Giving the Year a Head

Rosh Hashanah is when we coronate G-d as our King. Without our involvement on Rosh Hashanah to proclaim Him as our King the world will not be the same. G-d will continue to keep the world going, but His “head and heart” will not be in it. Rosh Hashanah gives the entire cosmos a head; a G-dly sense of satisfaction and delight. G-d develops a meaningful relationship with us and we with Him. He is our King and not our dictator.

Beginning and Head of the Year

Rosh Hashanah is not just the beginning of the year; it is the “Head” of the year. And there is a big difference between the two terms. A baby begins its life with a cry; but does not get a head until a later stage in life. Beginnings are not always heads.

Indeed, although it is the Head of the Year, Rosh Hashanah, occurs in what the Torah states is “the first of the seventh month.” It is clearly not the beginning of the year!

In what way is Rosh Hashanah likened to a head?

Without a head a person has no life and identity. The head contains the brain as well as the most delicate senses of sight, hearing, smell and taste. A human being’s possession of a head means that he or she is a sentient and purposeful being one that can make a difference.

Applying the head metaphor to a year, Rosh Hashanah is the day that gives meaning and purpose to all the days of the year. Without a proper Rosh Hashanah the rest of the year can become a vacuous and purposeless year.

What gives Rosh Hashanah its status as the Head of the Year? The answer is that our actions will determine to what extent G-d will indeed be our Head. Rosh Hashanah is when we coronate G-d as our King. Without our involvement on Rosh Hashanah to proclaim Him as our King the world will not be the same.

To be sure, G-d will continue to keep the world going, but His “head and heart” will not be in it. Rosh Hashanah gives the entire cosmos a head; a G-dly sense of satisfaction and delight. G-d develops a meaningful relationship with us and we with Him. He is our King and not our dictator.

Rosh Hashanah Symbolism

The above may shed some light on the emphasis on simanim—eating symbolic foods during Rosh Hashanah. We eat pomegranates because they have a multitude of seeds. It represents our wish for our merits to increase. We eat the head of a lamb or fish to suggest we shall be a head. We eat sweet foods so that we will be blessed with a sweet year. And we even eat foods which have names in various languages with positive connotations. Why is this custom reserved for Rosh Hashanah? And what value does a symbolic act really have?

The answer is that that is precisely what Rosh Hashanah is about; finding meaning in everything we do. Even the choice of food should reflect a positive Rosh Hashanah theme. On Rosh Hashanah we underscore the notion that nothing in our lives is trivial; everything can and must be infused with meaning. Absent that emphasis much of our life can be said to be without a head.

Seeing the Light

The ultimate expression of a year having a head is when we acquire a level of understanding of reality; with absolute clarity as to who we are, why we were created and our ultimate destiny. This is why Rosh Hashanah is observed on the day that Adam was created and not six days earlier when G-d first brought the universe into existence. Only the creation of a human being can validate the creation. Only the human being can know his or her purpose and utilize all of the resources of the world towards the fulfillment of that purpose.

Our Sages tell us that on the day that Adam was created the primordial light that was created on day one of creation (not to be confused with sun light) served him for 36 hours and it enabled him to see from one end of the world to the other. This could be interpreted to mean that Adam had a clear vision as to what his purpose was in this world and how he could affect the entire cosmos with his positive actions Each one of us acquires some of that clarity on Rosh Hashanah.

Shofar Reality

On Rosh Hashanah we sound the shofar, according to Maimonides, as a wake-up call to get us out of our reverie and to “smell the coffee.” It gets us to become aware of the fact that we were created by G-d with a Divine purpose.

On Rosh Hashanah we sound the shofar, Rav Sa’adia Gaon writes, as our way of coronating the King. This is meant to get us to reflect on our purpose to serve G-d by first acknowledging that He is our King, and to whom we pay exclusive allegiance.

On Rosh Hashanah we sound the shofar to remind us of the shofar that was sounded at Mount Sinai when G-d gave us the Torah. We ponder how G-d gave us a Master Plan, i.e., the Torah, which is the guide by which we fulfill our purpose.

On Rosh Hashanah we sound the shofar to remind us of the “Great Shofar” that will herald that glorious age when the world will become a perfected world, as a result of our cumulative actions throughout history. We focus on how G-d’s plan will ultimately be realized and the entire world will become a dwelling place for Him. This will happen in the imminent Messianic Age.

On Rosh Hashanah we sound the Shofar, according to the Ba’al Shem Tov, as a way of recognizing our soul’s primal cry; that it wants to get close to our Father even as we may have strayed throughout the year and have lost our ability to communicate with Him verbally.

In short, on Rosh Hashanah, specifically through the sounding of the Shofar, we come face to face with life’s most existential issues. The shofar clears up all the cobwebs and disperses all the dark clouds from our consciousness. We leave Rosh Hashanah with a clear head.

