B"H
Wednesday, Elul 4, 5782 / August 31, 2022
Q. Each Torah holiday is connected with a specific event which took place on that day. What historical event took place on the first of Tishrei to warrant this day to be Rosh Hashana, the day of universal judgment?
A. According to the Talmudic sage Rabbi Eliezer, Rosh Hashana is celebrated on the sixth day of creation - the day in which Adam and Eve were created.
Q. Why is Rosh Hashana – the Day of Judgment, on the day when Adam and Eve were created and not six days earlier when the world was created?
A. The purpose of creation is so that people would make this world a dwelling place for G-d's presence by observing G-d's commandments. Since men and women are the ones responsible to fulfill the purpose of creation, Rosh Hashana - the New Year - was established on the day when Adam and Eve were created, for they are the reason for creation.
However, on the very same day in which Adam and Eve were created, they sinned by eating the forbidden fruit of the "tree of knowledge."
G-d passed judgment upon them on that day as told in the beginning of the Torah. G-d said to Adam, "Just as you stood in judgment before me today, so will your descendants be judged each year on this day." This is why Rosh Hashana, the day when G-d passes judgment on the universe, is on the sixth day of creation.
King Solomon in Proverbs gives us the following advice: "Go to the ant and see her wise ways. She has not a master, nor a ruler, yet she prepares her food in the summer and gathers it during the harvest."
The Midrash explains that King Solomon is speaking to a person who is lazy in the performance of mitzvot. The ant is continuously gathering and storing food. Although the ant lives a short time and does not consume much food, yet it spends its entire life collecting much more food than it can consume during its short lifetime.
King Solomon emphasizes that we should take a lesson from the ant. One should never say I have enough mitzvot and good deeds. One should try to perform as many mitzvot as they can during their lifetime. Every mitzvah makes a difference for the good for us and for the world as a whole.
What difference can one more mitzvah make? Maimonides teaches us that a person should always imagine that the world is on a scale which is perfectly equally balanced. One mitzvah or, G-d forbid, one sin, can tip the global scale in either direction. Every mitzvah counts.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
& SHANA TOVA – A HAPPY HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR