The Day is upon us!
When you look at the Rosh Hashana liturgy you will see that phrase - The Day.
It’s the day we have the opportunity to return to the truest version of ourselves.
Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi, noted Torah teacher in Israel today, relates the story of going to visit women inmates at a prison facility. She prepared an uplifting talk, but as she addressed the inmates seated at a table around her, they all remained impassive. If body language could talk, their slumped posture and morose demeanor projected their total lack of interest. Rabbanit Yemima was beginning to despair when one of the women raised her hand. Rabbanit Yemima was so excited, thinking someone was interested and she had made a breakthrough. She called upon the woman and warmly asked what her question might be.
The prisoner asked her
“Can I try on your ring?”
The Rabbanit was wearing a beautiful gold ring.
The Rabbanit was taken aback by the question, but she quickly regained her composure and removed her ring and passed it to the women on her right. Rabbanit Yemima then witnessed an amazing sight. Before her eyes each prisoner who had just sat in a sullen and detached manner tried on the ring and stretched out her hand in the age old feminine motion of a woman trying on a ring. Before her eyes a metamorphosis took place. Instead of angry detached people, she saw before her a group of laughing, engaged and feminine women.
A ring had brought them back to their true selves.
So on Rosh Hashana we want to do actions that will connect us back to our own essence.
Rabbi Wolbe, Torah teacher of this past generation, teaches us that the way a person behaves on Rosh Hashana plants the seeds for the year ahead.
So the message for us is that on Rosh Hashana we want to return to who we really are, the sweetest version of ourselves, devoid of all that has clouded our essence. We do that by engaging in a physical activity that will remind us and help us achieve that goal.
One custom we have on Rosh Hashana eve is to dip an apple in honey and pray that we be blessed with a sweet new year.
If we want something which exemplifies the ultimate sweetness why don’t we dip the apple in sugar?
Candied apples would be all the rage?
We use honey because it has a preservative property.
If something non kosher falls into a kosher dish it will render it non kosher. But if something non kosher falls into honey, one may just remove that item and the honey remains kosher.
From this we can take a lesson for ourselves.
No matter what we have done this year, our true essence is untouched and we can just remove the impediment and focus on our strength and connection to the Almighty.
Because who we really are remains untainted.
The sound of the shofar awakens the feeling of connection to ourselves and to one another.
When we are present at the shofar blowing we need to have in hand, figuratively, some course correction we have accepted upon ourselves. Because if we have such a positive intention on Rosh Hashana, a Kabbala, which is explained as something we have accepted upon ourselves to improve, we show that we are taking a turn in the right direction.
A Kabbalah in modern Hebrew is also a receipt. It’s as if we are doing something which we can show for ourselves, a receipt so to speak of the change we are attempting to make.
We are heeding the call of the shofar and we are doing an action that will sow positive seeds for the future.
This is the Jewish version of a New Year Resolution. It is a very, very, very, very (you are understanding that it should be quite tiny) small but sustainable action.
That is the way to make the best use of The Day, to make a tiny but positive change.
It will be your “receipt” of efforts expended to help retrieve the best version of ourselves which remains pure and sweet as honey.
May we all be blessed with a Shana Tova UMetuka, a Sweet New Year, which is filled with an abundance of blessings, and many opportunities to be the blessing.
Shabbat Shalom and so much love.