Grasping the Head: The Secret Behind the Avodah of Rosh Hashanah | Rabbi Mendy Chamo #005

00:00 Speaker 1 Welcome. This is the fifth episode of the Chassidic farbrengen from On Chabad Education, and this time we’re talking about Rosh Hashanah. I sat down for a fascinating, captivating farbrengen with Rabbi Menachem Mendel Chamo, the Rebbe’s shliach in Chatzor and an educator at the Chassidic Technological Institute. This farbrengen is dedicated in the merit of Shmuel son of Yehudis. If you’d like to dedicate an episode in someone’s merit or for the elevation of a soul, you’re welcome to contact me privately. L’chaim, l’chaim. I’d also like to wish all our viewers and listeners that you be inscribed and sealed for a good, sweet year. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Chamo, l’chaim, l’chaim.

00:35 Speaker 2 L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim and blessings. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word all things came to be.

00:40 Speaker 1 Amen. So, Rosh Hashanah. The beginning of the year—“This is the day on which Your works began.” So much has been said and taught about this day. Let’s dive in a little. Let’s try to come to it a bit more prepared.

00:58 Speaker 2 You opened with that: it’s the beginning of the year, Rosh Hashanah. There’s a well-known question brought in Chassidus, and the Rebbe raises it on so many occasions: Why is it called Rosh Hashanah, the “head of the year,” rather than the “beginning of the year”? These are the two days that begin the whole year. Why call it the head? The Rebbe dwells on this in so many places, with remarkable attention to the precise meaning of “head.” At its core, we have a whole body, and then we have its head. Rosh Hashanah is the head of the entire year. I think we really should say a little l’chaim.

01:44 Speaker 1 L’chaim, l’chaim.

01:46 Speaker 2 May we be inscribed and sealed for a good, sweet year.

01:49 Speaker 1 Amen.

01:51 Speaker 2 May we be connected to the head, and may we be a head. Among chassidim, they would wish each other that we be a head, that we be connected to the head. L’chaim, l’chaim.

01:59 Speaker 1 L’chaim and blessings. So why “head” and not “beginning,” as we were saying?

02:08 Speaker 2 If we look at the human body, there are many organs, and there is one especially distinguished part: the head. A person eats and drinks, taking nourishment into his body, and ultimately that nourishment becomes blood. Right? It’s all refined, and the blood is the choicest part. The blood reaches the heart, and from the heart, “the heart distributes to all the limbs.” After that, the heart—

02:36 Speaker 1 It spreads to all the other limbs.

02:38 Speaker 2 It distributes the blood to all the limbs, but first it sends it to the brain. Overall responsibility for the entire body resides in the brain, in the head, and from the head that direction extends to all the limbs, each according to its capacity. In other words, the vitality of all the limbs is found in the head. Where is the vitality of the entire year found? In its head. Rosh Hashanah isn’t just another day. I mean, we have 3 Tishrei, 4 Tishrei, 1 and 2 Tishrei—but these are entirely different kinds of days, not just quantitatively but qualitatively. The head has a different quality. When you bring in a surgeon, a brain surgeon is on another level. That’s not like someone operating on a leg or an arm; it’s a different kind of work. So how does this play out? The vitality of the entire year is in its head. In simple terms, if we tried to fold the whole year down as small as we possibly could, the entire year would ultimately fold into these two days, these forty-eight hours. That means every moment is a moment of general significance, a moment that encompasses the entire year. Sorry, no, I went too far. Every moment encompasses—if we’re talking about days and hours, about periods of time—many periods of time are contained within each moment. Every moment is precious, a moment of a different quality altogether, and in every moment we also have the ability to affect many times throughout the year.

04:11 Speaker 1 So when people say to make use of these days, it’s because they affect the whole...

04:14 Speaker 2 They have a tremendous effect on the entire year.

04:15 Speaker 1 That’s what the Frierdiker Rebbe writes about the forty-eight hours for the Temimim.

04:20 Speaker 2 There’s something about a private meal and the forty-eight hours that need to be used well, and then there’s the letter to the Temimim. In fact, in the supplements containing the letters in the Tehillim, there’s a letter for the Days of Awe addressed to the Temimim. It’s on pages 204 and 205. There the Frierdiker Rebbe begins by discussing how to make use of this month. Then he addresses the esteemed students and speaks about using the time in a truly remarkable way. He says—forty... Sorry, he doesn’t say “forty-eight hours” there. What he says is—actually, I have an excerpt from the letter right here, this very passage. The Frierdiker Rebbe says, “During the two days of Rosh Hashanah, which come upon us for good, beginning one hour before Minchah...” It’s interesting: he specifies an exact time for making use of the time. He says from an hour before Minchah, an hour before Yom Tov begins. He says before Minchah, interestingly, until Maariv at the end of Yom Tov. There’s a farbrengen afterward, with all the niggunim, continuing with all the Rebbeim and so on—

05:27 Speaker 1 Into the year.

05:28 Speaker 2 We begin—continue into the year with Hamotzi. But he says until Maariv here, until Maariv. So the Frierdiker Rebbe says: “Until the Maariv prayer at the end of Rosh Hashanah, let each and every one of you apply yourselves to saying Tehillim, night and day.” He’s saying that during this time, every moment is precious. One should keep saying Tehillim at every opportunity, at night and during the day. There’s another letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. In it he relates a conversation during the Ten Days of Teshuvah between the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe. He went in to see him and found him writing something in divrei Elokim chayim, in Chassidus. And he asked him, “What did you daven with on Rosh Hashanah?” The Frierdiker Rebbe then explains what “What did you daven with?” means. Some ordinary people daven for what they lack, for their needs. One needs food; another needs a livelihood. But “What did you daven with?” means: What thoughts did you daven with? What connection to G-dliness? He goes into detail there: What were you thinking about during the prayers? What did you contemplate? Which concepts were on your mind? And after the Frierdiker Rebbe explains this at length, he says that the one who was davening answered, “With ‘And every upright one will bow before You’”—with contemplation of that verse. He then begins explaining what that means. But as he does, he says Rosh Hashanah is precious time. We need to recognize that we must have greater focus in the prayers. Every part of this time is special. It isn’t just another prayer or another moment. And there he says, “We saw among chassidim,” even simple chassidim. He speaks of a chossid of—

