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WISHING ALL OUR READERS
On Rosh HaShanna the Jewish people celebrate the (last day of the) creation of the world (when G-d made man). Interestingly, there is no other religion, people or nation that knows, or even cares when the world was created and certainly none that celebrate it. Why is it that ONLY the Jews commemorate the creation? And what is the point of doing so? Is the creation of the world a religious event? We can better understand this through examining the Baal Shem Tov's explanation of the sentence "You, G-d, are kind because You repay man like his deeds." Psalms (62:13) He gives a parable: "Once a landowner had a lot of work to be done and went to wake one of his servants but the servant refused to wake up. The master tried shouting, throwing water, dragging him out of bed all to no avail. "So with no other choice the master rolled up his sleeves and did all the work himself. He plowed, planted, dug, tore down, built up, painted and worked until sunset. "Then he returned to the servant's quarters ordered him to stand up, gave him a big handshake and paid him in full for the day's work! "That's right! The master did all the work and the servant got paid!! Could there ever be such a thing? "Answers the Baal Shem Tov; that is exactly what G-d does with us constantly and that is what the sentence is saying. "G-d creates us (along with our free will) continually from nothing. In fact He creates the entire universe every instant anew. "So really G-d (even more so than the landlord) is doing it all... all the 'work'. "And yet He rewards us for our good deeds "LIKE" we exist and are really "DOING" something. "So we are really nothing!!" This is a very beautiful and abstract idea. But it contradicts common sense! It is absurd to say we don't exist and our feelings and senses are false! Of course we exist! Any CHILD can tell you that!! And this is exactly the point of Rosh HaShanna: On Rosh HaShanna we, the Jewish people, declare that our 'common sense' and our 'perception' is wrong and the ONLY REAL existence is the Creator. He alone is King of the Universe. (Ain Od Milvado) [Incidentally that is why Moshiach is such an upsetting idea and why the Jews hated king David and Moses both forerunners of Moshiach. Because Moshiach, even more than Adam did, will re-educate the world with the knowledge of the One-ness of G-d: the OPPOSITE of human perception and certainty] Like it says in the Midrash that when Adam was created (on Rosh HaShanna) all creation turned to him thinking he was G-d. He replied "Come bow and surrender to G-d OUR Creator (Psalms 95:6)" And every Rosh HaShanna we do the same thing; 'Coronate' G-d as the King of the universe. And only we Jews can (and must) do it. For that we were 'chosen'. (As the first Rashi in B'reshis says: The world was created for the Jews and for the Torah). That is why ONLY we celebrate the creation because it is uniquely in our hands. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons that the Jews have been hated throughout the generations. The gentiles sense that, while they themselves are but part of the creation, the Jews are 'part' of the Creator. (It says it in their Bibles as well: See Deut. 32:3) and that is a hard idea to take.
