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Tshuva
The Rambam indicates that Benonim have until Yom Kippur to repent, otherwise they may be condemned to death. Since benonim have an equal amount of Mitzvos and sin, why do they die? Its an even contest; why not go leniently on them?
(Indeed, after death Hashem does deal leniently with Benonim, erasing sins so that they enter Heaven. Why not on Rosh Hashanah?)
The trial of Rosh Hashanah is to see if we are worth His while. Is He getting a return on his investment; are we earning our keep? This trial allows no charity, – either we are, or we aren’t, doing our piece. It’s all business. Therefore a break-even fellow, a Benoni, doesn’t make it. Hashem profits nothing by him, for there is no net gain.
(The trial after death, however, is to determine compensation. Hashem is kindly and magnanimous. He wants to endow us as much as possible!)
By this logic there would seem to be a leniency in this trial; Were a person to set himself on habits that will turn a profit for Hashem, even before those Mitzvos are actualized he is already worth Hashem’s while. He represents future gain.
In short: if we will make proper Kabalos on Rosh Hashanah we have a winning card.
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Practical Apps
We pray on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur primarily for Hashem’s greater glory; what can we do everyday to increase Hashem’s glory ourselves?
Here are some suggestions (from the kinderlach);
1. be mekarev Jews to Judaism
2. praise Hashem to others
3. pray to Him
4. close ranks by being in peace with other Jews and thereby increase His kingdom
5. keep His commandments
6. korbanos
7. making a kiddush Hashem
8. doing tshuvah
9. doing what Hashem wants even if it is not explicit and even when it is not what we want
10. increasing the power and influence of the Torah in the world by aiding Torah-true initiatives and people.
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Chumros For A While
People take on chumros during the Aseres Y’mei Tshuva, such as not eating pas paltar, as the Rema suggests. But only until Yom Kippur. Then we go back to doing our usual thing.
Is this fakery?
We have several personas within ourselves. We can choose which of them to actualize. Suppose we act nicely to someone although we feel lousy at the time. We are not faking at all, rather we choose to act in accordance with our inner Tzaddik, not our lousy feeling.
So we act in tandem with our inner tzaddik during this week. Its real and true.
You need to know: there is a tzaddik inside of you!
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Kapparos
The Magen Avraham suggests Rashi’s description of the ancient custom of “Parpisa” as a source to our custom of Kapporos.
Rashi (Shabbos 81B) describes how fifteen or twenty days before Rosh HaShanah they would take a vessel woven of palm leaves, fill it with dirt and manure, plant bean seeds inside and wait for it to sprout. They would make a separate one for every boy and girl (children) in the family. On EREV ROSH HASHANAH they would swing it SEVEN times about the child’s head, and say “zeh tachas ze; this is in place of this, ze chalifascha ze tmurascha”. Then it would be thrown into the sea.
Note; it was erev Rosh HaShanah, not between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur; it was thrown into the sea, not eaten; and it was only for children evidently, not like Kapparos which are done by all.
At any rate, this related custom clarifies the essential nature of Kapparos; Kapparos is a t’murah, passing ones fate over onto another object or animal, so that it takes ones place, and one’s fate is visited upon it instead. Its substitution, atonement by proxy.
It is not an inspiration for repentance (although that is always dandy), rather it is a technical method for expiation.
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Do It Just Because….
‘Remember us to life, King who wants Life, and write us in the Book Of The Living For Your Sake, O G-d of Life’
What does ‘For your sake’ mean?
Sometimes someone does a favor to someone. Why? Because he is a good person and likes to do good. There is no ulterior motive.
We ask Hashem for favors just because. Help us for Your sake, because You like to help. (This comes next to where we praise Hashem bringing redemption to the grandchildren of his righteous “for His name”, which also means ‘just because’)
There is great power in this approach: Hashem wants to help us. We need only to allow Him by not making trouble!
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Counter-intuitive Action
Rosh HaShanah is a fearful and awesome day, the day of judgement. It determines what will happen in our lives. On the other hand it is YomTov, one of the Moadim, where there is a commandment to rejoice.
