In the Selichot that surround Rosh Hashana, a climax of the ritual is the exclamation of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy revealed to Moshe when he requested to see “all of Hashem’s goodness” (Shemot 34:6). However, on Rosh Hashana we do not recite Selichot, and we almost don’t say the Thirteen Attributes at all (except, as on all holidays that fall on a weekday, when the Aron is opened). On the other hand, we do have a unique Rosh Hashana ritual – more on that below – associated with the concluding verses from Micha (7:18-20), which Jewish tradition teaches also correspond to thirteen attributes of Divine mercy (see especially the Idra Rabbah in the Zohar and elsewhere).
These variations in our ritual speak to a powerful metaphysical truth embedded in these ancient incantations, and also to the special spiritual resonance of Rosh Hashana. For Rosh Hashana embodies a paradox between our very public proclamations of the majesty of Hashem and our attempts to elide consideration and enumeration of our own transgressions. (For example, we also do not recite the viduy confessional on Rosh Hashana.)
Regarding the Thirteen Attributes (from Shemot) themselves, Rashi has an interesting gloss that has inspired future generations of commentators as well. Rashi explains that Hashem is an unremitting source of mercy both before an individual transgresses His will and also afterward. We should not imagine that Hashem changes, so it is we who have changed. Nevertheless, Hashem is always and only Hashem – He is as His name entails, full of mercy and forgiveness.
Ramban approaches this from a different perspective, also placing the emphasis on the human and the temporal, but explaining how we are ennobled and elevated by reference to our Divine Creator. Ramban explains that all of the first three attributes are names of Hashem – twice the Four-Letter Name, followed by the name El. This indicates that Hashem is first and foremost Himself – Divine and transcendent – and His attributes are beyond our comprehension. But the following ten attributes do correspond to qualities in our own best nature as human beings, and we become more refined, ethical, and actualized when we cultivate these aspects of ourselves. So, there is actually a persistent theme linking these very different approaches, speaking to how we learn to transcend the baser aspects of our own nature by imitating the aspects of Hashem that have been revealed to us.
Hashem is Hashem in the supernal realms in which He plans Creation as an ideal to be embodied, and He is Hashem in the physical world that He created and which we have inhabited since the first Rosh Hashana. This also brings us back to the Thirteen Attributes revealed by the navi Micha, which provide the text for our Tashlich service, and in most communities are added to the end of the haftara. As noted above, these pesukim, beginning “Mi El Kamocha,” represent the Thirteen Attributes of Hashem in higher realms beyond the universe of space and time that we inhabit. In the Lurianic tradition, these supernal aspects of Hashem unfold into our world, begetting the parameters of the reality that we inhabit. Thus, when we say the Tashlich service on Rosh Hashana afternoon – gazing at the horizon over the ocean, or standing by a body of water that flows into it – we are acknowledging how everything in our universe (which was created on Rosh Hashana) is an imprint of a Divine template that is embodied somewhere beyond our comprehension.
We know our Creator through His works, which He has shaped for us to experience, and from these experiences we learn of the Divine plan that guided all of Creation – ourselves and our universe. This plan is a reflection of the perfection of all possible universes that He has created and continues constantly to create, according to Chazal. In all places and in all times – those that we can experience, those we can imagine, and those that are beyond our comprehension – Hashem is known by His mercy and His compassion towards everything that He creates. May He reveal His mercy to us and bring us relief from all adversity, and complete the process of redeeming our universe that He began upon creating it on Rosh Hashana 5786 years ago.