Happy Birthday

Rosh Hashanah

Have you ever wondered why Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgement, is on the first of Tishrei? On this day HaKadosh Baruch Hu sits in judgement and decides whether to inscribe us in the Book of Life, or not.

If you have had the doubtful "pleasure" of being a courtroom, perhaps for a traffic fine, perhaps something worse, you will know – courtrooms are not where people go to have fun. Either chas v’chalila it is you on trial, or you are suing someone else, or you are a witness for someone else's trial, etc. Usually, people land up in court because they did something wrong, or someone else did something wrong to them and they need the judge to adjudicate, to decide who is innocent and who is guilty.

On Rosh Hashanah we are all on trial for our behavior in the past year. The reason we made it to Rosh Hashanah this year is because last Rosh Hashanah HaKadosh Baruch Hu decided to give us another year. We live our lives from year to year and (hopefully) incrementally improve ourselves from the previous year. Since none of us are on the level of Amram, the father of Moshe Rabbeinu (who Chazal say never sinned once in his life), we are uncertain as to the outcome of the trial. It is a stressful business.

In Musaf on Rosh Hashanah we say "HaYom Harat Olam," today is the birthday of the world – the day HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the world. But, is it really? Chazal (Vayikra Rabba 29a) say that the world was actually created on the 25^th Elul. Six days later, Rosh Hashanah, is actually the 6^th day of Creation, the day HaKadosh Baruch Hu created human beings. So, in fact Rosh Hashanah is our birthday, the birthday of the human race – for whom the entire world was created (in the previous six days), so it is therefore in effect "HaYom Harat Olam" – the culmination of the Creation.

Something else besides a "birthday party" took place on the 6^th day – the first trial! Chazal break down the 6^th day hour by hour – what took place at what time. Up to the 10^th hour of the day, there is a difference of opinion between the commentators exactly what took place, but for two time-intervals, there is consensus. In the 10^th hour Adam HaRishon sinned and in the 11^th hour he was judged.

A busy day. First a celebratory birthday party together with a whole bunch of special guests (angels), gifts (Adam's new wife Chava). A chuppah ceremony for desert and then (oy vey) a binge and a hangover! The sound of "sirens," being led to court, a trial, and finally in the 12^th hour – sentencing.

The reason we stand on trial every Rosh Hashanah is because it is our birthday and also the birthday of the first courtroom trial in history. Every Rosh Hashanah we relive Adam HaRishon's trial.

Many of the customs we observe on Rosh Hashanah relate to this. The Zohar (part A., 36a) tells us that Chava squeezed grapes and gave Adam wine to drink and Adam fell asleep. While he slept, the snake seduced Chava. For this reason, we have the custom to not sleep during the day of Rosh Hashanah – either day (Rema, Orach Chayim 583, 2). The Rema (ibid.) says we also should refrain from eating nuts on Rosh Hashanah because the Hebrew word for nut, "egoz," in gematria is the same as the Hebrew word "chet" meaning – sin (chet tet, without the aleph).

Perhaps the most counterintuitive of the customs is feasting the night of Rosh Hashanah, prior to our trial the following day. If you had a lawsuit of a million dollars (for you or against you) the following day, you would probably not sleep the night before from nerves, you would certainly not enjoy a feast for dinner the night before, with a whole array of special foods, like a Pesach seder. If we assume the role of Adam HaRishon the following day and stand trial before HaKadosh Baruch Hu, we should be fasting on Rosh Hashanah like we do on Yom Kippur!

The reason we eat and make merry the night before reflects the duality of this special day. Before Adam HaRishon sinned, he celebrated both his birthday and wedding with Chava, feasting and drinking. Unlike Adam HaRishon, however, we don't turn this into a "Purim" party and get paralytic drunk. It is a feast with spiritual significance and symbolism – to atone for Adam's sin, not to repeat it once again.

Adam sinned almost six thousand years ago at the beginning of time. History since then has been a gradual process of righting that wrong, a process that will culminate at the end of the sixth thousandth year (or sooner if we are worthy). Every Rosh Hashanah is incrementally a higher level leading up to this climax.

We therefore approach Rosh Hashanah with optimism and hope, not despair. We celebrate this special festival with a balanced measure of joy and fear – "Gilu b'Re'ada." And in the end … HaKadosh Baruch Hu performs a miracle and we exit the trial exonerated (Yerushalmi, Rosh Hashanah 1, 3).

Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: If the first day of Rosh Hashanah is on Shabbat (like this year) we don't blow the shofar, in case someone may transgress Shabbat by carrying the shofar to shul. Why can't we simply bring the shofar to shul before Shabbat and blow it on Shabbat?

Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: Why are there added dots above the words "Lanu ule'Vaneinu" in the pasuk (Devarim 29:28)? The pasuk talks about the overt sins and covert sins, that a Bet Din is obligated to punish anyone who overtly sins and if they don't, HaKadosh Baruch Hu will punish us collectively, but for someone who sins privately, unknown to anyone, HaKadosh Baruch Hu will punish them privately. The dots on top of these words come to teach us that until Am Yisrael crossed over the Jordan River with Joshua, HaKadosh Baruch Hu did not punish us collectively for an individual's sin, until we entered Eretz Yisrael and accepted the responsibility for one another – Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh la'Zeh! (Rashi, ibid.)