07:06 Speaker 2 The Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe. Let me be precise: he says he wasn’t on the level to be called a chossid of the Mitteler Rebbe; he knew the Mitteler Rebbe, and he describes him as a simple man, and so on. Nevertheless, the Mitteler Rebbe says, this Jew did not sleep on Rosh Hashanah, and he used every moment to say Tehillim. Every moment should be used to learn Torah, to daven, and to say Tehillim. He finished the entire Tehillim ten times on Rosh Hashanah and five times on Yom Kippur. Now, Rosh Hashanah lasts two days. We have prayers, and they aren’t short; we have meals and so on. Ten times through Tehillim! Clearly, every moment is precious—to that extent. And if we continue a little in the letter, the Mitteler Rebbe says that during these two days of Rosh Hashanah, one must avoid mundane conversation to the utmost. We see people undertake a fast from speaking, right? We really need to be careful. But here it isn’t just a matter of refraining from speech. In a positive sense, too, we need to use every moment.

08:13 Speaker 1 So it’s not only about what I don’t do; it’s also about what I do.

08:15 Speaker 2 It’s also about what I do with every moment. We need to fill the time. And why is that? By the way, there’s a halachah the Alter Rebbe brings in the Shulchan Aruch. He says that if a person sleeps on Rosh Hashanah—I don’t remember the exact wording, but it’s almost word for word—his mazal sleeps. His mazal is asleep. And at a time like this, such precious time, when we stand before Hakadosh Boruch Hu...

08:36 Speaker 1 But why is Rosh Hashanah so special? What happens on Rosh Hashanah? We always hear that it’s the Day of Judgment, right? Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment. Everyone passes before the King, and He writes their verdict. That’s the wording of the prayers, too. What does Chassidus add for us? What further dimension does it give us in understanding Rosh Hashanah? These are days we need to make use of. Why? Because it’s the Day of Judgment?

08:59 Speaker 2 So I’ll return to the point we opened with, this idea of Rosh Hashanah. We said it’s the head—

09:04 Speaker 1 Let’s say l’chaim.

09:05 Speaker 2 L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim.

09:07 Speaker 1 L’chaim, and may we merit it.

09:08 Speaker 2 Let’s wrap up these points. L’chaim, l’chaim. So what does Chassidus add for us? Wow! First of all, chassidim say: If we walked into a regular shul and a Chassidic shul, how would we tell which was which? The question is, where do they shout? In a regular shul, they shout, “Repentance, prayer, and charity avert the severity of the decree.” That’s where life and death are at stake. And where do chassidim shout? “And You are the King, living and enduring.” In other words, where is the emphasis? Is it on my life or on the King? Now, it’s all true. Three books are opened, as it says in the Gemara.

10:02 Speaker 1 Right.

10:02 Speaker 2 And it’s the Day of Judgment, and everyone passes before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and so on. But the question is, where is the emphasis? Chassidus explains—and the Alter Rebbe writes in Igeres Hakodesh, based on the verse about the Holy Land, “A land that Hashem your G-d watches over, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” The Alter Rebbe asks: Why doesn’t it say “[unclear]”? Why “to the end of the year”? He explains this there at some length: Every year, a G-dly light descends to give life to all the worlds. It descends into the higher worlds, and from there gives life to every created being in every world, down to each individual created being here in this physical world.

10:46 Speaker 1 The energy, the power of it—the life-force of the world descends.

10:48 Speaker 2 The life-force of the worlds. So, each year, the life-force for the entire year descends, and on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, that life-force withdraws to its source and root.

10:57 Speaker 1 Mm.

11:01 Speaker 2 And when exactly does it withdraw? On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, after sunset. Then the life-force withdraws and the world is in a state of faintness, of unconsciousness. And the Alter Rebbe says there that a new and renewed light then descends. When does it descend? No, not at that time. From sunset, from nightfall, until then, the world is in a state of unconsciousness. And at that time, there truly was—and still is—an extraordinary avodah among chassidim. Among [unclear], you could see that the prayers on Rosh Hashanah night went on for a very, very long time. There were hours and hours of prayer. I went in after the prayers, when everyone was leaving. I stayed with [unclear]; I stayed with chassidim and heard descriptions in many places. It was a completely different world.

11:56 Speaker 1 Because the world is in a state of unconsciousness. Its life-force—the world is unconscious because its life-force isn’t there; there’s no life in the world.

12:02 Speaker 2 What does it actually mean that the world is in a state of—what is this whole idea? There’s a concept called the withdrawal of malchus. It’s true that all life-force ultimately flows through malchus, the last of the sefiros, and from there it reaches all the worlds. What happens on Rosh Hashanah is the withdrawal of malchus: it becomes absorbed into its source and root. This is discussed at length in Chassidus—what the withdrawal of malchus means, and the subsequent building of malchus that takes place on Rosh Hashanah. The Rebbe Rashab’s Hemshech [unclear] discusses the building of malchus in detail. But the basic point is that, all at once, the entire life-force withdraws. In other words, if we speak a little more simply—in lofty, lofty terms.

12:40 Speaker 1 Yes, in our own words.

