It is now about two weeks before Rosh Hashanah.
There’s a halachic implication in this day, and for the next two weeks as well. It is brought down in Shulchan Aruch that there is a custom to take a haircut on erev Rosh Hashanah.
Many years ago, when I was in Israel, it was difficult, on that last day with the rush, to wait on line at the barber. I asked Chacham BenZion Abba Shaul about it, and he said that within 2 weeks of the hag is still considered erev Rosh Hashanah, and brought a proof that a new haircut is recognizable for two weeks.
So now is the time that we can start taking our holiday haircuts.
What does that have to do with Bitachon? Let’s go back to the source.
Why does the Shulchan Aruch bring down that one should take a hair cut on erev Rosh Hashanah? It goes back to the Tur and to the Rishonim.
They quote a pasuk in Devarim:
(ז) כִּי מִי גוֹי גָּדוֹל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ אֱלֹקים קְרֹבִים אֵלָיו כַּידֹוָד אֱלֹקינוּ בְּכָל קָרְאֵנוּ אֵלָיו:
Who is like the Jewish people that G-d is close to us?
We are related and familiar with G-d Whenever we call out in prayer, he responds.
The midrash responds to this in the name of Rav Yehoshua:
איזו אומה כאומה זו
שיודעת אופיה של אלהיה
Which nation is like the Jewish people- that we know the ways (and the customs) of how our G-d works?
In other words, we know the system.
Normally when person has a judgement looming, he cloaks himself in black. He’s unshaven, and poorly groomed. We’ve seen mugshots of top executives in trouble. They look unkempt, their nails aren’t cut, because they’re nervous. They don’t know which way the judgment will go.
אבל ישראל אינן כן לובשים לבנים ומתעטפים לבנים ומגלחין זקנם ומחתכין צפרניהם ואוכלין ושותין ושמחין בר"ה
But the Jews aren’t that way. We wear white clothing, we wrap ourselves in white, we trim our beards, we cut our nails, we eat and drink and we are happy on Rosh Hashanah.
But, we might ask, it’s Yom HaDin. It’s Judgement Day. Shouldn’t we show signs of the day? After all, we are being judged.
The answer is:
לפי שיודעין שהקב"ה יעשה לה נס
Because we Jewish people know that Hashem will make a miracle for us.
We know that we might have sins, but we are relying on Hashem. We have Bitachon. That’s a powerful thing. Therefore, we take a haircut.
This is important to understand. We need to have kavana when we do things. We can either just do things by rote because we’ve been conditioned that way, or we can think: This is an act of Bitachon. I’m showing how much I believe in Hashem. Even though I may not be worthy, I’m doing something that shows how I rely on Hashem.
On the other hand, we have to temper this.
Normally, on a holiday, we say Hallel, a happy joyous song of praise.
But on Rosh Hashanah the angels ask why we don’t sing Hallel. And Hashem says, the Book of the Living and the Book of the Dead are open- are we going to say Hallel? It’s life and death, it’s not the time for it.
So what’s going on?
The answer is, it’s tempered. We are cognizant of the fact that we are being judged, and thus we strengthen ourselves and spend our day in shul. But we can’t walk in depressed. We can’t be in a state of despair about what will be. We can’t worry and look at what happened to this one and that one. We go in happy and positive.
And it doesn’t just start on Rosh Hashanah, but with our preparations beforehand.
So whatever you do to prepare for the holiday, be it a haircut, buying a new suit etc., take advantage and say, “This is my statement of Bitachon, that I’m relying on G-d and that He’ll make a miracle and bring about a beautiful new year.”