The Evolution of Rosh Hashana from Tanach to Modern Times (part 3) - Rabbi Shai Finkelstein

so what we spoke about in the last two weeks was about really how looked looked like in the time of then we spoke about the evolution of into yum and then we start talking about the TOA if you remember the TOA and the mishna regarding the structure so we'll continue with that and then we will try to um to summarize it and to come up with some kind of conclusions so on page 10 it says the following so says that there are four times a year that the world is being judged during p on on the Harvest on the fruits the trees and a person is being judged and is being signed when okay now there is something very interesting when you look at the structure here in terms of content and structure the content is three out of four are talking about what agriculture everything that has to do with agriculture Harvest trees water and Men is nothing to do with agriculture it's about what if you're going to make it next year or not okay so that's that's a little different That's A and B it should say you see that from the language it seems to be a bit different I'm not saying that it's totally off but it's little different now the thing is that obviously there is a question and the question is why do we need a special day for judgment we should have a day of judgment we have a day of judgment every day how do I know that we have a day of judgment every day the what almost everything that we do we don't wait to be good only on R hopefully right we are we are trying to be good every day so it seems to be that there is a special need for this special day SOI so rosi if you remember he says that a person is being judged every day so basically the G says if you turn to page 11 I I had to put the sources like that says what a person is being judged every day you will judge him every morning every hour not every day every [Music] hour so obviously the question is why do we need a special day especially according to Rabin Natan if I'm being judged every hour why do I need to be judged again especially on R if I'm being judged every day also the same question so why do we need a special day so what I want you to do is that we're going to skip a bit and take a look on page 12 do you see the title it says a hasala what is hasala implant implant exactly okay implant now implant in the mishna what does that mean so take a look the mishna says like that there are four times of the year that the world is being judged which means who Fashions their hearts alike who considers all their deeds and on now this is a Mna and the mishna says there are four times a year that the world is being judged right okay take number three erase it what will be the structure of the mishna and I'll change one word there are three times that the world is being judged which means on during p on the Harvest trees sukot water would that make sense yeah what does not make sense the fourth one meaning the third one which is the fourth one you see the language again and again the language does not fit if in what we saw on page 12 where there it says what okay and is being judged I can understand it but here you don't even have the word what what do you have Maron meaning everyone every human goes like a b Maron whatever that means like let's say a lamb or a sheep in a flock okay and he and God look at them okay I can understand that the interpretation of looking at them is being judged but it doesn't say it here now now we we need to go through a little bit of an analysis of a mishna can you agree with me that uh go we spoke about the time ofra and right okay and are when after mdash okay after the destruction of the BET mdash 70 years in B and they are coming back okay so basically what the T describe is what is that in the time of was the day of what of reading the Torah food drink and Mish does not say that they didn't blow the chaar but it didn't say that they what they they did okay so we don't know you can assume yes you can assume no okay we saw that the second thing that we that we saw was that um the idea of which we have the Shar the Torah describe it as and Y what we did in the last two weeks or three weeks whenever it was we discussed the idea of tra when exactly did we use the trumpets and the so we saw based on not were done were used when mil a war or whatuh trumpets Gathering people to gather people or to what or War which both or especially in war the nature of the trumpets will be what de fear there is something that it's coming up right the chaar we blew the chaar when on Y and that was Associated not with fear but rather with what with joy Freedom salvation Redemption something that it's pretty nice and then what do you have you have in that's was okay that's was comes along and says what we have fast days we have y Yim your ju and we have what R we going to do the following D in the mid I have a board so I could write but what are we going to do okay we take the worda and is associated with what with however we make aesh between what between Y and R so we have what some kind of a koi what is a koi we're not sure if it's an animal or a beast okay we're not sure we created a k time we created a day that we use a chaar but we use some kind of a component of therefore if you remember the T what we spoke about the Mish we have sometimes thear will be in the middle and the will be on the sides and the kar is the stronger one and sometimes it's going to be what the opposite okay then we also saw that in the time of the tanim and it's there are all in the time of after Rab's basically death or murder which must mean after 135 they are all discussing what the type of the chaar and how it's that going to look like what does that mean if you remember do we need thear orar or anyar does the chaar needs to be P or kafo bent over or straight and and all of those discussions are for what do you think really God cares if that's going to be a Ben or St what were they trying to do the rabbis to try to do what to Define r sh as a day of that's the problem day of what judgement cration oh a day of judgment or a day of Celebration or a day of celebration of judgment that's very connected to my shim in the afternoon Shabbat afternoon here for the last I think two weeks or