As we prepare for Rosh Hashanah, we continue with the proper mindsets to have.
One of the most important mindsets of Rosh Hashanah is to remember that it is the day that commemorates Creation.
The reason that Rosh Hashanah is on our calendar is that it is the day that Adam HaRishon was created. The world was created on the 25th of Elul (day One of creation). Thus, the day Adam was created (the sixth day of creation), was the first day of Tishre. We don’t celebrate the day the world was created, since we are trying to recognize G-d as king; without man there to recognize creation, there is no purpose in it. Therefore, we celebrate creation on the day that Adam HaRishon was created.
Additionally, Adam HaRishon sinned, and was judged, on that same day. Therefore G-d judges us on this day as well.
It is not enough, though, to solely focus on the day as a judgement day. We must also recognize that it’s the day of creation, and be aware and notice Hashem’s design and purpose in creation.
We can do this at our tables, Rabbi Miller style, by pointing out all of the wonderful things in the world that Hashem made for us to enjoy.
There’s a beautiful story related to this, about Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, the mashgiach of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Israel.
One of his students once came back from America with a blender, as a gift for the rabbi’s wife. It was a fairly new invention at the time, which the student gave to the Rebbitzen to aid her as she made her soups and other dishes. Being old-fashioned, the Rebbitzen couldn’t figure out how to use it, and so she set it aside. When the rabbi came home and saw it, he asked about it. She told him that she didn’t know how to use it. He studied it, with the electric cord, the plug, the glass, the cover that fit perfectly onto it, and the colorful buttons. He observed that it was designed and planned by someone, and that there must be instructions for it, to help a person use it. So they looked for, and found the instruction booklet, but couldn’t read the English. An American boy then came by to translate it for them. After a short lesson, the Rebbitzen was able to use the blender, and her soup was made in no time!
That day, the rabbi walked into the Ponevezh Yeshiva with the blender, banged his hand on the podium and announced, “From here we see that the Torah is from Shamayim, that G-d gave us the Torah.” The students were very confused. What did a blender have to do with the Torah from Shamayim? So he explained the whole story to them, and said, “When I looked at the blender, I knew there had to be a design and a purpose. Someone made it for a reason. I didn’t know how to use it but knew it had to come with instructions, and I found them.
So too, our world is full of plan and purpose. Hashem that created the world must have added instructions , that is the Torah that He gave us”
Everything about it has purpose. Look at your head- your eyes can see, your nose can smell, your ears can hear, and your mouth can taste... And 4/5 of our senses, that we use to protect ourselves, are located in the control tower that is our head, where the brain happens to be stored. Is that a coincidence? The evolutionists will say it was all mutation. They’ll say the eye just appeared there, and that all the people with eyes on their shoulders, or with noses on their backs, died out.They believe that each one of these is a great mutation. That your mouth is set under your nose (and not in the back of your head), so you can smell the food before you taste it...this all evolved? That’s nonsense! And why are there holes in your skull where your eyes are, and other holes where your ears, nose and mouth are? What about our eyelids? How’d those things happen? All of this is by design.
The cell phone in your hand is another example. The cell phone is made without the case. The case is made by a different company. This is how Hashem helps people make their parnasa. Apple doesn’t make money on the case; it’s another company’s business.
The case, if you study it, has a lot of plan and purpose to it, because every type of phone needs its own case. It needs the right holes for the volume buttons, the holes for on/off, for the charging port, etc. And it’s specifically designed for your phone. If someone told you that the case was made in China, and it just happened to match your phone, you wouldn’t believe them.
Well, Hashem made our skulls around our heads. The skull is a smartphone case for the brain. The skull is a hard protective case, with all the right holes, in the perfect places, and it grows with you. Imagine that the case you had from your first flip phone was able to expand and grow to fit each new phone as you purchased it! Impossible! No such thing. Well, that’s your skull. Plan and purpose.
These are the things we are supposed to think about on Rosh Hashanah, in order to appreciate G-d and creation.