. When we recite the section of the liturgy devoted to Malchuyot - Sovereignty, we are making a request that Hashem reveal Himself  in my personal world, that He remove the distraction that have entered our lives through the influence of modern civilization. In Zichronot – Remembrances, we request that Hashem remember us on every path in our lives. And in Shofrot we ask Hashem to give us sustenance so we may serve Him in the best way possible.

            Hashem saw that we would need two days to accomplish the work of Rosh Hashanah and in His benevolence gave us the opportunity to do just that.