Today is the last Monday of the year. Rosh Hashanah starts a new year this Sunday night/Monday. The significance of this, our rabbis tell us, is that G-d, in His great love and mercy for us, gives us a chance to fix things at the end of the year. He gives us the last month of the year, Elul, to dedicate ourselves to do Teshuva by going to Selichot or performing other acts to strengthen ourselves.
He gives us the last week of the year, which we are currently in, where each day of the week fixes that day of the previous year.
The days of Aseret Yeme Teshuva, next week, can fix every day of your entire life.
So now, as the year is being put up on the shelf, we have the chance to fix things in this very last week.
And finally, the last day of the year, erev Rosh Hashanah is a tremendous day for Teshuva.
So, we should keep in mind that Hashem gave us yet another chance to fix ourselves before these days finally go up on the shelf for the upcoming judgement.
In continuing our Mindsets for Rosh Hashanah series, this next one is very important for success in the new year:
A person must always view himself as part of Klal Yisroel/ the Jewish people at large. We are one body. We must realize that no person can stand on his own merit. Being a person that the Jewish people need is a merit for good judgement. Hashem looks at the world like a king looks at his servants, determining who is necessary for the business.
Someone once told me a good secretary makes herself indispensable. She sets up a filing system that no one else can operate, so that she is irreplaceable and can’t be fired. Similarly, a person should make himself necessary to Hashem. We want Hashem to think: “I need this person. He takes care of his family, his shul, his community. He does something for the sibbur/ community at large.”
Our rabbis tell us to have this concept in mind, and we actually stress it when we ask for life in the inserts to our tefilla during the Aseret Yeme Teshuva. Zachrenu Lechaim LeMa’anChah We are asking G-d to “Give me life for Your sake” What does this mean,
Rav Yisroel Salantar explains this with a mashal based on a personal experience he once had. Rav Salantar was staying in a hotel in Germany, (or France) on a visit from his home in Eastern Europe. This country he was visiting was more cultured than his native town. At the hotel, he ordered a coffee and got a bill for something like $20. He asked the waiter why it was so costly; the coffee shouldn’t have cost more than a dollar. The waiter told the rabbi that he wasn’t just paying for the coffee, he was paying for the whole ambiance and all that went with it, thus the expensive fee.
Rav Salantar automatically applied this to his life.
“When I sit down and make a beracha on a glass of water,” he thought, “I owe G-d for much more than just that glass of water.” He thought of the beautiful trees, the flowers, the sun. He realized that life is like being in an expensive hotel. He said, “When it comes to the new year and what I did versus what G-d gave me, how can I pay the bill?”
His answer was, a person traveling to Israel, for example, with the entire family for a bar mitzvah would have quite an expensive bill, depending on the particulars.
But another person going on a trip, who flies first or business class, is wined and dined at the finest hotels, and it doesn’t cost him a thing. How can that be? It’s because he’s there on business. He’s working for the company. Everything is charged on the company account. He’s a necessary salesman and the boss wants him to have a good flight, to feel rested, and so the company pays for everything. It costs the man nothing.
Rav Salantar says that we can use this concept as well, when it comes to all of our requests on Rosh Hashanah. We want a house, a car, health, we need a lot of things. We can charge it all to the company account. We can say to Hashem: “I work for you. I’m a salesperson for G-d. I spread your Torah, I help the Jewish people at large...” People can do anything... give out pamphlets on a certain topic in shul, invite a friend to learn, make up Asher Yatzar cards for people, share a great devar torah with a group....there are endless ways to benefit the masses and to become someone who’s not just living for himself, but living for the Jewish people at large. That is a powerful tool to merit on judgement day.
And that is why, in our pledge of allegiance to Hashem, we don’t simply say “Hashem Elokenu Hashem Ehad” As we’ve said in the past, we start with “Shema Yisrael/ Hear o Israel.” We are saying, “I’m part of the Jewish people.” And we need this mindset going into Rosh Hashanah.