This is (perhaps) our final class before Rosh Hashana, with a message based on the Parasha, and a general lesson about Rosh Hashana. How does Bitachon fit in with Rosh Hashana?
On one hand, there are signs that Rosh Hashana is not a regular holiday. We don't say Moadim L’Simcha/ Times of happiness. We don't say Hallel because the books of the living and the dead are open…so it's not your regular happy holiday. On the other hand, it says that we're not supposed to fast; We have to eat and drink like a regular Yom Tom, and there are other indicators of happiness.
So are we supposed to be afraid or are we supposed to be happy?
One of the approaches is that you're supposed to be afraid, but then you're supposed to rely on Hashem and be happy. So there's a struggle, so to say. It starts off with concern and ends with happiness. So, you might ask, why do we have to go through the process? Why can't we just go straight to happy?
The answer is based on a story about the great Brisker Rav and Rav Shach. Rav Shach went to visit the Brisker Rav on the final Erev Rosh Hashana of his life. The Brisker Rav was quite sick, and he looked very concerned and nervous. Rav Shach asked, “Why is the Rabbi so nervous and concerned? It says that on Rosh Hashana we are supposed to rely on Hashem to make miracles for us.”
That's why we take haircuts and we make ourselves clean and get prepared, whereas normally, when a person's going for a severe judgment, they're not concerned with how they look. And it says, it’s because we’re relying on God that He’s going to make a miracle for us.
Rav Shach was telling the Rabbi to cheer up, and the Brisker Rav answered with the following important Bitachon principle:
Wherever you are at this moment, you don't have Bitachon that there is not going be an earthquake, or that there isn’t going to be a volcano.
On the other hand, if you were sitting next to the edge of a volcano that has erupted in the past, you might be having bitachon that it won't erupt. But in Brooklyn, New York, there's no thought of ever having a volcano erupt, so therefore there's no bitachon for that.
By definition, Bitachon means you're aware of the severity situation, and with all the facts on the table, you are relying on Hashem to save you. But if you have no concern at all and you're totally indifferent, that's not called bitachon. That's called ignorance is bliss. That's not relying on God. Hence the Brisker Rav’s reply, “I'm not concerned enough, and therefore, I don't have bitachon yet.”
Of course, he was saying that in his humility, but this is the important point: We have to be concerned before we go into Rosh Hashana.
And we read this lesson in Nisavim.
Last week, we read the curses, “Let the year and the curses end.” And it says, Atem Nisavim/ You’re standing tall.
Why do you have to be standing tall?Rashi says that the Jewish people's faces turned green after they heard all the curses. Then Moshe Rabbenu said, “Don't worry. You've been through a lot. And you're still standing. You'll make it, have no fear.”
So what are we doing? Why are we getting scared but then saying there’s nothing to worry about? Is it a tease?
And the rabbis explain that after you become scared, then there's nothing to worry about, because then you can rely on God because you realize what's going on. But if you're not concerned at all, then you have a problem. That's the biggest problem. There is a saying, “There's nothing to fear but fear itself,” but here we say, “There's nothing to fear but the lack of fear itself.”
It actually comes up again in our Perasha, where it discusses the man who hears the curses and blesses himself in his heart saying, “ I'll be fine.” What happens to that guy? The next pasuk says, “God is not going to forgive that man,” and we won’t continue with the horrible things it says about him.
But where does this man start from? I saw a beautiful thought from Rabbi Wolfson. It says, “ Lest you have in yourself, a root that’s growing two bitter herbs.”
That means inside the man, there's a bad root, and from that root, improper thoughts grow. If you take the first letter of each of the words in that pasuk, and scramble them, it spells, “Shofar.” The power of the shofar is such that when you hear the shofar and you become scared and concerned, that will uproot that bitter root. Once you're scared and concerned, then you have hope. That's our job.
But to go in scared doesn't mean being petrified and shaking. Scared means you know what's going on. This is serious. Rosh Hashana is a serious day. Of course, we're going to have a meal, and we'll be happy that God is King and that we are coronating Him.
But it's a day of judgment. It's a serious day. We must first be aware of the day, in order to rely on Hashem, and then, B’Ezrat Hashem, we will see miracles.
Tizku L’Shanim Rabot, Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova.