We have started Selichot, at least in the Sephardic world, and every single day for the next 40 days, we're going to say the 13 Middot many times, and on Yom Kippur as well.
What is the significance of the 13 attributes of mercy?
The Gemara in Masechet Rosh Hashana tells us, on the pasuk
Vaya’avor Hashem el Panav Vayikra/
God passed over on His face and said, that Rav Yochanan says that if the pasuk did not say this, we couldn't say it. It’s as if God Himself wrapped Himself in a Talet like a Shaliach Sibor and showed Moshe Rabbenu how to properly say the 13 Middot.
And He said, “As long as the Jewish people do this in front of Me, I forgive them.” The Reshit Hochma brings down in the name the Geonim
(Rabbis before the Rishonim, a thousand plus years ago) that we see many people that say the 13 attributes of mercy and are not answered. So what does it mean that God guarantees us if we say these 13 attributes?
He answers that Yaasu/ will do this doesn't just mean to say it or wrap yourself in the talet. Yaasu means to do those 13 attributes of mercy. God is called El, Rachum, V’Hanun etc.
We have to not just say them, but act upon them.
It’s interesting that on Rosh Hashanah, when we do Tashlich, we say another 13 attributes, called Mi El Kamocha. But regardless of what the 13 attributes are, these are 13 attributes that God has, and we have to emulate God. When we emulate God with those middot, we are protected, and then we are saved. The more we act with these Middot, the more similar we are to God, and the more that God's name is called upon us.
He quotes a Yalkut Shemoni, Parashat Ekev, (chapter 873) citing a pasuk in Yoel(3,5) :
Anybody that has the name of God, will be protected.
The Midrash asks, How can you get the name of God? God's name is a Yud, and a Heh and and a Vav and a Heh. We can't even say His name! How could you be called the name of God? The Midrash answers that God is called Rachum V’Hanun, so we have to be called Rachum V’Hanun.
God does acts of free kindness, so we have to do acts of free kindness. B’Ezrat Hashem, over the next few days, we will explain how we can emulate God in these 13 attributes.
And it goes on and says, God is called Sadik, (as it says in tehilim 16,1 Ki Sadik Hashem) so you have to be a Sadik. God is called a Hasid (as it says in Yirmiyah), so you have to be pious. That’s what it means that
If you have the name of God, you will be protected.
You're a Rachum. You're a Hanun. When you're a generous person, then all of those titles and descriptions of kindness, a person gets that name. There's a rabbi in Israel, Rabbi Binyamin Finkel, a Mashgiach of the Mir in Yerushalayim, who gives great Berachot. Reading this Midrash, I understand why. He is known (going back literally 40 years), as Binyamin Hasadik/the righteous Binyamin.
That means he's called the name of God. That's a powerful title, to have Sadik after your name. That's God's name. Imagine you get called so-and-so the Rachum, or so- and-so the Hanun. That's what we want. We want to be called by the name of God, which means acting in the traits of God.
These are the 13 attributes of mercy, but it’s not enough just to say them. We have to act upon.
The Reshit Hochma says that the underlying trait of all these 13 attributes is actually God's humility, because for God to ignore our sins, to a certain level, and forgive us, and to continue to bestow His goodness upon us is a tremendous level of humility. And we're going to see, Mi El Kamocha means that God accepts humility and disgrace and continues to benefit people.
So the underlying trait of all these 13 Middot is the trait of humility. And it's interesting to note in the introduction to the Va’yaavor, humility is stressed.
The introduction is called El Melech Yoshev Al Kiseh Rachamim
God sits on the chair of mercy… He acts in piousness. He forgives our sins. He does acts of righteousness with everybody and He does not reciprocate according to our evil.
And then it says, El, the God, (that's the first trait) Horitanu/He taught us to say these, Remember for us today, God made a deal, that
If you act like that,, I'll forgive you. And who is the one that revealed this to us? It says, like you told the Humble one-
We don't call him Moshe Rabbenu, we call them the humble one, because since these are traits of humility, the conduit to bring it down was the Humble One Moshe.
That's the underlying theme of all these traits-to be humble.
Have a wonderful day.