A few days ago, exactly four days ago, I was approached by someone who is not observant. He asked me one of those questions that rabbis fear the most: “What is Rosh Hashanah in a nutshell? Where do you want me to start?” It’s complex; there are so many angles to it. But I was given one chance to inspire this gentleman, so I said that there’s something incredible in the tefillah (prayer) of Rosh Hashanah. The moment we are closest to HaKadosh Baruch Hu is during the Amidah; we’re one-on-one with God. The day when He is going to decide everything—every single aspect of our year—is Rosh Hashanah. Finally, we’re given the chance to talk to the Master of the Universe. It’s a one-on-one private meeting with the Master of the Universe.
If you pay attention to those tefillot, Shacharit, Mincha, Arvit, and Musaf, we do not ask for anything. No requests, nothing, not even Hashem. “I had a difficult time with my health last year. Would you please be nice to me and my family? Give me some health. I had difficulty with Parnassah (livelihood). Would you please help me with that?” A word, two seconds—you’re in front of God. He’s going to seal everything for us, so why not?
So I said to this gentleman, “See, the whole focus of Rosh Hashanah is on the King of the Universe. He’s on Hashem.” We keep on saying one key word that comes back the entire ten days, but specifically on Rosh Hashanah: Melech. HaMelech HaKadosh (The Holy King). The word Melech, the King, the Kingdom of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, coronating Hashem, the King of the Universe.
I gave him a Mashal (parable) so that he would understand better. I said that last week, one of the security personnel for Taylor Swift was fired. The person was at a concert where Taylor Swift was performing and happened to be a big fan of her. The job of security personnel is always to turn their back to the performer and face the people, to make sure that the people are not going to go on stage and are not a threat to the famous singer. But this person, being a fan of the singer, kept turning around, looking at her and enjoying the performance, singing together with the crowd, and taking selfies of himself with Taylor Swift behind him. He got fired. Why? Because he was there for her. He was not there for himself. If he wanted to watch the show, then he should have paid to be part of the public and watch it. But he was working for her. Why was he busy taking selfies instead of watching the public and making sure that she was safe?
I said to this individual, “Rosh Hashanah is not about us. Rosh Hashanah is about him. It’s about God. It’s about God starting the world. On that day, the man is created. Is it about the man? No. We don’t mention the creation of man during the tefillah. What we do mention is that when man is created, finally God could be coronated—with a purpose for the world. And therefore, it is our job on Rosh Hashanah to connect with the real meaning of the day. And that is the kavod and the honor of the King of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. That’s what we’re going to do throughout Rosh Hashanah. He’s coronating Hashem. And he’s facing ourselves, forgetting about ourselves. It’s not about ourselves. Because the question is, who are we? Are we part of the public watching, or are we part of the crew? Are we part of the staff of God? I want to be working for God. I want to be part of that. You know why? Because when you do that, you don’t need to ask Him for anything. He’ll take care of your tickets, your hotel, your food, your pay, your clothes, everything. Because they need to make sure that all the guards look the same, that all the guards are well fed, that all the guards slept well, that all the guards made it to the place, including the limousine that will take them there. Meaning, the more you coronate Hashem, the less you have to ask for anything, because God knows exactly what we need. Tizku leshanim rabot ne'imot vetovot.