whatever it is we have a problem we don't have a b mikdash b mdash is gone 70 it's gone the rabbis and now most of theim are gone okay after 135 but there is some kind of a r ation and now we need to Define this so it becomes more and more as a day of judgment we see it already with RAB isma a colleague of RAB AKA and we definitely see it in the mishna now therefore I would like to suggest the following the mishna was in terms of the structure was as I suggested before only three times the world is being judged on the Harvest on the trees on the water and that's what it's called perfect however we have what and we have so what do you put as the fourth one you put the Adam and when you put the Adam even the structure of theam it's problem it's problematic why if I was the batana if I was the author of The mishna you know how would I Define it sounds good sounds great I think I mean in in my humble opinion I think I did I did right right I did pretty good but the mishna does not do it why not because and this is the second assumption I have you can disagree with that by the way this one that's from another mishna that's from another t s that basically start developing the idea of what the idea that R becomes y so if we're talking about judgment we going to what to be to plant it in the mishna and then we're going to have what which means now leave alone this entire structure basically my claim is that only in the middle of the second century third Century so second century in the middle of the 2 Century around let's say 150 sh becomes more and more of what of y a day of judgment I will tell you that's related little bit to my Shabbat afternoon class this split between is that y or Y is a split between and and also [Music] if you go to Aid okay how do they call iTab for example how do they call Itali how is being called by kabad crowning it's crowning not Crown Heights crowning crowning this is your you come and you are so happy you need to be happy why are you happy because you are the one to Crown AEM as a king on you even the between us the even when you go to yes one of the songs that we don't miss is what and we all jump I still remember when I was in Yesa and I would go there for Kim wow this song will a will last for 10 minutes and and everyone will be off their seats okay we with all our nothingness we are the ones to what to Crown hasem as a king on us this is not a day of judgment it's a great tune right so the idea is and also wake you up from you know from all this melan colony of uh you know you're going to die what are we we are nothing we are ashes we are you know so the idea is is that according to the for example and it's not only kabad it's the idea of what of I am the one to Crown AEM as a king on me or if you go to the tour for example in 14th century the son of the Ros he's talking about what he's bringing a midash that we you can't understand this nation every time you have a day of judgment what do you do you dress black you are worried you are in agony whatever and here we hear about what R what do we do we put our new clothes we come with white we are happy and we we know that we going going to what to be saved is definitely a component of what of happiness and joy but you cannot deny the fact it's what it's still a day of judgment it's a day of judgment so therefore therefore you see that kazal tried to do what to to find the right balance and there are many ramifications I'll give you one right even though you shouldn't say because your should be that's what is here only later on says what then the others but so do you say no right usually you don't say okay uh oh that's crowning okay that's the so the thing is is what is that we have the trumpets so it it means what so you don't call it but if you go to the Torah it says these are my holidays and you have Shabbat surprise surprise so it's a you should say yeah but there I can it's it's really then it's a but when you think about it we have on I brought in chabbat class I brought other other examples like when it falls on Shabbat but the idea is the idea is is that are struggling with how should I Define this day so we have both we have both we have the idea of judgment and we have the idea of C of mamash Celebration not just like not to be afraid I don't want to break your uh to burst your bubble anyone here is aiot you sure you didn't convert to B because you want to eat rice right so uh do you say o it's good that you sit there very good you you see there are Jews who do not say you know what because I mentioned n I'll say a few words about it you know you don't mind even if you do you don't have any other choices it's fine I'll tell you something about whoan many people think thatan to was composed by RAB Mima right in the 11th century or 12th century probably the time of the Crusaders and when they came and they destroyed the three main centers of Judaism in Germany what we call sh against WS okay and we all remember the story that they cut his fingers and okay it's not true not that the story I'm not sure if the the story is true or not we found a very similar poem like this one in theit in the kaoa which means it's way before uh so what do we do so first and foremost how do we know about this poem of obviously didn't send us an email with this poem so how do we know about it from the who was not from Vienna but he died in Vienna um he writes it in his book towards the end of the book he brings this poem and there different manuscripts that talks a little bit about a different story how exactly it was composed when exactly it was said and all of that now what's the what's the idea of why are we all getting excited not only because the Kazan is going to sing it for 15 minutes and but why because this is the essence of the day what is fear shaking uh people are trembling they are anxious and what we have no idea what's going wrong with us and especially in years like that you know this is basically the Pinnacle of the musaf that dictates to some extent the nature of the day now imagine R without it so what do you what are you saying there like what kind of f do you have on R long give me a peute that describe not fear but wonderful relationship with Hashem no no from the instead of what is The Pinacle poem there is no one y I don't