12:41 Speaker 2 In our own words. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world. In His great kindness, He comes and says, “My friends, I created all the details, all the beings. Now come and complete the story. Come and do what needs to be done.” And Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives us another year to do what needs to be done here in the world. We do some things better, and some things less well—or, more precisely, there are things we do well and things we do even better. Then Rosh Hashanah arrives, and we need to justify Hakadosh Boruch Hu coming to give the world life anew. And what we do on Rosh Hashanah—this is the emphasis, what a chossid brings out, what Chassidus puts in the spotlight—is the avodah of a Jew on Rosh Hashanah. On Rosh Hashanah, we crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King. Crowning Him as King involves the blowing of the shofar and all the extensive avodah of Rosh Hashanah. But what does it mean to crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King? What is this coronation? There is a king, but before there is a king, there is a people. The people choose and say, “He is the one in charge of me.” The moment I decide to crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King, a different reality comes into being; I become a different person. A person who has someone in charge of him and a person who is left to himself, with no one in charge, are two different people. On Rosh Hashanah we declare—and more than declare, we accept upon ourselves from the depths of our souls—“Hakadosh Boruch Hu, You are in charge.” In crude terms, we give Hakadosh Boruch Hu a reason to descend and give life to all the worlds anew. And why?

14:24 Speaker 1 New life-force for the world.

14:25 Speaker 2 New life-force for the worlds. The Alter Rebbe’s wording there is “a new and renewed light that has never existed since the world was created.” A new life-force is drawn down, one that has not existed since the Six Days of Creation, to give life to every individual created being. For what? For whom? For me and for you. So when does that happen on this day? This day is so critical because the question is: How do I accept Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King? How do I accept the One in charge of me? I’m beginning to get a little sense of it. If I accepted Him from the outset with reservations, that will show. But if I decided that He is in charge and that I belong to Him completely, then that decision will also show in my yiras Shamayim: where I look, what I do, how I live, how I put on tefillin, and how I speak. In the end, the way I accept the One in charge of me is expressed in my belonging to Him completely. So what does Rosh Hashanah mean? We grasp that there is Someone in charge—and more than grasp it, I accept upon myself from the depths of my soul that there is Someone in charge, and I am here to do what He wants. That “Here I am” is Rosh Hashanah.

15:41 Speaker 1 Accepting His kingship.

15:42 Speaker 2 Accepting His kingship. Now, that is the head. Everything is there, in the head.

15:48 Speaker 1 It’s not the beginning, it’s not the beginning—it’s the head.

15:49 Speaker 2 It’s not the beginning; it’s the head. That’s an essential distinction. There is a remarkable sicha of the Rebbe in Likkutei Sichos, Parshas Mishpatim, volume 36. The Rebbe discusses a tam ox and a muad ox. What makes an ox that has become a muad revert to being a tam? What restores its original status? He cites the Rambam, the Meiri, and others there. One way it reverts to that status is the familiar case: say it gored three times, and then three times it encountered the same situation—if it used to gore donkeys, it saw a donkey three times and did not gore it. Then it reverts to being a tam. There is another way, too. It says that a change of ownership changes its status. In other words, its owner was someone named Yisroel, and now someone named Mendy buys it. It now belongs to Mendy. It says that the ox reverts to being a tam. Why? It has a new owner. A new owner means different habits, so it will behave differently. Certainly. But wait a second—it gored just a moment ago! No, it has a different owner, and that already affects the whole—

16:57 Speaker 3 That’s a halachic definition.

16:58 Speaker 2 It’s a halachic definition. And it’s not just a definition. The Torah affects the world; it governs the world and changes its reality. This is real. If I have someone in charge of me, it will be reflected in my life. So Rosh Hashanah encompasses the entire year. It’s the key—more than the key, it’s the essence of the entire year. That’s why every moment is so precious.

17:19 Speaker 3 So if we now come under the authority of the One in charge.

17:22 Speaker 2 So we have to enter into it completely, and that finds expression in how we use our time. What does someone who has a Master look like? He is bittul—he sets himself aside. It’s interesting: Rosh Hashanah is such a precious day, the most exalted day, the head of the entire year. What would you think we should do? Engage in Torah, study profound subjects in Nigleh and Chassidus. At the meals of our Rebbeim, they did say words of Torah. But on the first night, there was real quiet, silence. On the second night, they did say a little, repeating teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, and after Rosh Hashanah there was a little more [unclear]. But by and large, on Rosh Hashanah they even limit words of Torah. What is the idea? And saying Tehillim every moment—what is it about Tehillim? Ultimately, Tehillim expresses this point: I accept the King’s sovereignty. I set myself aside. I’m not the story; He is the story. There is this point of accepting His sovereignty.

18:17 Speaker 3 That finds expression in our avodah too.

18:19 Speaker 2 So it also finds expression in this avodah, in saying Tehillim at every available moment. That, too, expresses this idea of remembering—interestingly, that letter spoke about it.

18:28 Speaker 3 L’chaim, l’chaim.

18:29 Speaker 2 L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim, and blessings.

18:30 Speaker 3 L’chaim.

18:35 Speaker 2 To the point that in yeshivos they organize shifts. The Frierdiker Rebbe comes and says that every moment must express acceptance of the King’s sovereignty. Every moment is precious. So there should be shifts throughout Rosh Hashanah.

18:49 Speaker 3 Even at night, after the boys go to sleep, there are Temimim who sit and say Tehillim.

18:55 Speaker 2 I remember that when I was a bochur in the junior yeshivah, they also tried to follow what it says in the letter: if possible, each group should have a minyan of at least ten. I remember having two shifts. One year, I remember, they woke me in the middle of the night, and there was a group saying Tehillim in the zal. They didn’t leave until we arrived. So we came—and this applied during the meals too. In other words, every moment is precious; every moment has to express this acceptance of the King’s sovereignty. Now, Rosh Hashanah is such a precious time, a time when our very essence changes as we take in the fact that we have a Master. And every moment affects the entire year. Every moment. So far we’ve been speaking on a more spiritual level. Let’s talk a little—even about business. Excuse me for the—l’chaim, l’chaim.