First, we must NEVER take anything for granted: EVERYTHING is a miraculous gift from G-d (including ourselves). And we must constantly THANK G-d for constantly creating all we have. (Then, just as science has proven that we use only a small fraction of our brains, we will discover that we use even a smaller fraction of our hearts and have unlimited capabilities of awe, love, joy and gratitude). In fact the Baal Shem Tov had a custom of going around asking Jews 'how are you?' in order to open their hearts and evoke from them a reply of 'Thanks to G-d' or 'Blessed be HaShem'. Second: Man has a job to do in the world. Just as G-d put Adam in the garden to work and keep it (2:15) so we have an obligation to improve and correct the entire world. Third: It is impossible that anything in the world can prevent us from doing this job (although it may seem that way at times) because the world is being created constantly by the same G-d that gave the Torah. And finally we can learn that just as Adam was created alone and the whole world was in his hands so also each and every one of us has the power to change the ENTIRE world for good. Like the story I just heard from the chief Rabbi of Kfar Chabad, Rabbi M. Ashkenazi. He was once visiting Mexico on official business and was invited by a local Rabbi there to see his community. Rabbi Ashkenazi discovered that this Rabbi had built a virtual empire of orthodox Judaism with an immense synagogue, a beautiful mikva, a huge yeshiva and more. The Rabbi turned to Rabbi Ashkenazi and said. "Well, I'm not a Chabad chassid but I owe all this to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and I'll tell you how. "Before I got married, when I was learning in Jerusalem in Yeshivat Porat Yosef, someone came in and said that a 'Shaliach' (emissary) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe was speaking in a local Synagogue so myself and a friend went to listen. "This Shaliach spoke in Yiddish so I didn't understand a word but someone translated one idea. He said that the Lubavitcher Rebbe said that each Jew is like a match; With a little effort he can transform a place of complete spiritual darkness to light and warmth.' "That was over thirty years ago. I married, got a job here in Mexico and got a taste of the spiritual darkness the Rebbe was referring to. No one here wanted to hear about Orthodox Judaism. But those words of the Rebbe gave me hope and strength. Although other Rabbis protested my leading a community of non-religious Jews I kept working on the community and what the Rebbe said came true. I transformed it to light and warmth just like one little match can do." May we all learn from this lesson and all
the lessons of the Lubavitcher
Rebbe to transform the entire world to light and warmth with.... Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
As we are approaching the holiday of Rosh HaShanna most of us should be asking ourselves what is really going on here. Why are grown up people making such a big production of such a childish act as blowing the shofar, instead of having a wise Rabbi do something unique like sing a beautiful song, explain a difficult Torah passage, reveal a mystical secret etc. In place of this we have as the peak of the day, a grown man stand on a stage in the middle of a congregation of Jews, an "Am Chacham U'Navon" (smart and Intelligent race) and blow on a ram's horn! This seems pretty primitive by any standards. The explanation for this is even stranger than the question: the Jews are completely different from all other peoples, our Religion is different and, yes...... even our G-d is different!!! (As we say in our prayers every day, "Aain Kailokainu" there is NOTHING like our G-d). A couple of years ago I was approached by three middle aged missionaries in New York. They started rambling off their act until I interrupted and asked them if I could ask a question. "Certainly" they replied. I asked "do you believe that G-d is spiritual??" They looked incredulously at each other until the spokesman of the three turned to me and answered "of course, he is the spirit he is the light" etc. I looked at them with a look of pity shook
my head slowly and said, "tsk
tsk, don't you remember the first sentence of the Bible??"
They, of
course, didn't understand what I was getting at, so I continued:
"In the Our G-d, the G-d of Israel, creates "the heavens and the earth"; the spiritual, including the highest level of 'Atzilus' down to 'spiritual Assea' (which is the spiritual level that most, or perhaps all, of the Non-Jewish religions get their kicks from) and the physical. According to Judaism, however, G-d 'favors' the PHYSICAL! Yes, the physical is 'closer' to G-d than the upper worlds. That is why G-d gave the Torah, the Bait Ha Mikdash, and especially the Commandments in this physical world!. That is why it is a custom to conceal one's tzitzis in a graveyard, so as not to insult the spiritual souls there with our material MITZVOS. Rosh Hashanah stresses this unusual fact about Our G-d more than any other holiday. Every religion or nation has some sort of New Year's Day that celebrates some religious or national event. Our New Years day celebrates the day that G-d finished creating the entire physical world. (G-d is really creating the whole creation every instant anew, but it began