It is part of the Aseres Y’mei Tshuvah, so we ought to be doing t’shuvah, yet the Navi’im Ezra and Nechemia firmly forbade any Jew to cry in t’shuva, and sent messengers to stop anyone crying. Instead, they suggested, eat, drink and be happy, for ‘Joy in Hashem is your protection’.
How do the two work together?
A man and his partner received a letter from the prime minister’s office advising them that the game was up; his officers had discovered that they had been cheating the government and they were to appear on the coming Tuesday to a hearing presided by the prime minister himself. The partners panicked. It was true; they had been stealing large amounts, and they stood the chance of being jailed for decades to come.
One fellow happened to be a cousin to one of the Minister’s assistants. He ran to him for advice. The cousin heard him out and said ‘Your case is indeed serious, the prime minister will not take this lightly. My advice; Next week Monday, he is marrying off a daughter. At the wedding itself he is likely to pass the time by reading the cases that will be decided on the morrow, and he will make up his mind then, not at the hearing. Dress up in your finest tuxedo and I’ll get you an invitation to the wedding. At the smorgasbord, go up to the prime minster and introduce yourself by name. Have a drink with him and tell him a great story. He loves stories. Get on his good side and you stand a chance’.
The man followed the advice: shivering inside, he attended the wedding and struck up an acquaintance with the minister. Later, during a lull in the meal, the prime minister asked to see tomorrow’s docket. Reading thorough, he noticed his new friend’s name. ‘Isn’t this the gent I met earlier?’ he asked his aid. It was.
Suddenly there was noise and commotion; a fellow was trying to get past the guards, scuffling with security. Soon he broke through and fell sobbing at the feet of the prime minister. He looked unkempt and tore wildly at his hair, begging the minister for forgiveness.
The minister was displeased. Embarrassed before all his guests and family he yelled for his guards; ‘Get him out of here!’. It was the partner, obviously with a different strategy…
The next day was the trial; who was pardoned, and who still sits in jail today?
Indeed, we stand judgement for heavy crimes. But this day is not just judgement; it is also Hashem’s yomtov. He wants to rejoice on this day. Although it appears counter-intuitive, weeping and repentance will only get us into deeper trouble. What we need to do is to rejoice with Hashem. That’s our greatest hope. So perhaps despite it being a day of judgement, we need to make a “great rejoicing” (-ibid, Nechemia) for that is what will turn the tide, not tears.
The Shulchan Aruch and the Rambam do not seem to go with it. They indicate that a person must act subdued and fearful as he rejoices.
Perhaps there is a sequel to our little tale; At the trial the prime minister asked the one he had made friends with: ‘Were you also scared and distressed as you chatted with me, knowing of your impending trial, but overcame your feeling for my sake, or did you simply not care?’
If the person had laughed off the charges against him, the prime minister would never let him off. He will get a break only if he was seriousness of his situation, yet acted appropriately not to spoil the minister’s event.
So a person must have restraint and fear within his rejoicing. Otherwise the rejoicing will be meritless, the laugh of a scofflaw.
Rejoice with Fear.
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Ten For Tshuvah
I suspect that repentance is a poor term for t’shuvah. It really ought to be ‘the ten days of RETURN’.
Here’s why:
T’shuvah encompasses the full spectrum of return to Hashem, in the context of living with Him. T’shuvah means talking things out with Him, unburdening one’s self to Him, caring about His issues – chillul Hashem and mankind sinning, considering if He prefers we do our plans or not. Repentance is a small portion of this. In particular Regret, the Yom Kippur part.
For this we need ten days: repentance itself takes but a few seconds. As the Torah says: ‘its in your heart and mouth’, right at hand = just confess your sins, regret them, and accept to do better. The reason for ten days is to build a relationship with Hashem. THAT takes time.
This time is devoted to repairing our relationship with Hashem. Rosh Hashanah is part of these ‘days of return’ although we do not mention sin nor ask forgiveness. Most of the s’lichos do not relate to sin, but rather to our relationship with Hashem, our need for him and longing for redemption and closeness.
What to do:
Some ideas for what to do might include 1. a regular moral inventory, 2. talking to Hashem in our own words at the end of Shmone Esrei and so on.
Step by step.