19:45 Speaker 3 L’chaim.

19:49 Speaker 2 One year—first of all, we also have to remember that Rosh Hashanah involves an entire avodah with the Rebbe. When chassidim would travel to the Rebbe, people would ask, “Why travel to the Rebbe for the holidays?” Of course, chassidim always traveled to our Rebbeim for the holidays, every year. The answer was: to hear the shofar blowing. According to halachah, you have to hear the shofar blown by a human being, not an animal. It says that if you heard it from an animal, you haven’t fulfilled your obligation. Where do you find a human being?

20:19 Speaker 3 With the Rebbe.

20:19 Speaker 2 With the Rebbe. So you hear the shofar only with the Rebbe. And of course this is also connected to Rosh Hashanah becoming the “head.” For the head to be the head, we have to be connected to it—to the head, the leader of the generation. The Rebbe spoke about this quite explicitly. But I said I would start with business, so let me get back to business. The Torah tells a story about a body found on the road. A person was walking—

20:46 Speaker 3 Along the road, and...

20:46 Speaker 2 Along the road, and saw a dead person lying in the middle of nowhere. No one knows who struck him. So what do we do? We start measuring the distance: which town is responsible for this tragedy? We look for the town closest to the dead person.

21:03 Speaker 3 That body is the...

21:05 Speaker 2 So we say, all right, the nearest town is probably connected to it. Maybe they didn’t give him food or drink, and that’s why he ended up in this state, Hashem protect us. So the elders of that town, its beis din, come, and they break a heifer’s neck in a rugged valley, and so on. They say, “Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see. Atone for Your people Israel,” and so on. They’re saying, “This has nothing to do with us. Please, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, grant us atonement. We didn’t see him. If he had needed food or drink, we would have seen to it before sending him on his way. This isn’t on us. Grant us atonement.” The Gemara in Tractate Sotah discusses a particular detail of the case. It asks: If the dead person was found, Hashem protect us, with his limbs separated, we know we have to measure to the nearest town—but where do we measure from? The head is in one place, the torso in another, the arms and legs elsewhere. So the Gemara says, “The body follows the head.” In other words, where do we regard the whole body as being? Where the head is.

22:11 Speaker 3 We measure from the head.

22:11 Speaker 2 Take the body, connect it to the head, and measure from the head, because everything follows the head. The head is the—It’s interesting: the Rebbe brings this up in a sicha about Rosh Hashanah as well, [unclear]. In one year, the Rebbe made a wonderful point. It was in [unclear] 5666. The Rebbe said: In a situation like this, the Torah says, “The body follows the head.” Now, the case here is something terrible and undesirable: the body is actually separated from the head. The Rebbe says that when the Torah speaks of a “head,” this isn’t a point that applies only in one place. It’s a general principle. When the Torah says, “The body follows the head,” that is a rule, not only for this case of a body found on the road. Everywhere, the body follows the head. So, the Rebbe says, wherever there is a head, the body follows it. Let’s return to our subject and apply it to Rosh Hashanah. There is the body—the entire year. After I have accepted the yoke of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s sovereignty and am now living in awe of Heaven, according to the Divine will, it’s possible, G-d forbid, for the body to become separated from the head. On Rosh Hashanah, this Jew looked like an angel, like the greatest chossid; yet during the year he might look like the very opposite. Now it’s the month of Shvat, and they want to judge him in the middle of Shvat. He looks entirely different, with no apparent connection to Rosh Hashanah. It’s as though they’re two different people. So how do they judge him? The Rebbe says: “The body follows the head.” How is he judged during the year? According to the head. Who is he? He is the person he was on Rosh Hashanah. That is his essence. So—

23:57 Speaker 2 How will they judge him during the year? According to the head, because he is the person he was on Rosh Hashanah. To that extent.

24:03 Speaker 3 For a few days, the arrangements are made.

24:04 Speaker 2 It has an effect; it affects the entire year. And who is this Jew? The Jew is the person he is on Rosh Hashanah. Now, we’re on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. Maybe I look one way right now. I don’t know how I—perhaps I need to meet the King. I’ll tell you a secret: these are the final moments when, as the Rebbe reminds us, the King is in the field. Have I met the King? And if we haven’t managed to yet—we’re always the ones who get to the bus at the very last second, just before it arrives. So what? Am I going to let myself off? This is the time, first of all, to meet the King in these final moments, to make use of them, and to know that Rosh Hashanah... Now I’m beginning the whole—First of all, this is the final moment of His month, so this moment is precious. And once Rosh Hashanah arrives, know that now it is Rosh Hashanah. Now the story begins. Now a new light is drawn down, one that has never descended since the world was created. And for whom is it drawn down? For me. Because this day is “the beginning of Your works.” The essence of Rosh Hashanah is that this day is “the beginning of Your works.” What does that mean? We know that the creation of the world actually began in Elul. Why, then, is Rosh Hashanah called “the beginning of Your works”? Because ultimately, all the details of creation were brought into being for whom?

25:15 Speaker 4 For the human being.

25:15 Speaker 2 For the human being, who will come and bring about the elevation of G-d’s majesty throughout creation. And if I do that avodah, that’s what it’s all about; that’s the reason for the whole—

25:28 Speaker 4 The entire creation, in all its details—

25:30 Speaker 2 All of creation, and all of Rosh—the whole matter, this new light that descends: through whose merit, or for whose sake? For me, and through my avodah. What avodah? Yes, accepting the King’s sovereignty. Now the question is, all right, I—

25:43 Speaker 4 Excuse me.

25:43 Speaker 2 Reb Meir, I’m talking too much. L’chaim, l’chaim.

25:45 Speaker 4 L’chaim, l’chaim.

