With Rosh Hashanah quickly approaching, only 11 days left, I would like to turn our attention from this week’s Parsha of Ki Savo and focus on this great holiday. On the surface, Rosh Hashanah which celebrates the creation of Adam and Eve, seems to have no direct relationship to the Jewish people any more than it relates to the rest of the world. It is the birthday of Man’s original ancestor. However, as we take a closer look we will discover that this is not the case. Join me in this exploration.
If we were to find a small object which upon close inspection indicates much design and genius in its construction we would be correct to assume that its maker created it for a given purpose. There is nothing in our life experience that indicates more design and genius than this world in which we live. From the amount of blood vessels in the human eye to the complexity of the network of veins in a leaf, wherever you turn there is infinite design and infinite genius. This world was created with a purpose and we, the Jewish people were chosen to carry out that purpose. This purpose requires a certain amount of time to be achieved.
I would like to introduce novel way of perceiving time. Rather than perceiving time as a continual line of moments that goes on forever, let us consider viewing time as slices of cycles that lie on top of each other. Let us further consider time as having a beginning and an end. Just as a sliced egg which each slice contributes to the totality of the egg, time also is a series of cycles in which each cycle fits neatly on top of the one under it. The slices of the egg have a beginning, a middle and an end. Time as well has a beginning, a middle and an end.
Our Sages teach us that the measure of time which forms a complete slice, is the year. This means each year a new edition of the world is about to occur, a new cycle of time is about to be created. At the moment that this cycle is being created HaShem, its Creator, decides what it should look like. Naturally, no two slices will be exactly the same, each slice of our egg will be designed differently based upon the previous slice. At the end of all slices, the egg needs to be complete with a top, a middle and a bottom. The world, as well, no two years will be exactly the same. Each year must be designed to fit on top of the previous year so that at the end it will be complete. HaShem, therefore considers the previous year in designing the coming year. All the years must complement each other in bringing about the completed purpose. When we reach the end of time the world and its mission will be complete.
Hence, Rosh Hashanah is not the celebration of Adam and Eve’s birthday. It the actual day of birth of the new Year. So, while Rosh Hashanah relates to the entire world as being the start of the new Year, it has a unique relationship to us because we are the ones who bring this mission to its completion. We will be the focus of HaShem’s attention as He decides what this year will look like.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind