Rabbi Roodyn

Today is the last day of Elul, the month of preparation draws to a close and tomorrow we stand in judgement before the Creator of the universe.

Over the last month we have marked off the days, we have noticed them go by and hopefully made use of the opportunities that they have afforded us.

But now we move into a different mode, we are no longer preparing, we have arrived. On Rosh Hashana we ‘nail our colours to the mast’. The judgment of Rosh Hashana is not as much about the past as it is about the future. Hashem is reshuffling

the deck as He creates His world anew. He decides who to ‘invest in’ on the basis of whether they have a shared agenda with Him.  On Rosh Hashana we therefore stand proud and declare Hashem as King with all our might. We long, hope and pray for the time when all of mankind will have an awareness of Hashem and when they will all unify to serve Him.

On Rosh Hashana we therefore take a step back and look at the big picture, we ask ourselves what life is really about. We focus on the reality of an Infinite Creator forming finite beings with His own Hands, so that He can give them the greatest good possible, a relationship with Himself. We hit the ‘restore factory settings’ button on our lives and behaviour patterns as we encounter the truth of Hashem’s existence. We see our own lives in the context of Hashem’s plan and we make a commitment to partner with Him to make a G-dly world.

The judgement of Rosh Hashana is therefore based on how we see ourselves working with Hashem’s plan for the world. This is the day of Avraham Avinu who recognised that G-d created a finite, imperfect world for us to play our part to perfect it. This is what we mean by a relationship with Hashem. On Rosh Hashana we identify as members of Klal Yisrael, a nation whose whole raison d’etre is to make Hashem’s Name known by all of mankind.

To the extent that our tefillos and conduct throughout the day are a sincere expression of that desire, we can say that we have had a successful Rosh Hashana. Once we have attained this clarity and have affirmed our commitment to live with it, we will be ready to begin the process of Teshuva in earnest.

Wishing you a good Yom Tov and a kesiva ve chasima tova

See you on the other side …