"There is
nothing new under the sun." The Sfas
Emes explains in many places[1] that
"under the sun" refers to the physical world. All novelty and renewal comes from
"above the sun" – from spiritual realms. Rosh HaShana is a time of renewal. The Creation was completed on Rosh HaShana
and is renewed every year on Rosh HaShana.
What is renewal? Renewal, the Sfas Emes explains, is God's revelation. How can we experience renewal? How can we experience God? The Sfas Emes teaches that in order to
experience God's renewal, we need to understand that our relationship with Him
is reciprocal. To the extent that we
dedicate ourselves to Him, He will reveal Himself to us. This idea is more than simply a mechanism for
experiencing God. It is our raison
d'etre. God wants us to dedicate
ourselves to Him, "עם
זו יצרתי לי/I formed this
nation for Myself" (Yeshaya 43:21)
There are many
examples of this concept. We see it in
the famous אלול/Elul acronym – אני לדודי ודודי לי/I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me" (Shir
HaShirim 6:3) This is a metaphor for
the relationship between the nation of Israel and God. We have no reason for existing other than to
accomplish God's will and spread His glory in this world. To the extent that this is clear to us, it is
clear, as it were, in Heaven that the entire Creation and subsequent
revelations are for us.
The Chiddushei HaRim learns
this concept in the following pasuk in Tehillim (100:3), "דעו כי ה' הוא א-להים הוא עשנו
כתיב ולא קרי ולו אנחנו עמו וצאן מרעיתו/Know that God is the Lord; He made us and
we are His, His people and the sheep of His pasture." There are many words in the Torah which are
traditionally read differently from the way they are spelled. In this pasuk, the word ולא/and not, is read ולו/and His.
The translation above is according to the traditional reading. According to the spelling, the pasuk states
that God made us, we did not make ourselves.
The Chiddushei HaRim
points out that the two words, לא and לו together, spell אלול. He
explains the significance of these words in the context of the pasuk. To the extent that we are לא אנחנו/not for ourselves, לו אנחנו/we
are His. To the extent that we suppress
our own desires in favor of God's, we become His people, His flock.
This week's parsha –
Ki Savo – contains a classic example of this idea. "את ה' האמרת ... וה' האמירך .../You have distinguished God … and God has distinguished you …"
(Devarim 26:17, 18) Rashi
explains that the words, האמרת and האמירך mean to glorify as in, "יתאמרו כל פועלי און/They glorify themselves, all doers of
iniquity" (Tehillim 94:4). There
is nothing more important to the nation of Israel than glorifying God by
achieving His will. By the same token,
as it were, God loves us more than any other creation, "ובך בחר ה' להיות לו לעם סגולה/God chose you to be a treasured
nation" (Devarim 14:2)
Since Rosh HaShana is
the prime time for yearly renewal, The month leading up to Rosh HaShana is
dedicated to preparing for the renewal. As we've seen, the way to prepare for renewal
is by dedicating ourselves to God. In
practical terms this means returning to Him.
The Jewish concept of repentance is much broader than simply having
remorse for our mistakes. The essence of
repentance is returning to a state in which we can experience God once again. This is, after all, our fundamental reason
for being.
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