The True Essence of Rosh Hashanah (It's Not What You Think)

Roshashana is a day of surrender of admission. There are many aspects of the holiday and its observance and I think sometimes that gets confusing for people what is the actual nature of the day the character of the day but in the interest of keeping things simple which is usually a good approach to spirituality is to keep things simple uh let's try to reduce it to it to its essence. The essence of Roshashana is surrendering to God's authority. As such, it's really an obvious step one, so to speak, of the year. Meaning, it's the first day of the year. And not only it's the first day of the year, it commemorates the beginning of of creation itself. So, Roshashana really is the foundation of everything. And it should it should come as no surprise therefore that being that the foundation of everything the first step so to speak of admission of powerlessness that that Roshashana would be this uh basic acceptance surrender admission and allowing Hashem to be king allowing Hashem to to to rule to be the authority. I'm not the authority he is the authority and that's the foundation of everything. And then we build everything else on top of that. And God willing, you know, we have three weeks here. So we'll talk about how Yim Kipper is built on top of the surrender of Roshashana. And we'll talk about how later Sukus represents the life that we build on top of what we build on on top of Yim Kipper which is built on top of Roshashana. But everything is built on Roshashana and it's it is the foundation not the ground floor but the basement the foundation and the foundation is surrender. Surrender to God's authority. Okay. So let's talk about first historically just give a little bit of background. [Music] Rashashana is not just the first day of the Jewish calendar but it is an anniversary. It commemorates the creation. Interestingly it is not the anniversary of the first day of the six days of creation. In six days the world was created. On the seventh day uh Hashem rested. But Roshashana is not the anniversary of the first day of creation. It is the anniversary of the sixth day of creation. The sixth day of creation is unique in that it is the day that Odum, the first human was created. And what did Odum, the first human, Adam in English, what did he do when he was created? He accepted Hashem's authority. He accepted Hashem's kingship. And indeed, he was the first being that had the ability to accept Hashem's kingship. The animals couldn't accept Hashem's kingship. They run on instinct. They don't have free will. The plants, yeah, plants also have consciousness. That's why you got to be nice to them. Um, but they also don't have free will, just like animals don't have free will. inanimate objects, no free will. Oh, what about spiritual beings like angels? Well, they have incredible consciousness. They are aware of the mysteries of the universe much more than we are. But again, no free will. In fact, that's why the animals are sometimes called the uh the holy animals literally means animals because they run on instinct. Um, so they also have no free will. In other words, they can't rebel. And if you can't rebel, then you can't affirm, you can't accept, you can't submit. Adam was the first being that had free will and therefore his acceptance of God's kingship was meaningful. So Roshashana historically is the anniversary of the moment when Hashem actually became a king because a king is a relationship. The definition of a king is a relationship. You can't unilaterally just call yourself a king. Oh yeah. Well, where are your subjects? Right. There are plenty of people uh in the insane asylum who claim to be Napoleon. Okay, show me your army. Right? So, a king means a relationship. Hashem is Hashem with or without us. He doesn't need to create or to have beings with free will who can affirm his uh his existence in order for him to exist. He exists because he exists. He doesn't need anything outside of himself in order to exist. But to be a king, yes, he does need subjects because that's the definition of a king. So it's a sort of a beautiful concept here. Roshashana is not just the day that we I'm saying we cuz collectively we're all descended from from the first human from Adam. It's not just the day that we submitted and we accepted Hashem's kingship. It is the day that Hashem became a king. Because until we crown him, he is not a king. He's Hashem. He's the creator. He's the prime mover of all. He is absolute existence, unconditional existence. He is what he is. But until we accept him, he is not a king. And that's what repeats itself every year on Roshashana. Not only does something happen for us, something happens for Hashem and something happens for the world consequently, which we'll talk about right here. What happens for us is that we renew our submission and surrender to God. We admit that we did not put ourselves here. We admit that the world cannot exist without its creator. And we submit not only to that fact but we also submit to Hashem's will meaning his will for us. And that's part of the dedication or the rededication that takes place in Roshashana is that we accept that we are going to live our lives not according to our own self-will. That's what happens for us and that's the primary avoida. That's the Hebrew word for the work. That's the primary work that needs to be done on Roshashana is that act of submission. What happens for Hashem is that he so to speak becomes king again. Like I said, he will always exist. He existed for infinity, eternality before there was a world and will after there's a world. But he becomes a king when we crown him. It's sort of like, you know, if a man isn't married, he's still himself, but he's not a husband. And it's not until his wife accepts him as her husband that he becomes a husband. Then imagine sort of like a renewal of vows, reaffirms that he is her husband. So, Hashem becomes king again every year. Hashem becomes the authority again every year. and not just in microcosm of our lives. Obviously, it's