3 x 3 = Empowerment

Each year possesses features that distinguish it from other years.

For example, this year [the year 5774 when this essay was originally written] Rosh Hashanah occured on a Thursday and Friday. In effect, we have three consecutive days of holiness. The Talmud states that when something is repeated three times it establishes a chazakah a pattern that renders that phenomenon a permanent one. We thus usher in this year with a strengthened experience of holiness. Indeed, this pattern of three consecutive Holy days, repeats itself again with the Festival of Sukkos and the festival of Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. We now have a pattern of three repeated three times!

All of this points to an unusual measure of empowerment to transform our prayers and resolutions into reality. This year, with G-d’s help, will indeed be a powerful spiritual year that will enhance our ability to see things clearly!

A Year of Acronyms

However, this pattern has occurred many times in the past. What is unique about this year is that it is the first (and last) time we have the year 5774. In Hebrew the year will be ה’תשע”ד What is the significance of this number?

In past years the Rebbe demonstrated how each year was an acronym for a Moshiach and Redemption related theme. What can be said about this year in that regard?

[Although the following refers specifically to a year of the past, the Rebbe has taught us that any spiritual force that enters the world at a specific time endures forever. Therefore, the spiritual dynamics of the year 5774 continues to this day and beyond. The new year ads on new dimensions of spirituality on top of the pre-existing ones.] There are four acronyms that come to mind.

The first is: “הי’ תהא שנת דעת עליון-This shall be a year of Higher Level Knowledge.”

The second is: “הי’ תהא שנת דרור עולם-This shall be a year of Eternal Freedom.”

The third is: “הי’ תהא שנת דירת עצמות-This shall be a year of a Dwelling Place for G-d’s Essence.”

The fourth is: “הי’ תהא שנת דיצה עולמית -This shall be a year of Eternal joy.”

All four of these acronyms point to the ultimate understanding as to what is our purpose and what is our focus on Rosh Hashanah.

This year [the year of the republishing of this essay] is the year 5776. In Hebrew it forms the word תשועה which means salvation. The advantage of this over previous years is that we don’t have to resort to an acronym to underscore the Messianic potential and energy of this year; it is explicit in the very number!

The date for republishing this essay has been extended into the year 5777, which is numerically equivalent to the word Teshuah/תשועה plus one.

The significance of the “plus one” is that we put additional focus on incorporating the idea of oneness into every aspect of the anticipated salvation. Rather than salvation be limited to physical salvation we insert the number one to underscore that everything we do and the salvation we will experience will revolve around the number one.

This is similar to the idea (mentioned frequently in these essays) that the difference between the Hebrew words for exile (Golah) and Redemption (Geulah) is the letter/number aleph-one. By inserting the “one” into exile it transforms it into Geulah. This notion we may suggest is underscored in this year of 5777 in particular.

A Year of Moshiach and Redemption

Concerning the Messianic Age the prophet declares: “And the entire earth will be covered with the knowledge of G- d…”

What will distinguish the knowledge of G-d we have now from the knowledge we will have in the future? Not only will the knowledge extend to the entire world, but it will be a higher form of knowledge.

Chassidic thought distinguishes between the way we perceive G-d vis-à-vis our own existence and the way G-d views Himself vis-à-vis our existence. We view our own existence as reality and G-d’s existence as abstract, elusive and utterly beyond us. From G-d’s perspective, He is the only reality and we are non-entities. Our existence is no more and no less than an extension of G-d’s creative powers. The two approaches to reality are referred to in Kabbalah and Chassidus as “Da’as Tachton-Lower Level Knowledge” and “Da’as Elyon-Higher Level Knowledge” respectively.

In the Messianic Age, Da’as Elyon-the Higher Level reality will become the norm. The entire world will rise to the highest levels of knowledge and that knowledge will be fully integrated into our physical existence. We will not cease being human. In our human state we will acquire that presently elusive knowledge.

We anticipate that this year will finally be the year when the entire world will truly acquire a head in the most sophisticated and sublime level of head-Higher Level Knowledge.

We also hope, pray and anticipate that this year will be a year of eternal freedom. Unlike earlier Redemptions when there was a potential for a reversal, this Redemption will be final and eternal.

In the Messianic Age, the entire world will realize its G-d given purpose and it will become a dwelling for G-d’s very Essence. Whereas in the past, the most that could be expected was for G-d’s light and external manifestations to dwell in our midst, the Messianic Age will feature a G-dly revolution. G-d’s very Essence will be fully revealed in our physical world.

And finally, the Messianic Age will bring eternal joy. There is no greater joy than knowing that one’s life has meaning and that we have realized the purpose of our creation.

May we see all of this unfold before our eyes and may we all be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year!

From the book Light from the Future: Rosh Hashanah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.