NEW YEAR 5767

by Rabbi Sholem B. Hecht

The central theme of the Mussaf- additional prayer on Rosh Hashana is based on the Talmud which says that: on the day of Rosh Hashonah we approach G-d and proclaim His kingdom over the entire world with the recitation of the verses of “Malchiyot”, we also beseech G-d to remember us with “Zichronot” and all this is brought about by the sounding of the Shofar. Thus, in the Mussaf prayer which emphasizes the main theme of Rosh Hashana we have in the central section the three parts, “Malchiyot”, “Zichronot” and “Shofrot”.

Universal Kingship

The section of Malchiyot begin’s with mention of first "Mipnei Chataeinu" because of our sins we were exiled from the land.  This reminds us of the suffering of our years in Galut and certainly the fact that the redemption has not yet come is also connected to the concept that our sins continue to keep us in exile. We then assume that having brought to mind the suffering of the exile when we speak of the kingship of the Almighty we would emphasize that G-d is king of the Jewish people and that we would want G-d to give us His attention as our king as we say in the prayer Avinue Malkeinu, You are Our Father, You are Our King. Nevertheless, when we begin the section of Malchiyot we speak of G-d's kingship over the whole world, "Meloch Kol Haodom Kulo" we pray for the Almighty to be king over the whole world. This seems to be a bit naive, after all we've given the world enough, why do we worry about everyone else on Rosh Hashana, what about us?

It might be a good idea for the nations of the world to gather and give praise to the Almighty, it seems that on the day of R.H. we should put emphasis on the relationship between Hashem and the Jewish people. Nevertheless, we put our own needs aside so to say and we pray for G-d's kingship over the world. At the same time we also say that the people of the world should come together and unite in order to give Homage to the Almighty and to accept the kingship of Hashem. In a sense, speaking of a body of nations that will join together in unity and recognize G-d as king of the world. Even though we need the blessings of the Almighty and his kingship for our individual needs as Jews, nevertheless, we overlook that and we compromise our own personal needs, and pray for the rest of the world.

Sacrificing Our Ancestors

Zichronot- here too one would think that we should come before the Almighty and ask G-d to remember Avraham and Yitzchok, to remember the great and righteous people of Jewish history, the sacrifices that they made and to remember the times when the Jewish people were faithful to G-d. As is actually mentioned, "Zocharti Lecho Chesed Neurayich" G-d says: “I remember the kindness and the goodness of your youth”, when we went into the desert despite all of the difficulties, not knowing what would be in store for us. However, we find that here in the verses of Zichronot - remembrance, G-d remembered Noach. It Goes on to speak of the fact that Noach was chosen to keep the animal kingdom alive at the time of the flood. Noach wasn't even a Jew, although he was a Tzaddik. From the tone of the verses that we quote and from the statement "Gam Et Noach", it is clear that the author of the Machzor was of the opinion that Noach was a Tzaddik  only relative to his own generation and he was of the opinion that if Noach had been in a different generation he would not have been considered so righteous. This is because Noach clearly did not go out to actively do what the Almighty wanted him to do, which was to encourage people to turn from their ways of sin and to turn back and repent to G-d, he was only passive, that when someone asked him why he was building the Taivah- ark, he said that G-d was going to bring a flood. When they asked him why he was building a boat in the middle of the country, he said to them that the water was going to come there and lift his boat up.

Noachian Righteousness

Even though Noach's righteousness was only because he stayed away from the abominable acts of his generation and in a sense was a "Sur Maira" and for that reason he was considered a Tzaddik, nevertheless, we mention Noach in our prayers. Perhaps, the reason for this is that we specifically want to bring in the remembrance of one whose righteousness is not absolute so as to say to Hashem that even though our righteousness is not absolute, still we should be remembered and forgiven in a relative sense similar to the way Noach was remembered and saved. Clearly, we are making a compromise here by bringing Noach into our prayers. Thus, in the Malchiyot and in the Zichroniot we have taken various things into consideration in the formulation of the prayers.

Our Ultimate Request

Now we come to the Shofar which is the under-tone of all of these prayers and we say that here we come to the Almighty with the Shofar as the Mitzvah which we fulfill on the day of Rosh Hashana and this is the thing which has to bring all the prayers before the Almighty. Here, however, we are not going to compromise and here we turn to Hashem and we say, now we want to go first class. We're not satisfied with accepting G-d's kingship on the whole world, we're not satisfied with remembering people who are only Tzaddikim in a relative sense, we want the absolute promise of the Shofar which is the Shofar of Moshiach. Just as the Shofar was sounded when we accepted the Torah and we did it without any questions by proclaiming "Naaseh Venishma- we will do and listen" so too, we come to the Almighty and we ask him to sound the Shofar of Moshiach without any conditions and to fulfill his promise that on that day the great Shofar will be sounded and G-d will gather together the exiles all over the world and will bring redemption to the world.

Thus, the final section of Shofrot proclaims the absolute prayer which we present to the Almighty for the fulfillment of our greatest aspiration and hope and the fulfillment of Hashem's promise for the ultimate redemption.