25:50 Speaker 2 All right, so here’s the question: If the whole point is avodah, a Jew’s avodah, and each year that avodah finds expression in the blowing of the shofar—that’s when we crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King—and at that moment a new light descends, one that has not existed since the world was created, then that is also the time to take on some extra care in a mitzvah, or to think of some extra care in a mitzvah, during the shofar blowing.

26:11 Speaker 4 A good resolution.

26:13 Speaker 2 A good resolution. Every year, there’s a point in taking on a good resolution, something new in which to renew ourselves. It’s like the Baal Shem Tov’s explanation of the verse, “Sound the shofar at the new moon.” Why does the verse say that? It should say, “Sound the shofar.” When? At the new moon, on Rosh Chodesh. Why “sound at the new moon”? You can’t sound something “at the new moon”; grammatically, it doesn’t work. So the Baal Shem Tov says that we need to bring something new into the sounding of the shofar. In other words, it isn’t just the sounding itself.

26:45 Speaker 4 Not something new.

26:46 Speaker 2 There is something new here. We need to renew ourselves. Every year is a new year, and we need to renew ourselves; we can’t stay in the same place. Accepting Hashem’s kingship finds expression in taking something new upon myself.

26:55 Speaker 4 In actual practice.

26:56 Speaker 2 In actual practice: I’ve taken something upon myself in thought, speech, action, or all three. Something in which I’ve moved, in which I’ve accepted the yoke of the King’s kingship. There’s a new person here.

27:11 Speaker 4 That’s how the transfer of authority finds expression. It means that I belong to Him.

27:14 Speaker 2 That’s how I belong to Him. I’m thinking about this year, when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos. There’s the whole avodah of blowing the shofar. With the Rebbe, there was the whole—on Erev Rosh Hashanah people write panim, and the Rebbe goes to the Ohel, and then he comes back. Then there’s all the avodah of Rosh Hashanah itself at 770: the panim are brought down, there are about five bundles of panim standing there, and the Rebbe, wearing his tallis, says “Lamnatzeiach Mizmor” and spreads the tallis over all the panim, with the shofars. There were so many things going on there. That’s the King’s avodah on Rosh Hashanah. Ultimately, there’s the avodah of blowing the shofar. We see all these stories about the Baal Shem Tov needing to nullify accusations on High, going in and seeing the child there, and all kinds of stories about what has to be dealt with in the end.

28:07 Speaker 4 There are so, so many stories surrounding—

28:09 Speaker 2 Surrounding the blowing of the shofar.

28:11 Speaker 4 Yes.

28:11 Speaker 2 There’s perhaps the well-known story of Reb Zev Kitzes. One year the Baal Shem Tov approached him—he went up to his student—and told him, “I want you to be the baal tokeia this year.” All right, Reb Zev agreed, but he needed to know the kavanos for the shofar blowing: what to have in mind, and so on. So the Baal Shem Tov directed him to study those kavanos. Apparently that took a long time. Not a day or two, or even a week; it took a long time to study and prepare. Apparently he also prepared notes. That’s how the story sounds. Finally Rosh Hashanah arrived, and it was time to go up and blow the shofar. The Baal Shem Tov saw his whole summary of these matters, and it didn’t sit well with him. Somehow, when the time to blow the shofar finally arrived, the papers had disappeared. He looked right and left, couldn’t find them, and started getting anxious. He was already starting to—

29:01 Speaker 4 What I prepared—sorry.

29:03 Speaker 2 This is avodah; it’s no joke. There are hundreds of people davening here. This is the avodah of Rosh Hashanah. He starts looking for the papers, and it’s time for him to blow. Well, you understand, the time has come. But he still can’t find them. He began blowing amid tremendous weeping. Afterward, the Baal Shem Tov came over to him—I may be adding a few words that aren’t in the story—and told him, “Yasher koach.” Reb Zev was taken aback: “Yasher koach for what? All the kavanos, everything...” So the Baal Shem Tov told him that Above there are many chambers, and each chamber has its own key. What’s the key? The kavanos. Through the kavanos you can enter each chamber. But there’s a master key that opens all the doors. The Baal Shem Tov said there’s an axe that breaks through all the doors and opens them all. What is this master key that opens everything? A broken heart. Ultimately, “Have mercy on me when I come”—we know that the whole idea of blowing the shofar is a cry. In the Baal Shem Tov’s parable, it’s the cry of a child calling, “Father, Father, save me! I want to be connected Above.” All of us have this world pulling at us from every direction. What did a student tell me today? He said, “Rabbi, I don’t understand. It isn’t a fair contest. Look at everything this world has to offer, and you come along and study a black-and-white book with me. It isn’t a fair contest.” That’s already the Berditchever’s argument. So what happens? We’re pulled up and down, and we need to begin working. What’s the avodah? To stay connected Above. When you’re connected Above, you don’t fall below. So we have to stay connected to the head, to really belong to it. And when we’re connected to the head, interestingly—

30:51 Speaker 2 The Rebbe says: We have Rosh Hashanah, and we’re in the month of Tishrei, the seventh month, which is sated with blessings and gives blessings. So here we are at Rosh Hashanah. This is avodah for the entire year; it’s fundamental, even more so than Yom Kippur. Ultimately, it’s the head of everything. Fine, but who says that afterward all the limbs—the entire year—will follow the head?

31:13 Speaker 4 Yes.

31:13 Speaker 2 What connects the head to the limbs? [unclear]. So what does the Rebbe say connects them? The Rebbe says that one of the things that helps connect the head to the limbs of the body is hiskashrus with the nasi. The Rebbe uses the word “nasi”—the nasi of our generation; he speaks of “the holiness of my father-in-law, the Rebbe,” and so on. In other words, hiskashrus with the Rebbe, the nasi of our generation, through the Rebbe’s directives, matters every day, and doubly so on Rosh Hashanah. Ultimately, when we’re connected to the head, that helps the head remain connected to the body as well. It helps bring it—

31:55 Speaker 4 Into everyday life.