on Rosh Hashanah 5760 years ago) Yes, the entire world belongs to Our G-d, and He favors the physical. He created it and put it in our hands, when? on Our New Years day (when He created man). All He asks is that we should declare that He is the King, "Melech HaOlom" King of the PHYSICAL as well as the spiritual world. How? By taking a physical part of the world; an inanimate ram's horn, and doing with it what the Creator desires; to declare that here, in this physical world, is the place where G-d desires to be revealed as King, and it all depends on us. Therefore, although every creation and certainly every mitzva or letter of the Torah contains 'mountians' of secrets to arouse our love and fear of G-d, the highpoint of this unique day is not something esoteric or even intellectual but rather a simple action of subservience blowing the Shofar and declaring G-d is King!! May this year reveal the kingship of HaShem through the King Moshiach; the man we have been waiting for impatiently for thousands of years. Moshiach NOW! Rabbi Tuvia Bolton |
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Tales for the Yom Tov Table Rosh HaShanah In a few days Jews all over the world will be filling synagogues praying and listening to the Shofar Rosh HaShanna. But how many really appreciate the miracle of this phenomenon. What strange force is it draws or pushes non-observant and even atheistic Jews to spend several hours in, of all places, a Synagogue waiting to hear the blast of a ram's horn. Here are two stories that perhaps will help understand. Shortly after world war two, Josef Stalin "The Sun to the Nations" had reached the ultimate degree of dictatorship. He was adored and feared by the entire Russian populace. His rule and judgment were so absolute that even the millions of his own people that died in his Siberian 'correction' camps were expected to be grateful to him for 're-educating' them. When Rabbi Mendel Futerfass was taken to prison it was shortly after Rosh HaShanna. He was a Lubavitcher Chassid; a Jew that believes that the Moses of his day is the Lubavitcher Rebbe. And the Lubavitcher Rebbe said that everyone must sacrifice even their lives do insure that every Jew, even in the G-dless U.S.S.R gets a genuine Torah education. Rab Mendel was charged with subversive activities, put in jail awaiting trial and it was pretty clear that he would spend the rest of his life in Siberia, which in most cases wasn't much time. Then, in his damp prison cell together with hundreds of criminals he suddenly realized that several days had passed and that night would be Yom HaKippurim; The day of Forgiveness! On one hand he became depressed. He had to spend the holiest day of the year in this hell of a prison. But on the other hand... He was alive!! Jewish! A Chassid of the Lubavitcher Rebbe!! What would he accomplish by depression? He had to rise above the situation!! That is what being a Chassid is all about!! That night he prepared for himself a little Synagogue; his bed. He would sit on his bed and say as many of the prayers of Yom Kipper as he remembered and G-d would help. But it wasn't so easy. The prayers of Yom Kippur are different and there are a lot of them. But one prayer stood out in his mind; a poem arranged alphabetically whose each line begins with the words 'Everyone believes' ('Kol Ma'aminim') Everyone believes that there is nothing but G-d etc. In the stillness of the night, while everyone else was asleep he sat swaying gently back and forth on his bed and praying to the Creator. Then suddenly the thought entered his mind "Hey, what am I saying here! 'Everyone believes? Everyone believes!?' Why, the devils who caught me and threw me in prison were anti-Semitic bloodthirsty Yevsektsia ('Jewish division' of the communist party) Jews, who lived only to wipe out any mention of G-d and His people. Rab Mendel put this new question aside with all his others. and finished his prayers. Several nights later he had a soul-shaking experience in the large cell where he and about two hundred other prisoners were imprisoned. Everyone else was snoring and Rabbi Mendel was saying his 'Shma Yisroel' prayer before sleeping when suddenly he looked up and noticed that a murderer was staring at him. It was Peter, a huge mountain of a man with a scarred ugly face, everyone knew him and was afraid of him. Now it seems that he had set his sights on poor Rab Mendel. Maybe because he hated Jews,
perhaps another reason, but Ivan jumped silently from his bed,
crouching like a huge cat and quietly approached When he reached Rab Mendel he bent down, put his face into his ear and whispered deliberately and slowly, "You're Jewish, right?" Rab Mendel never hid his Judaism; better to die a Jew than to live a lie. He looked him in the eye and answered firmly, "Yes!" The murderer pointing to his own chest and whispered "So am I." Rav Mendel was really surprised. He saw that something was going on behind those murderous eyes. "And I'll tell you something else" Ivan continued, "I even fasted this Yom Kippur. That's right! Me, Ivan the murderer who hates G-d, fasted on Yom Kippur. He paused for what seemed an eternity and continued. "A few days ago I heard one of the Jewish prisoners say 'Tomorrow is Yom Kippur' and suddenly I decided I was going to fast! I don't know why, but I did it.
