In this session we studied the Shem Mi’Shmuel on Rosh Hashanah.
Rosh Hashanah is an enigmatic and even a paradoxical sort of holiday. It is enigmatic because the Torah never tells us what we are celebrating on Rosh Hashanah. It is a paradoxical holiday because while it is a holiday when mourning is not allowed, the תורה שבעל פה teaches us that it is a day of judgement which opens the עשרת ימי תשובה.
The paradox of Rosh Hashanah is portrayed in a story in ספר נחמיה:
נחמיה פרק ח
(א) וַיֵּאָסְפוּ כָל הָעָם כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד אֶל הָרְחוֹב אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵי שַׁעַר הַמָּיִם וַיֹּאמְרוּ לְעֶזְרָא הַסֹּפֵר לְהָבִיא אֶת סֵפֶר תּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה’ אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל:
(ב) וַיָּבִיא עֶזְרָא הַכֹּהֵן אֶת הַתּוֹרָה לִפְנֵי הַקָּהָל מֵאִישׁ וְעַד אִשָּׁה וְכֹל מֵבִין לִשְׁמֹעַ בְּיוֹם אֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי:
(ג) וַיִּקְרָא בוֹ לִפְנֵי הָרְחוֹב אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵי שַׁעַר הַמַּיִם מִן הָאוֹר עַד מַחֲצִית הַיּוֹם נֶגֶד הָאֲנָשִׁים וְהַנָּשִׁים וְהַמְּבִינִים וְאָזְנֵי כָל הָעָם אֶל סֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה:
(ח) וַיִּקְרְאוּ בַסֵּפֶר בְּתוֹרַת הָאֱלֹהִים מְפֹרָשׁ וְשׂוֹם שֶׂכֶל וַיָּבִינוּ בַּמִּקְרָא: ס
(ט) וַיֹּאמֶר נְחֶמְיָה הוּא הַתִּרְשָׁתָא וְעֶזְרָא הַכֹּהֵן הַסֹּפֵר וְהַלְוִיִּם הַמְּבִינִים אֶת הָעָם לְכָל הָעָם הַיּוֹם קָדֹשׁ הוּא לַה’ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אַל תִּתְאַבְּלוּ וְאַל תִּבְכּוּ כִּי בוֹכִים כָּל הָעָם כְּשָׁמְעָם אֶת דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה:
(י) וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם לְכוּ אִכְלוּ מַשְׁמַנִּים וּשְׁתוּ מַמְתַקִּים וְשִׁלְחוּ מָנוֹת לְאֵין נָכוֹן לוֹ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ הַיּוֹם לַאֲדֹנֵינוּ וְאַל תֵּעָצֵבוּ כִּי חֶדְוַת ה’ הִיא מָעֻזְּכֶם:
(יא) וְהַלְוִיִּם מַחְשִׁים לְכָל הָעָם לֵאמֹר הַסּוּ כִּי הַיּוֹם קָדֹשׁ וְאַל תֵּעָצֵבוּ:
(יב) וַיֵּלְכוּ כָל הָעָם לֶאֱכֹל וְלִשְׁתּוֹת וּלְשַׁלַּח מָנוֹת וְלַעֲשׂוֹת שִׂמְחָה גְדוֹלָה כִּי הֵבִינוּ בַּדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר הוֹדִיעוּ לָהֶם:
אבן עזרא נחמיה פרק ח פסוק י
(י) כי חדות ה’ היא מעזכם – השמחה היא תעוז אתכם אם תקיימוה כי כן כתוב ושמחת בחגך:
On Rosh Hashanah, the people assembled to hear Ezra read the Torah. Ezra read from dawn until noon. After Ezra finished reading the Torah, the people, men and women together, broke down and cried. When we think about Rosh Hashanah as the first day of עשרת ימי תשובה then crying seems to be an honest and desirable response. The people were acknowledging their sins with their tears.
But Rosh Hashanah is not a day for tears. The leaders of the community, Ezra and Nechemiah and the לויים circulated among the people telling them that Rosh Hashanah is a holiday. Instead of crying the people should go home and eat festive meals. It seems that the festive nature of Rosh Hashanah was difficult for the people to grasp initially since the text says
“…כִּי הֵבִינוּ בַּדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר הוֹדִיעוּ לָהֶם:”
The שם משמואל sees the paradoxical nature of Rosh Hashanah expressed in a discussion in the Gemrah about the preferred shape for the shofar. One sage says a curved shofar is to be preferred while a second sage says a straight shofar is preferred. The Gemarah explains their disagreement like this:
בש”ס (ר”ה כ”ו סוע”ב) מר סבר כמה דכייף אינש דעתי’ טפי מעלי ומר סבר כמה דפשיט אינש דעתי’ טפי מעלי.
One sage says a person’s eyes showed be focused on the ground and the other sage says that one’s eyes should be directed towards heaven. What is the point that they are actually debating? The שם משמואל explains that these two sages are debating how we should approach Rosh Hashanah. The first opinion is that we need to be honest on Rosh Hashanah. We need to make an honest accounting of all our sins and shortcomings when approaching Hashem. This accounting will lead to a person realizing how far he has fallen from the proper path and this will cause the person to lower his eyes in shame. The second sage says that this is not the attitude that we should have on Rosh Hashanah. It is of course true that we have all sinned and have much to account for. But focusing on the negative leads to despair and despair must be avoided. Our task on Rosh Hashanah is to reach out to Hashem. Hashem wants us to seek Him out. Chazal taught us :
תלמוד בבלי מסכת מגילה דף לא עמוד א
אמר רבי יוחנן כל מקום שאתה מוצא גבורתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא אתה מוצא ענוותנותו
Rosh Hashanah is the day that we acknowledge that Hashem is the King, but as Rabbi Yochanan say, where we see Hashem’s majesty we see His humility. On the day that Hashem is greeted as our King we are encouraged to seek Him out from the depths of our sins. Despair will not allow us to seek out Hashem. We must look up and not down.
We may not understand why Hashem cares about us, we may not understand why Hashem is so willing to welcome us back after we sin, but we must believe that this is simply His will. We must not despair of re-establishing our relationship with Hashem. The שם משמואל quotes the words of כלב when he tried desperately to persuade the people to listen to him and יהושע and ignore the other ten spies:
במדבר פרק יג
(ל) וַיַּהַס כָּלֵב אֶת הָעָם אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר עָלֹה נַעֲלֶה וְיָרַשְׁנוּ אֹתָהּ כִּי יָכוֹל נוּכַל לָהּ:
The ten spies came back with a negative report. The ten spies were defeatist and said that there is no rational expectation that the Jews could conquer the Land of Israel. But כלב tried his best to bring hope into the hearts of the people. Similarly on Rosh Hashanah we cannot allow ourselves to lose hope of finding Hashem. As Jews we must never give in to despair.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the shiur today.
Stuart Fischman