31:56 Speaker 2 It also helps us afterward bring Rosh Hashanah down and translate it into the details of everyday life. A good resolution, a good commitment we take on at Rosh Hashanah, is also a kind of channel, a bridge from Rosh Hashanah to life afterward.

32:07 Speaker 4 It could be disconnected. It could be a very G-dly and holy Rosh Hashanah.

32:10 Speaker 2 And afterward—

32:11 Speaker 4 Afterward, yes, there’s ordinary life.

32:12 Speaker 2 Earlier we said, well, we have a flesh-and-blood body; first there’s the matter of—

32:15 Speaker 4 That’s finding merit in our favor.

32:15 Speaker 2 It’s revolutionary. It’s not merely finding merit in our favor. The Rebbe says it; the Rebbe rules that this is how it is. But at the same time, we want something different. We want to change from one extreme to the other. True, that’s the idea of a baal teshuvah, but for any of us to really change from one extreme to the other in an instant—that takes work.

32:35 Speaker 4 No.

32:36 Speaker 2 But to move a little, to move just a little along the way. I’ve moved another centimeter. After another kilometer, I’ll already be somewhere entirely different.

32:45 Speaker 4 Take two parallel lines and shift one of them by a millimeter.

32:48 Speaker 2 That’s what the Rebbe told a student in yechidus.

32:50 Speaker 4 Oh, really?

32:51 Speaker 2 He told someone who had his own difficulties to take two lines running parallel to each other. The Rebbe told him that as soon as one veers off a tiny bit, just a tiny bit, then as they continue, one will go straight and the other will continue on its own course. You’ll meet it, so to speak—

33:07 Speaker 4 After some time—

33:07 Speaker 2 Another two meters down the road. All right, no—you can see how far apart they’ve become. Ultimately, it’s about looking toward the King. It’s about looking toward the truth, toward the King, toward Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and toward the nasi of the generation, who connects us to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Ultimately, we need to accept the yoke of Heaven upon ourselves. To accept the yoke. Someone who bears that yoke is a different person. It isn’t some kind of [unclear]. It’s done with joy, yes? Rosh Hashanah is—

33:36 Speaker 4 Yes.

33:37 Speaker 2 It’s a serious day, and it’s a joyous day. That doesn’t mean you can’t smile, but it’s a precious time.

33:42 Speaker 4 You have to take it seriously.

33:44 Speaker 2 Yes.

33:45 Speaker 4 And what really is it about the shofar blowing that makes it such a big thing? All the stories—there’s the purpose of the blowing, and there are many stories like that, very—

33:53 Speaker 2 With the glasses before the shofar blowing.

33:55 Speaker 4 I don’t remember all of them, but perhaps we can get into it a little. The shofar blowing at 770, the Rebbe’s shofar blowing—why was it something chassidim traveled all the way there for, with everything that happened around it? The Rebbe had several shofars there.

34:08 Speaker 2 Well, first of all, it truly was something G-dly. The shofars themselves included a shofar from the Rebbe Maharash and, if I’m not mistaken, one from Rabbi Levi as well. There were several shofars, and even what happened with the shofars couldn’t really be explained. There was a whole G-dly dimension to it, to what actually happened with the shofars at that stage of the blowing. Yes, it was something entirely heavenly. But there is something we should know: the Rebbe instructed a baal tokeia to study the Alter Rebbe’s maamar about blowing the shofar. I don’t remember when this was. In the early years, the Rebbe didn’t blow the shofar at 770, and the baal tokeia came to the Rebbe and asked what a baal tokeia needed to do to prepare, what kavanos he should have. The Rebbe said that, of course, he should study the relevant halachos, and beyond that he should study the Alter Rebbe’s maamar about blowing the shofar. The Rebbe also told him to immerse in the mikveh nine times. The Rebbe said to do “straight, bent, straight” three times—that was the pattern of the immersions: straight, bent, straight.

35:19 Speaker 4 Yes.

35:20 Speaker 2 And those were the instructions the Rebbe gave the baal tokeia then. In other words, there, in the [unclear]—

35:25 Speaker 4 When did he begin blowing the shofar?

35:27 Speaker 2 So, one year—I don’t remember exactly which year—that baal tokeia, whose name I don’t remember, put down the shofar and handed it to—meaning, he placed it beside the Rebbe. The Rebbe took it and began blowing. I don’t remember exactly which year that was, and then—

35:43 Speaker 4 Which chassidim brought that about? Apparently. Okay.

35:47 Speaker 2 That same chossid later became the one who called out the notes. I mean, the one holding—

35:54 Speaker 4 Who points them out.

35:55 Speaker 2 Who points them out.

35:57 Speaker 4 The one who points to tekiah, shevarim, teruah, and tekiah in the siddur. But really, the whole matter revolves around the shofar blowing. The chassidim would come, and there were many heavenly stories there. What is so significant about the shofar blowing?

36:12 Speaker 2 The whole matter of the shofar blowing—well, if we speak a little in terms of nigleh, the Gemara says in tractate Rosh Hashanah, “A year in which the shofar was not sounded”—I don’t remember the exact wording. If it wasn’t sounded, if people didn’t hear the shofar—I’m giving the gist of it—there will be misfortune at its end. In other words, a year in which the shofar is not sounded, misfortune befalls it at its end. What does that mean? Something bad will happen at the end. We know that, in nigleh, one reason for blowing the shofar is to unsettle the Satan. There’s a whole discussion, so many aspects of the need to unsettle him, neutralize him, and so on. Sichos would also be cited about it. What is the whole story behind—so, according to nigleh, if the Satan wasn’t unsettled that year—in other words, if a person didn’t hear the shofar—then, G-d forbid, something bad might happen during the year. Why? Because he wasn’t unsettled, neutralized, or worn down. The Satan has to be worn down. So yes, according to nigleh, it is to neutralize and unsettle the Satan, and we do various things for that. But ultimately, as chassidim, what really matters to us is the inner meaning. The shofar is also how we crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King, just as any king is crowned with trumpets and shofars and so on. Here, we crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King through the sound of the shofar. The point of that sound—what is the shofar about? The shofar—

37:45 Speaker 2 Is a simple sound. Now—

37:47 Speaker 4 A cry.

