We have been talking about the different mindsets of Rosh Hashana.
A very important one is the fact that we don’t mention sin at all on Rosh Hashana.
This is odd, because Rosh Hashana is the first day of Aseret Yeme Teshuva (the 10 Days of Repentance), and a fundamental of Teshuva is regret and confession.
How can we regret and confess our sins if we don’t mention sin at all? How can Rosh Hashana be the first and second day of Aseret Yeme Teshuva without mentioning sin?
The Midrash tells us there’s a word used for all holidays- והקרבתם -you should bring close(A קרבן is an offering)
Regarding Rosh Hashana, we have a different word-
ועשיתם “You should make״ G-d says, on Rosh Hashana, I create you new. בריה חדשה Like a new creation.
Every holiday repeats itself in time. For example, Pesach is the time we got out of Egypt, and it’s the time of freedom.
So too with all the other holidays.
What was the event that happened on Rosh Hashana that repeats itself every Rosh Hashana? Rav Wolbe says that although Adam HaRishon was judged on Rosh Hashana, it’s something that happened before that. On Rosh Hashana, Adam was created. Therefore Rosh Hashana gives us the power to renew ourselves.
Rabbenu Yonah writes, in his sefer Yesod HaTeshuva, that the first step to Teshuva is to forget about your past.
His words are: When a person commits to Teshuva, on that day:
ישליך כל פשעיו אשר עשה,
You should throw away your sins
ויעשה עצמו כאלו בו ביום נולד
And make yourself like you were born today.
Start fresh, like there was no yesterday.
Look at Rosh Hashana as a new beginning; a chance to start fresh.
It’s like a child who got into trouble every day for the first 3 weeks of school- bad marks, all kinds of trouble. Then the principal tells him, “Let’s start fresh. Forget about everything. This is a new chance, for a new start.”
That’s how we have to look at Rosh Hashana.
On Rosh Hashana, we dream about being our perfect selves. It’s hard to change if we get stuck in our sins.
I once heard a beautiful mashal given by Rav Matisyahu Salomon, to describe the difference between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
He said it’s like the difference between going to a photographer and going to a doctor.
When we go to the photographer, we cover up all our blemishes, to show off our best profile. Going to the doctor is different. We want him to see every blemish and every ache. Covering up our blemishes at the doctor would be foolish.
On Rosh Hashana we tell G-d, “This is what we want to look like.”
Today we have photoshop and airbrushing. We can make our pictures look better than we really do. Imagine using a computer program that could photoshop your eye color, airbrush your nose, etc and then with the press of a button, everything you touched up with the program actually happened to you!
On Rosh Hashana, we think: What do I want to look like? Do I want to get angry?Do I want to do this and not do that? What’s the perfect me that I’d like to be?
Tashlich is when you throw away your sins. Rabbenu Yonah tells us this.
But you have to want it.
A mashal can illustrate this:
Imagine a new cure for heavy smokers- all they’d have to do is flush a pack of cigarettes down the toilet once, and they’d never want to smoke again.
Some smokers would be excited, yet others wouldn’t be, because they don’t want to give up even the desire to smoke. They like the desire to smoke.
When that’s the case, it means it’s not that the person doesn’t want to do it. It’s that he doesn’t even want to be that person that wants to change.
On Rosh Hashana, all we do is pray that G-d’s name should be great, and we pray that our sins should disappear.
It’s a time for us imagine who we really want to be.
We should all take these two days to lift ourselves up, pray from our machzors, understand what we are saying, and throw ourselves into G-d’s palace.
Rabbi Wachtfogel says that on Rosh Hashana it’s like we are spending two days in G-d’s palace.
By spending of our time this way, in G-d’s palace, we lift ourselves up.
Think positively, think about what you want to be like, and imagine being the best self that you can be.
On Rosh Hashana itself, G-d judges us the way we are, so be on your best behavior. Make believe the building inspector is coming to check your building. It may not always be perfect but when the inspector comes, everything is just so. You’re on your best behavior.
Rosh Hashana is two days in which everyone should be on their best behavior. The seriousness of the day lifts us up and gives us the ability, BeEzrat Hashem, to renew ourselves and totally change in the new year.
Tizku Leshanim Rabot