The Tur in Hilchos Rosh Hashana quotes a Medrash that states: ‘how great is the nation of Israel….which other nation is like our nation? All other nations of the world dress in black, remain unshaven and let their nails grow when judgement day arrives. They’re in fear since they don’t know what the outcome of the judgment will be. However, when klal Yisroel has a day of judgment we shower, shave, cut our nails,and  dress in white; we eat, drink and are besimcha. Why? Because we are confident that Hashem will make a nes for us’.

The Malbim notes that the mikor for this medrash is a pasuk in Nechemia. In the times of Nechemia when klal Yisroel read from the Torah on Rosh Hashana they would start to cry. Nechemia said to them: ‘today is holy for Hashem your g-d. Do not cry and do not be sad. Go and eat fatty foods, drink something sweet and give food to those who are less fortunate because today is a holy day for your G-d. Don’t be sad because the love of Hashem is your strength’.

The Malbim explains the above, commenting that klal Yisrael were crying out of aimas hadin, fear of being judged, since they understood one essence of din, and they wanted to fast. Because of that Nechemia said to them ‘go eat’ and ‘don’t be sad’ (which was the opposite of what they wanted to do [fast and cry]). The Malbim then quotes the medrash that says klal Yisroel made the yom hadin into a yom tov and they had trust in Hashem that they would be zoche to a good din. Obviously, Nechemia is elucidating another essence of Rosh Hashana and din, which we don’t yet understand.

Related to this, Rav Chaim Kamil, Zt”l asks a logical question. The pasuk in Amus says ‘im yituka shofar b’air v’haam lo yecherudu’. We see from here that when it comes to yom hadin there is a need for ‘aimas hadin’, fear of judgment. If this is so how can the medrash say that klal Yisroel should be joyous and confident in a good judgment on yom hadin?

The teretz he gives is something we should take with us into this Rosh Hashana, to clarify another dimension of din, which Nechemia also tried to teach us.

The main concept of Rosh Hashana is the coronation of Hashem as the melech and to be mekabel ol malchus shomayim.  We are crowning Hashem as the king of everything and proclaiming his oneness and omnipotence.  For this reason we don’t mention the word ‘chait’ on yom tov in our tefillos-because it’s not the avodas hayom. The avodas hayom is to crown Hashem our king.

But what is this concept of being mamlech Hashem? How does one do that?  The idea here is as follows: to be mamlech hashem is to designate Hashem as your god; amongst you and the entire world. Meaning, there is NOTHING that can and would happen to me unless Hashem wants it to. And that means NOTHING. This is the entire concept of Rosh Hashana: to have full bitachon that nothing can happen to us unless Hashem wants it to happen. And this zchus, of being mekabol ol malchus shomayim fully and happily, enables us to have bitachon and confidence that Hashem will switch our judgment from bad to good. Like the Nefesh haChaim says ‘when a person sets his heart that there is no one else but Hashem and that no one else has the strength to perform anything, ONLY Hashem who is the master of all strength, then Hashem helps him and is mevatel any other person’s koach and no one can harm him or do anything bad to him.’

There’s a famous story which, although many of you may have heard it, is worth repeating. When the Brisker Rav escaped the hands of the Nazi’s, y”m, he had to cross over a border.  The guards there were checking everyone carefully for their identification and papers. The Brisker Rav didn’t have any of his papers and he wasn’t sure what his fate would be. With no other option,  the Rav decided to walk straight through the regular line ,all the while saying and thinking and really believing ‘ain od milvado’. There’s nothing any Nazi can do to me because Hashem is the only power in the world and if he doesn’t want anyone to harm me then I won’t get harmed.  And that’s exactly what happened. The Rav walked right through the border without anyone stopping him or asking him any questions. Why? Because the Rav had real bitachon and believed that only Hashem could harm him and no one else.  He was mekabel ol malchus shomayim to its fullest.

This is the concept of malchus hashem on Rosh Hashana. We engrain in our hearts and minds ‘ain od milvado’- there is no one else but Hashem. It’s through this emunah and bitachon that we can have faith that Hashem will judge us l’tovah and eat and drink like a regular yom tov. Bitachon has the power to change the reality. Therefore, when klal Yisroel is mamlech and meyached Hashem, and remove from our mind any other force and power, Hashem removes all the bad decrees and turns them into good ones.

With this in mind I would like to wish all my readers a K’siva V’chasima Tova and a happy and healthy new year. We should all experience a year of parnasah, gezunt, hatzlacha, happiness and nachas from all of our families and friends and we should all merit seeing the ultimate redemption of Moshiach Tzidkeinu bekarov this year.

כתיבה וחתימה טובה

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