37:48 Speaker 2 An inner cry, a cry from the heart. Now, what kind of cry? It’s interesting: there’s siman 590, which discusses all the laws of the shofar blowing. It details everything about it. In principle, how many blasts, how many sounds, must be blown? Three—meaning a teruah, with a tekiah before it and a tekiah after it. Three such sounds. Where do we learn this from? The Torah mentions the shofar blowing twice in connection with Rosh Hashanah: “You shall sound a teruah with the shofar,” and then it says to sound the shofar again. So there is a shofar blast, then a teruah, and then another blast. We have tekiah, teruah, tekiah. This is written twice regarding Rosh Hashanah and once more regarding Yom Kippur in the Jubilee year. So we understand that we need three. Now we’ll discuss this whole matter; this is already a matter of nigleh—

38:51 Speaker 4 Nigleh.

38:51 Speaker 2 But the point is that there’s a doubt: what is a teruah? That’s the question that arises. We see that Targum Onkelos translates teruah as yevava, a wail. Now, where in Tanach do we encounter the word yevava? Regarding Sisera’s mother, it says that she cried—how? “The mother of Sisera wailed.” Her crying is described as a yevava.

39:20 Speaker 4 A wail.

39:21 Speaker 2 Now, there are two kinds of crying. There’s crying that sounds like groaning—sick people groan with long sounds—and there are short sounds, which in a teruah go “tu, tu, tu, tu, tu.” So we have a doubt about what a teruah actually is. That’s why we blow shevarim, with a tekiah before it, and do that three times.

39:43 Speaker 4 Yes, and three sets with a teruah.

39:44 Speaker 2 And we also do it with just the teruah. Then, since we don’t know, perhaps it’s both: we need shevarim and teruah together. But what’s the point of it all? All of it is crying. Now, what does crying mean on Rosh Hashanah? What is crying about? Crying is an inner sound, a sound that—what does crying mean in physical terms? What happens when a person cries? There’s an inner intensity that the mind cannot contain, the emotions, and therefore—

40:12 Speaker 4 Something bursts out.

40:12 Speaker 2 It’s something beyond a person’s capacities. It finds expression in those tears.

40:18 Speaker 4 Yes, we say you can’t hold back the tears. Something comes out.

40:22 Speaker 2 Something comes out, something the body cannot contain. It’s beyond a person’s capacities. Crying on Rosh Hashanah is a cry beyond the powers of the soul. We say, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu, You are our life, and we belong to You. We have come—this is the day on which Your works began, and we have come to serve here in this world.” I see we started on this and haven’t gotten there yet, but Rosh Hashanah falling on Shabbos—this year has a special calendar pattern. It doesn’t happen every year. This year and next year, Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos. A year that is entirely Shabbos begins with Shabbos and ends with Shabbos, and Yom Kippur is Shabbos. The whole year has a Shabbos character. Yes, a cessation of harmful forces and all undesirable things; a year of Geulah. The seventh millennium.

41:16 Speaker 4 L’chaim, l’chaim.

41:17 Speaker 2 L’chaim, l’chaim. So we don’t blow the shofar on Shabbos. The whole point is the service of those below, making a dwelling place for Hashem in the lower realms. We need to begin crowning Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Our cry—so wait a moment: where is that when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos? We don’t blow the shofar.

41:37 Speaker 4 In other words, if the shofar is something so critical, so essential—

41:40 Speaker 2 It’s the essence of Rosh Hashanah. The mitzvah of the day is the shofar, as the Rambam brings. That’s the essence of the day. That’s how we crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King. So suddenly the main thing is missing.

41:49 Speaker 4 This year we won’t blow the shofar on [unclear].

41:51 Speaker 2 This year we won’t blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. And if we said earlier that a year in which the shofar blowing isn’t heard—

41:57 Speaker 4 Misfortune befalls it.

41:58 Speaker 2 Misfortune befalls it. Well, Tosafos says there that this refers to a year when it was possible to hear the shofar—when we were obligated to.

42:07 Speaker 4 Yes.

42:08 Speaker 2 But it means a year when a person didn’t hear it. Still, a person needs to hear the shofar. So now, suddenly, it’s been canceled? And why was it canceled? Yes, this was instituted in the time of the Second Beis Hamikdash, through what’s called Rabba’s decree: perhaps someone lacking knowledge would carry it four cubits in the public domain. So [unclear] asks: because of that, they canceled such an exalted mitzvah? How could that be? It was instituted by great and righteous sages. How could they do such a thing? We must say that the real reason we don’t blow the shofar when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos is that we don’t need to. And why don’t we need to? Because there is a higher form of accepting the King’s authority here. There is one kind of submission that comes when I crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King: I am someone, and I accept the King’s sovereignty upon myself. But I chose to accept it; I am still somewhat present in the story. There is a much higher way: I don’t exist in the story at all. When Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, I cannot blow the shofar because we are so close to the King that everything is nullified. Nothing has any standing. In the language of the Gemara, “One who makes an inappropriate gesture before the king is liable to death.” Before the King, a person loses his sense of self; he is utterly nullified, and he cannot do anything. So how is that submission expressed? By our ceasing from work. That is how accepting His authority is expressed. And yes, it is explained that the delight we—

43:50 Speaker 2 Draw down—for we need to draw down delight into the creation of the worlds, and into—

43:56 Speaker 4 That’s on Rosh Hashanah.

