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Rosh HaShana: The Birth of Freedom By Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein
Why Rosh HaShana is much more than 'Jewish New Year's '
JewishWorldReview.com |
The key to understanding the themes of Rosh Hashanah is the date. The Day of Judgment for the world was not chosen arbitrarily, but is specifically on this date --- not because it is the first day of the year (in fact, the Mishnah mentions four different kinds of new year), but because it is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.
As we say in the Rosh Hashanah prayers after each time the shofar (ram's horn) is blown, "Today the world was created." This is because human beings are the reason for Creation. As the well-known Mishnah says, "He who saves one life is considered to have saved an entire world; and he who destroys one life is considered to have destroyed an entire world."
We understand that Rosh Hashanah is the day Adam and Eve were created. But what is the connection between this and judgment?
To answer this, we must first take a look at what makes the human being unique. G-d created many things in the world; why is the human being considered to be "an entire world" unto himself?
MAN'S UNIQUENESS
The first of the Hebrew month of Tishrei is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first human beings, with their gift of free choice. Thus, on that date, Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate not only the creation of human beings, but the creation of free-willed human beings.
Maimonides further explains that since a person has free choice, he has only himself to blame for his sins. We cannot blame our mistakes or our sins on our DNA, our upbringing, society or anything else people use to excuse their actions. Of course these are all factors, but ultimately every human being exercises free choice and is therefore held accountable for his or her actions. Furthermore, says Maimonides, having free will means we have the ability to change. Just as we chose to do wrong, we can choose to do right and repent. Some people believe in free will but not in their power to change. However free will means that we can change.
Now we can begin to see how the themes of Rosh Hashanah are interrelated: Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of the creation of man — a free-willed being. Because we have free will, we are held accountable for our sins and good deeds and hence Rosh Hashanah is also the Day of Judgment; and because we have free will, we also have the power to change and hence Rosh Hashanah is a day for repenting as well.
This is why, interestingly, Maimonides codified the principle of free choice specifically in the Laws of Repentance. Maimonides codified all Torah law in a masterwork of fourteen books, each with sub-sections. When studying Maimonides' work, the first step is to understand why he chose to codify a particular topic under a particular section. Maimonides could have codified the principle of free will in his opening section, which is the Laws of the Foundation Principles of the Torah; yet he codified it in the Laws of Repentance because unless we believe in free will, repentance makes no sense. We have to believe in free will, firstly to understand that we are accountable for our actions, and secondly, to understand that we have the power to change.
THE SYMBOLISM OF THE SHOFAR
The shofar, as we know, symbolizes repentance. Maimonides (Laws of Teshuva ch. 3) writes that even though the duty of blowing the shofar is, as he terms it a "Divine decree which we do not fully understand". Nevertheless we can find a message for ourselves in the duty. (We like to attribute reasons to mitzvos, and though there are indeed many inspiring explanations for them, we have to step back with humility and acknowledge the fact that we keep the I>mitzvos because G-d has commanded us to do so, and we will never fully understand the depth of His reasoning.) Maimonides says that the message of the shofar is "Awake, those who sleep." The shofar is our spiritual alarm clock, waking us to examine our deeds. We develop certain habits; we get locked into a certain way of thinking and a mode of behavior. Rosh Hashanah is a time to step out of the routine and the habits we have developed, to take stock of our lives and assess where we are holding. The shofar calls upon us to take responsibility for our actions, both good and bad, and to chart a path of change, improvement and repentance.
In addition to symbolizing repentance, the shofar also symbolizes freedom. It was the sound of the shofar which announced the Jubilee year, the fiftieth year in the cycle when all slaves were freed and all ancestral land was returned to its original owners. The shofar blown at the beginning of the Jubilee year heralded a great spirit of freedom, as the verse says "you will call freedom throughout the land." (Lev. 25:10)
What is the connection between freedom and repentance?
Based on what we have said, the connection is clear: the ultimate freedom is the ability to choose between good and evil, and the freedom to change our ways.