when I accept Hashem as my authority that makes him king over my life, but by extension actually, and this is what I want to say that not only is there there's something that happens for us and Roshana, something that happens for Hashem, something that happens for the world. When we accept divine authority on Roshashana, that causes Hashem to be king over the world again on the macro level. And how does that work? There's an interesting concept that the world is renewed really every single second. Creation something from nothing is taking place every single second by definition. But um on a more particular level, the world is ruined every year. What What does that even mean? How how can they both be true? Okay. Um the world is created every single second because by definition, the world comes something from nothing. And nothingness will constantly strain to revert to its default state of non-existence if not constantly having somethingness imposed upon it. So the world is created something from nothing every single second. But uh on the other hand, the power which brings the world into being is um allotted a year's worth at a time. Think about it like this. God allotss a year's worth of energy that is sufficient for operating the entire cosmos. And by that I don't just mean the physical universe. I mean the spiritual universes as well which are even more complex and extensive than the physical universe. So so there's an aotment of a year's worth of energy every year when on Roshashon as a response to our accepting his authority his kingship. This is based on the words from Dvarim Yud Alf Deuteronomy 11:12. We're told about the holy land about the land of Israel. It's a land that Hashem is constantly looking after. Hashem is always uh sort of investigating what's happening in the holy land and it explains that through looking out for what's going on in the holy land then by by extension he's examining and evaluating the entire world uh a land that Hashem's eyes are always upon from the beginning of the year till the end of the year. Well, hold on a second. If Hashem's eyes are upon the land to meet constantly, then why would you say from the beginning of the year to the end of the year? That makes it sound like it's only for that set amount of time, beginning to the end. Oh, you mean from the beginning to the end and then once one year ends, the next year begins. Okay, fine. Then you should have said just always. He's always looking at the land. How can it be both? How can he be He's always looking at the land from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Okay, so the cabalistic explanation which resolves this apparent contradiction in the words of the verse is that he is constantly effectively he is constantly looking upon the land. Um, but he does it from the beginning to the end, which means that there's a commitment on a yearly basis that I'm going to renew this contract. We're going to do this project. You know, remember, Hashem is absolute existence. He doesn't need to be a creator. So, the fact that creation exists is is by virtue of his decision that creation is a worthy project. Well, on what basis does does Hashem decide that creation is a worthy project? On the basis of our being interested in accepting his authority because then there's a relationship and then there's what to be involved in. But if we're not interested in a relationship, what does what does he need a world for? For, you know, to put it on a shelf and to collect worlds to to to prove something that he could that he can make a world. The world is only significant in as much as it's the forum within which we have a relationship with him. So when we accept Hashem and Roshashana, Hashem infuses the world with a year's worth of energy. Now like I said earlier, the world is constantly being recreated every single second. So you know it's like every year is uh the deposit to the account and then every day you take a certain withdrawal from the from the ATM. Okay. Um, and in fact, that's a concept that our sages discuss. There's two different talic passages which seemingly contradict each other. It says, "A person is judged every day. A person is judged every year." And how do you reconcile the two? Okay, in a similar manner in which we've explained, meaning there's an allotment for the year based on what? based on our acceptance of Hashem's authority on Roshashana, the anniversary of when when Hashem's authority was first accepted by the first human being. And then on a day-to-day basis, we make withdrawals withdrawals from the ATM, so to speak, again, by submitting to his will on an in on an active basis, on an ongoing basis, on a dynamic basis throughout the year. Okay? So that's the main concept that Roshashana is not just happy new year 5786. Can you believe it? Um, Roshashana is the day when all of the energy of the cosmos have depleted and Hashem tent tentatively looks to us and says, "We going to do this again? What do you say?" Now, the beautiful thing about it, I would even call it romantic, is that the ball's in our court. Hashem doesn't say, "I'll get back to you. Let me know what you want to do and I'll I'll let you know if I'm interested as well." Hashem actually says, "I'm ready to commit based on what you say. If you want to do this, let's do it." And there's a certain vulnerability in that that Hashem gives us the power. The power to do what? the power to recognize that he is the power. That's a beautiful concept. Hashem backs off and says, "I will not force you to choose me. I will not force you to accept my reality even though I am absolute reality. I will let you choose. You have this power. You can rebel. God forbid. You can deny, God forbid, avoid, God forbid, or or you can affirm. And if you do choose to affirm, says Hashem, I am ready to not only give you a good, sweet new year, but I'm ready to recreate the entire cosmos, something from nothing for another year. It's worth it. It's worth it as a form within which to have this relationship with you. So it's a very powerful concept.