know you don't say but give me a a poem from Yip I know I know I'm not ASI a do you sing it I can't hear oh by the way we are going to sing it here this year before n before Ash we are going to sing it why someone asked me a year ago and I said maybe not this year I want to show Unity we're going to sing a SPI song here this is the the what do you call it but there are few baim and one of the batim which I like so much it says what something about the fathers and the children the something to sign them for peace we Asim until the end of we are like still trembling and I said you know what we should have this song it talks about families he talks about children the tune is a beautiful tune which is a Happy tune it's not like you know the burden of all the Crusaders are like on you oh we will teach them don't worry we will send them on YouTube before oh he said that we will not know the tune we will know don't worry we know now you know we do a lot so we also say some but when you now why is it that there is such a difference between spim and Asim in terms of the nature of the day you should come to the Shir on Shabbat afteron for three weeks I'm building it up that people don't know what's going on this week we're going to solve the mystery this we will suggest a few ideas but let's go back to our sh the idea is is that the T realized that what that they need to have more of a day of judgment as and not necessarily only a day of what of of Celebration now um take a look at the next Source on page 12 why is it that the Torah says that you should bring om during P time because p is the time of bring of no not only judging it's also the time for what do you call Harvest bring me so I Will Bless The Harvest in the in the fields and why the Torah says that you need to bring the two breads on during because that's the time for for the trees to have fruits bring for me the two breads in during the page 13 why did I see that you see it's underlines what is why the three same language and then you have what what is that the water libation and then do you see how even if you don't understand the Hebrew just the structure why why why and then tell me you see that it doesn't fit you learned all a Hebrew word has that's a dental that's a dental walk but that's more expensive so here is a has Mna does not cost us too much money okay and we basically planted in the mishna because we are changing the day so if we talk about times that the world is being judged no I'm putting in another time which is what which is the Adam and there you see something interesting it's not it's why we the rabbis are telling you to say that you will Crown me as your king so I will remember you for good in what in way in what way with the chaar meaning both of them and this is by the way the rvah the rvah says that thear is being used for both for the Mal and for the the Mal you do withar and this is by the way we know how do we know that how do we know that you are crowning a king with ch M you look at the T what do they do they take him to a river and they take a p not from kanuka a p to anoint him and they blow the why a river like a waterf flow forever it's all symbolic so basically you take thear and you Crown as aing on you with thear you remind God Of Your Existence and your through why because that reminds him of what of so you bring the AKA into into r as well and in the AA itself you also have both components and also with me you have both components on one hand you have SIM and on the other hand you have what why the there is aim and the is obviously the trial terrible but the Sim is what that the is the the ram was in exchange of so you have both so the entire idea of is both now uh let me see o um okay take a look on page 14 I'm skipping a bit 14 look at the mid middle middle of the page Amal so aam the midash describes the conversation that was between Abraham and hasem okay the Torah does not describe anything nothing hasem says to Abraham abah abah don't don't touch the child okay but the midash says there was a conversation between ab and God I will translate in a minute says to look when you told me to take my beloved Son and to bring him as a sacrifice I thought for a second what is going on here you told me which means what will be your descendant he will be your legacy day later you telling me what kill him sacrifice him even though by the way Hashem never told Abraham to sacrifice is it says now I understand when someone is being told the first things that comes to mind obviously is what is a sacrifice okay not only just to put him on the Altar and then take him down butm never said okay so AB says to hm look I did not question you I had all those doubts but I was able to control myself and to overcome my desire to ask what's going on here so I overcame my my uh questions and therefore I'm asking you that whenever isak's children are sinning you need to think that I really sacrificed and you will see the ashes on the Altar and you will remember it and you will forgive them you said your pece now it's my turn I know that the's descendants are going to sin and I'm judging them when on and if they asking asking me to what to find for them I will remember they should what they blow thear so says what are you talking about look behind you or go back so he saw the RAM and then he understood what kind of AAR you want okay according to that this is something very interesting we all think the shaar is to remind us of what of AK and what in AK we want to remind God what what part of do we want to quote unquote remind Hashem so he will remember and have compassion over us that's what the midra says but what is the simple understanding is what is that the what the substitution that came a little later that God that Abraham followed his instructions right you need to remember God's ab's commitment and therefore forgive us according to the midash is not so much about that part it's about not questioning that gives a little bit of a different color and nature to you blow the chaar and you are asking God we didn't question when things were little strange for us we are asking you to do what think about it abam went on for three days trip with this thing in mind not about putting it on the altar just how can I even believe in that God why