I couldn't figure out why I was sitting there but after a while I felt really uneasy. Then it occurred to me that I feel uneasy because Jews> PRAY on Yom Kippur. I remembered that my grandfather took me to services and he used to pray and cry to G-d with all the other Jews, and now look at me! I'm a murderer, a thief, all I've done is hurt people all my life and I can't even... "Then suddenly I remembered a prayer! It was something my grandmother used to say to me every morning when she woke me up. I remembered her soft, sad eyes and I began to cry. Do you hear? I cried on Yom Kippur just like my grandfather did! Just like all the Jews! And when I stopped crying I didn't even wipe my eyes I just said the prayer: "Modeh Ani L'fa'ne'chaw Melech Chai v'Ka'yam" ('I surrender before You, living and eternal King') "I don't even know what
it means. But I sat in that room the entire day. That's right,
I sat from nine in the morning until eight at evening and said
over and over again: 'Modeh Ani L'fanechaw Melech Chai v'Kayam. He paused for another minute in deep thought, then snapped out of it, pointed his finger at Rab Mendel and whispered menacingly, 'Now don't you tell anyone what I just told you, understand?! ... Nothing. I said nothing." And he turned and walked away. Rav Mendel sat in the silence staring at Ivan as he climbed into his bed, turned his face to the wall and was snoring instantly. Suddenly the thought entered his mind. 'Aha! That is the answer to my question I had on Yom Kippur! Why.. if that murderer believes..... it's a sign that EVEYONE believes. The Rebbe was a very sought after person. He received more mail than any man in the U.S.A. (I heard even more than the president) and he never gave a piece of inaccurate advice or a bad prediction in his life. So it was no wonder that many Israeli politicians, even anti-religious ones came to consult with him (Although they didn't always take his advice, as we see in Israel today). It so happened that someone wrote in and complained to the Rebbe. 'How can it be that such a respectable Torah figure as himself gives any sort of attention, no less honor, to such Torah-hating Jews? The Rebbe answered, 'When
a Jew wakes up in the morning on Yom Kippur, shaves, cooks breakfast,
turns on the radio and while eating (all these things are transgressions)
hears the announcer say "Today is the Jewish Suddenly he remembers that he bought tickets to the services. He looks at his watch, grabs the cup of coffee runs out of the house to his car, drives to the Synagogue, runs inside, takes his seat and opens his prayer book for fifteen minutes. Suddenly he slaps himself on the forehead and yells out 'OY! I'm late for the meeting in the stock market!' He closes his book and runs out of the house of prayer. Concluded the Rebbe: You have no idea how much pleasure G-d gets from that fifteen minutes that that Jew sat in the Synagogue.
Almost unexplainably Jews throughout the world suddenly are moved. It's not because they are thinking about punishment or reward, but rather because they feel that G-d is the creator of the world and they want to serve Him. Rosh HaShanna is the date that G-d finished creating the world and the date that He created man. And that is what every Jew feels, at least subconsciously. That G-d is the King of the Universe and we are his servants. This is the message of the
Shofar and it will only be completely manifested with the arrival
of Moshiach. Then the 'Great Shofar' will sound and the entire
world will declare (as we say in the prayers of these High Holy
Days) "The G-d of Israel is King and His kingship is on all
creation." So what we are really all praying for on Rosh
HaShanna is that we all .... Rabbi Tuvia Bolton Torah Online Site: http://www.ohrtmimim.org/torah * * * * This story is really about
the first night of Slichot (prayers said in the “I sensed that something important was going to happen” the Rebbe answered, “so I drove to the woods and peeked in your window, but I want to understand what you did there.” The Rebbe?! The Rebbe peeked in my window!??
How could it be? I am a nothing!” The Rebbe became very serious. He looked
deeply into Zeleg’s innocent eyes and said.
Tuvia Bolton-Yeshaiva
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