We continue with our Mindsets for Rosh Hashanah series.
Our first mindset is that G-d is king.
Our second mindset is that we aren’t arrogant.
The next mindset is that all of our requests from G-d on Rosh Hashanah are for gifts, or what we’d call donations- we have no demands. This is another aspect of humility. We are servants. We don’t deserve anything. We beg and plead.
The source for this is a Gemara in Masechet Rosh Hashanah where all the rules and regulations are discussed.
כל שנה שרשה בתחלתה מתעשרת בסופה
Any year that is poor in its beginnings will be wealthy in its end
Rashi says that “a year that is poor in its beginnings” means:
שישראל עושין עצמן רשין בראש השנה לדבר תחנונים ותפילה
“They make themselves like they are poor on Rosh Hashanah, and speak words of supplication and prayer.”
Tahanun means begging. We are looking for מתנת חנם - we are looking for a free gift.
As the pasuk says, תחנונים ידבר רש
״the poor man speaks in a language of supplication״
On Rosh Hashanah we realize that we are coming to G-d with nothing. It’s like we’ve lost our lease. We start again, begging our landlord for a new year.
A friend of mine who is a wholesaler was recently explaining to me that in wholesale, there are no guarantees. Every year is a new year. Just because he sold a certain product last year, that doesn’t mean the buyer will reorder it. Every year he starts fresh. It’s not like in real estate, he said, where they just have to collect the rent.
I told him the same is true for everyone. No one has an automatic payment plan set up for life without the need for the reorder.
No matter what business you’re in, come Rosh Hashanah, everyone has lost their lease, and everyone needs a reorder.
There’s a beautiful mashal (parable) told by the Maggid of Dubna, who gave great parables. One of my favorites of his is the following:
There was a wealthy man who gave out a lot of charity and wanted to teach his son. So, one day, his son apprenticed by him, and sat watching his father in his office, taking notes on what he saw.
One rabbi came in to collect for a large yeshiva, and was given a certain amount.
Another rabbi came in to collect for a girls’ school, and was given an amount.
Then someone came to raise money to help return lost souls. He got something.
From those coming to help the sick, to needy people seeking private funds for themselves, the full gamut of charitable causes was represented, and everyone got something. The smallest check was for $101.
Then a man came in, trying to sell pencils, at $10 per piece. The charitable man didn’t need pencils, and they were quite expensive, but he agreed to buy six of them, to be kind.
Later on, the charitable man’s son noticed that the lowest amount donated throughout. the day was $101, but the man selling pencils only got $60. Why the exception?
His father explained that this man hadn’t come for charity, he had come to do business. Not needing the pencils, and given that he overcharged for them, the father bought a few to be nice, but, had that man come for charity, he’d have walked out with more.
The application for us, says the Maggid, is that we all come to G-d with requests on Rosh Hashanah. There are two attitudes, or mindsets we can have:
We can say to G-d, “I did so many things, you owe me.” That’s one way to look at it.
He’ll buy your pencils but it won’t go well for you.
The other approach is to say, “Hashem please, I know I’m not deserving. You gave me so much last year, and I hardly paid you back. Please give me another chance, please give me some more.”
This is the humble approach of understanding that we are coming to G-d with nothing. We’ve lost our lease. And just because we had things until now, that doesn’t mean it will continue.
As we’ve said: “Past performance is not an indicator of future outcomes.” (this is the fine print written on most mutual-fund documents.)
BeH, we will all have the proper mindset of being humble and poor in the beginning, and will have a beautiful, wealthy end.