am I saying that first Hashem says oh but let let's build it up first I believe in a God that does not think that we need to sacrifice children a was totally against it okay so that's one I'm sure that every T guy I told you when you went through gay benom that why why it's called Gay benom because that's when they will sacrifice their children to the Bal or to the fire or whatever it is and they will uh play the drums and it will be a lot of noise so you don't hear the screams of the children and ab had to take it with him to where from raat from Aron to the Temple Mount okay so he had to go through that valy and people will did whatever they did and when they ask him no you bringing your child he says no no no I'm not bringing my child here I'm taking to sacrifice him where on the Temple Mount but didn't you say that your God does not believe in children's sacrifices oh yeah but he changed his mind a problem so there is what I will call an ideological uh theological issue that AB has and the second one is what is just do I understand God correctly on one hand he says and on the other hand he says to me what bring him as a sacrifice so AB had to go through all of that in 3 days and God does not communicate with him so after 3 days abam sees this cloud or whatever it is and he goes to the Temple Mount and he brings and then the moment he's about to what to slaughter him hasem says to him what it's not even God he a Mal he's an angel an angel comes along and says don't don't touch the child which is basically shows Thea the tremendous amount of faith that AB had so what we are asking Hashem to remember is this tremendous amuna that we have despite everything that is going on I think this message is very relevant uh in today's life in t that that we have such an that uh we believe that uh there is going to to be Redemption now um okay page 15 page 15 I called it a hybrid we all like hybrid today right so uh in which is a mid um it's pretty early M that was composed in Israel around sixth Century he says maybe it says like that in the middle of the page so you will say on the first hour of hasem thought about what creating Adam the second hour he consulted with the ministering Angels the third hour he assembled um the the Earth that Adam will be created from on the thirth hour he basically cemented this material on the seventh hour he instill in him a living soul Gan on the eighth hour he put him in ganen but on the ninth hour he was commanded not to eat from that tree an hour later whatever that means it's not 60 minutes he obviously disobeyed on the 11th hour he was judged on the 12th hour Yus what is Yus he was exonerated he was exonerated says to this is a sign for your children the same way you were judged today and you were exonerated exonerated he was punished but he didn't quotequote he didn't die for Generations your children are going to what to be judged on this day and they will be exagerated when on the seventh month on the first day which is obviously now who are Adam's Adam Aron's children everybody not only Jews right and that's what we see in the mishna call by means what everyone so how come it became only owl it's too hard they don't know they don't know re rejection one of the explanations is that basically it's really for everyone but they don't know we are the true say true descendant We Are The Chosen group to follow in Adam's Footsteps in order to bring the entire Humanity back to Adam marish which means this is what we call in seph had you know kind and heaven and from there on you have all the all the people and uh basically God realized after a while that you can't trust Humanity at large what do you need to do you need to select group so we selected individuals first AB yob jakob's family and then the nation of Israel they are what we call a descendants of Adam there is a hope for the other nations they can also become part of Adam but they need to have to go through some kind of a of a process and in conclusion take a look ATZ so according to it's a day of judgment judgment but also an exageration but but judgment it says the following god um assembled in in the middle of of the country in the middle of Israel in a pure place so then is being created and he looks left then he looks right and you see all the creatures that God created and and he was wondering look what's going on around me it's beautiful so what does he do he start what praising and singing to hem stood up he was in the image of God it was so tall that it basically reached right from the east to west so all the creatures saw this Adam he looked amazing like so all the creatures all the animals everyone gathered together and basically wanted to worship him because they thought he's the one who created them soam says to them why did you come so they come and they told him so we came here to bow down to you he says no no no come you and I we're going to dress with uh strength and and and dignity we're going to Crown the king that created us says a king is only a King when he has what a nation if a king does not have a nation he's a king on whom on no one only on his own Maybe so the idea is says come with me and we're going to Crown the true king at that moment Adam opened up his mouth and all the other creatures spoke after him we say we say it every Friday night and this is the for y the day of Adam's creation so what do you see from here does not talk about day of judgment talks about what day of crowning AEM as a king on us and that's what we what we say part of the it's it's it's very it's very present in the ding that we want everyone to recognize God so what was the evolution of R went through a lot R sh went through a lot from through what I will call the first stage of T and the second stage of T like will call it the first stage second stage after the destuction of the BET mdash later on in the time of the maybe even the implementation or the to implement something in the mishna in order to create some kind of a different nature to we spoke about the split between and we see that it's really in the early midashim talking about how you try to combine and intertwine integrate whatever you want to call it between the component of judgment and the component of crowning hasm as a king on that's for today [Music]