Now we can begin to see how all the themes of Rosh Hashanah come together: Rosh Hashanah is on the first of Tishrei, the anniversary of the creation of mankind; it also celebrates the uniqueness of human beings, namely, free choice; having free choice means we are accountable, and therefore Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment; and lastly, it is also a day for repentance because having free choice means we have the ability to change and become better people. Hence the shofar, which represents freedom as well as repentance, is the main duty of the day.
THE DANGER AND BLESSING OF FREE WILL
The idea that G-d has given humanity such freedom is quite a terrifying thought. It is like a parent giving a teenager the car keys, saying, now it's in your hands, you choose how you are going to use it. Are you going to get a driver's license and act responsibly, or are you going to drink alcohol and be reckless? G-d gave us the keys, so to speak. He said, you are free to run your life the way you want to. We will be held accountable for your choices, but we can freely choose how you want to live.
This is indeed a terrifying concept, and this is why the Talmud debates whether it would have been better for man had he not been created.
Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, one of our great rabbinic thinkers of the twentieth century, asks, how can the Talmud say that "it would have been better for man had he not been created," when G-d Himself said, after He had created man, that everything He created was "very good"? This question is backed by the Midrash which says that when G-d said it was "very good" He was referring to the human being. How can the Talmud say that it would have been better not to create man, when the Torah says clearly that it was very good?
Rabbi Hutner resolve this contradiction with the following story: a young Torah scholar who was appointed to be a a judge, in the rabbinical court of his city came to his mentor and said he didn't want to take the position because he was terrified of making a mistake in rulings. His mentor assured him that he should take the position and said to him, who should be appointed — someone who is not afraid of making mistakes?
Rabbi Hutner uses this story to explain what should be our attitude toward the concept of free choice. This young judge was certainly more than qualified: he had a fine mind, knew the material and was able to interpret and apply the law appropriately. But what made him a good judge was the fact that he was afraid of making a mistake. In other words, what qualified him for the position was his fear of his power.
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Rosh Hashanah is a mixed celebration. Rabbi Hutner quotes a verse from Nechemia, which says "Do not cry [on Rosh Hashanah] because the joy of G-d if your strength." The prophet told them not to cry, because they did indeed have reason to cry — namely, because on Rosh Hashanah we were given the mixed blessing of free choice. Yet the prophet tells them not to cry, that there is in fact reason for joy, precisely because free choice is what enables us to serve G-d in the first place, to perform good deeds and be rewarded accordingly.
Rabbi Hutner says this is reflected in the twin sounds of the shofar: the straight sound, which is the tekia, and the broken sounds, the shevarim and teru'a. The broken sounds, according to the Gemara, are like a sob, while the straight sound is the clear, joyful sound of celebration. On Rosh Hashanah, we have both. It is true that when G-d created human beings on the first of Tishrei so many years ago He created the possibility for terrible destruction in the world. But we can still rejoice with this knowledge, because free will means we can do good.
We cannot take this freedom for granted. Free choice is the essence of who we are, making us accountable for our actions but also providing the possibility of repentance. We have been entrusted with an awesome gift which can also be the most destructive force and therefore we must regard it with trepidation. Rosh Hashanah is a time to think about how we have used our freedom. When we approach it with the right attitude, then we will truly respect this gift of freedom and use it for the good.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish our entire community a good and sweet year. My wife always says that we wish a good and sweet year because although everything G-d does is good, sometimes we have to go through bitter experiences which are ultimately for the good. So we ask G-d to give us a good year but also a sweet one — that whatever we have to go through should not only be for our ultimate good but it should also be a sweet experience.
May we all be written and sealed in the Book of Life and be blessed with a good year filled with G-d's abundant blessings.
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Comment by clicking here. The author is the Chief Rabbi of South Africa and the author of "Defending the Human Spirit: Jewish Law's Vision for a Moral Society," which explores the Torah's legal system compared to Western law. In using real court cases he demonstrate the similarities and differences between Judaism's view of defending the vulnerable and Western legal practice.
© 2013, Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein | ||||||||||||||||||
