בס”ד

For Rosh HaShanah 5785

In the Gemara Rosh HaShanah Rabbi Eliezer says that, even though we count our months from Nisan, the month of redemption from Egypt, and the month of Tishrei is counted as the seventh month of the year, even so: “[In the month of] Tishrei the world was created, in Tishrei the Patriarchs were born, in Tishrei the Patriarchs died, on Pesach Yitzhak was born, on Rosh HaShanah Sarah and Channah conceived, on Rosh HaShanah Yosef went forth from prison, on Rosh HaShanah work ceased for our ancestors in Egypt, in Nisan they were redeemed, in Tishrei they will in the future be redeemed. (Gemara Rosh HaShanah 10b-11a).” According to Rabbi Eliezer, since in the month of Tishrei the world was created, Tishrei is imbued ever-after with the power of creativity and fruitfulness and freedom – and this is the inner power of renewal that we seek on the first day of Tishrei – Rosh HaShanah.

In Midrash Vayikra Rabbah (29:1) Rabbi Eliezer gets more specific. He says that, technically, the first day of Creation was on the twenty-fifth of Elul, and on the sixth day, the first of Tishrei, the first human being was created. And this is what Rosh HaShanah commemorates – the creation of human being. But also on the sixth day Adam and Chavah sinned and were judged with amnesty by God. So God says to them, “Just as you stood before Me in judgment on this day and are going forth with amnesty, so too, your descendants will stand before Me in judgment on this day and go forth with amnesty. When? ‘On the seventh month, on the first of the month (Lev. 23:24),’” on Rosh HaShanah, the annual day of judgment.

The kabbalistic tradition gets even more specific. The core theme of Rosh HaShanah is a commemoration of a specific moment in the creation of human being: the Nesirah, literally the “Sawing Apart,” the separation of Chavah from Adam, each to be their own person, followed by their union as husband and wife. The theme is based on the opinion of Rabbi Yermiya ben Eleazar in the Gemara Berakhot 61a, that the original human being was created as one being, male and female together as one body, back to back, and then, to create mutual companionship, this single human being was sawed apart down the back, separated and brought together face to face in marriage. Rabbi Hayyim Vital, based on the Torah of Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, notes that while in the original human form male and female were physically one, even so, they were facing away from each other. When they were sawed apart and brought face to face they were united in a much deeper, more intimate way, soul to soul, consciousness to consciousness, a higher unity. It is this higher unity that Rosh HaShanah celebrates – a unity of mutual understanding, compassion, empathy, a unity of love.

This Rosh HaShanah, in the midst of war, a whole year of war behind us, and who knows how much before us in the year to come, we need the blessings of all these powerful themes that infuse this day. It is a day of renewal and revival and hope – may it be a blessing of courage and fortitude for all souls weary of war and suffering and heart-breaking loss. It is a day commemorating freedom and release from captivity – may it be a blessing for the release and freedom of our hostages held by monstrously cruel enemies. It is a day of judgment – for a world whose sense of justice has been perverted, turned upside-down by maliciously misguiding and naively misguided people. And it is a day of unification in mutual understanding, compassion, empathy and love for Am Yisrael and for all of humanity. May this Rosh HaShanah bring us true peace and deep ethical and spiritual healing for our struggling world.

Shanah Tovah,

Rabbi Meir and Anne