43:57 Speaker 2 That’s on Rosh Hashanah—that’s the sounding of the shofar. It draws down this delight. When Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, Shabbos draws down the delight. So the Rebbe, in a sicha discussed during a class, says something: the person isn’t doing anything here.

44:09 Speaker 4 Right, I’m not acting.

44:10 Speaker 2 Because I’m not doing anything. Yet he says there is an action here. What is it? Bittul—self-nullification. Bittul. Now, bittul is so critical. In the end, to begin with something that has its own existence, you need to—wait a moment, let’s be completely silent. Now we can begin. In other words, for something to grow here, I think of the image of planting a seed in the ground: for it to grow, there has to be bittul. There has to be decay before growth. Once it decays, it becomes incorporated into the soil; it nullifies itself to the earth, to the power of growth. Then something can grow. So the bittul of Shabbos is a much higher form of bittul.

44:52 Speaker 4 So our avodah now is bittul. That’s Rosh Hashanah—Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbos. Bittul is the main avodah. It’s not so simple, but yes.

45:02 Speaker 2 So in our inner lives, it certainly shines within us, yes. Each of us, day after day—we’re all so wrapped up in our own existence. Excuse the... Each person: what do I think, and what do I say? So first of all, the fact that we’re here on Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbos, right? Of course that shines within us. And having prepared for Rosh Hashanah makes it even more so. We become vessels for the revelation, for the revelation of G-dliness, for this revelation of G-dliness. And if we want to be there, we’ll use the time as it should be used on Rosh Hashanah, to do these things in the best possible way. So I may not feel it, but I’m there. I’m headed in that direction. Maybe—well, I don’t know whether I should add this. You can always forget. On Rosh Hashanah there’s also the matter of Chana’s prayer. The rabbi spoke about it endlessly—not endlessly, sorry. The rabbi spoke about Chana’s prayer several times. He brought up Chana’s prayer in connection with Rosh Hashanah. We spoke about Tehillim—lots and lots of Tehillim, right? Bittul and so on. And there are the prayers, and you can accomplish so much on Rosh Hashanah. In other words, we’re still dealing with these things; we can accomplish things, it’s all in our hands, and we can—

46:15 Speaker 4 Chana’s prayer is in the haftarah, isn’t it?

46:17 Speaker 2 Chana’s prayer is in the haftarah, the haftarah of the first day. The whole story is extraordinary in itself—astonishing, chilling. Just when we— It’s no ordinary story, the whole story of Chana’s prayer.

46:34 Speaker 4 Chana and Shmuel.

46:34 Speaker 2 Yes, Chana and Shmuel—Chana and Elkanah. With Shmuel, yes, when Shmuel was born, right. In fact, she had no children for ten years, and after that another wife was brought in, and so on. Only after nineteen years, almost twenty years, was a son born to her. And Chana’s prayer—the point the rabbi ultimately draws from it is that as we begin Rosh Hashanah, our prayer needs to be different. In the simplest sense, that means first of all thinking a little about the words. That sounds like something lofty, doesn’t it? The meaning of the words—coming to prayer a little differently. Eyes on the siddur: the most basic, simplest things.

47:11 Speaker 4 There are also siddurim with explanations.

47:14 Speaker 2 The siddur, or an annotated siddur.

47:16 Speaker 4 A delight.

47:16 Speaker 2 Really, a real delight.

47:18 Speaker 4 Each time beforehand, you take one passage and go through it.

47:21 Speaker 2 By the way, according to halachah, the shliach tzibbur really must go over the prayers beforehand, together with their meaning.

47:24 Speaker 4 Yes.

47:25 Speaker 2 Right, and in general it’s really a pleasure, isn’t it, to know what you’re saying. And on such a momentous day: “And every being will know that You made it”—to grasp “And every being will know that You made it,” to grasp that point. I don’t belong to myself. I have a Master, and I need to do what’s required. And He’s waiting. He’s waiting for me to choose, to choose anew. He’s waiting for my avodah. Because ultimately, the point isn’t for Him to have robots, or for Him to be the One operating everything. No. He waits. He gave me free choice, and He wants me to choose to do these things. So Chana’s prayer—the rabbi spoke about Chana’s prayer, about wondrous things at the beginning of her prayer. One of the points the rabbi made was that Chana prayed not only to have children; she also prayed for the kind of child she would have. “And give Your maidservant offspring among men,” she asks. What does “offspring among men” mean? A tzaddik, our Sages said. And it’s written that when he was born, he was the equal of Moshe and Aharon. She’s asking not just for a child, but for such a great tzaddik. What kind of request is that? It’s not only contrary to the natural order—she was barren—it’s contrary to the principles of the Torah. The Torah says that when the drop is brought before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, He determines whether the child will be wise or foolish, rich or poor.

49:07 Speaker 5 But He does not say whether the child will be righteous or wicked.

49:07 Speaker 2 He does not say whether the child will be righteous or wicked. He does not say whether the child will be righteous or wicked.

49:11 Speaker 5 Yes.

49:12 Speaker 2 In other words, whether a person will be righteous or wicked is ultimately a matter of free choice. It’s up to the person; Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t decide it. And here she comes and says—

49:18 Speaker 5 Give me a righteous son.

49:19 Speaker 2 A tzaddik. In other words, she—I don’t want to say she’s asking to override his free choice, but she wants a righteous son. That too runs contrary to the principles of the Torah, and her request is granted. Why?

49:30 Speaker 5 Because it’s Chana’s prayer.

49:31 Speaker 2 She goes beyond her limits. In the end, she goes beyond her limits. Prayer means I have to step outside myself a little. We live in this physical world, with everything that goes on in it. And ultimately, what is my world, our world? It’s this physical world, the natural order. That’s what we see, what we hear, what we sense. Do we sense G-dliness? We need to work a little to sense G-dliness. When a person begins to make even a little effort, that’s going beyond his limits. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, “You go beyond your limits, and I’ll go beyond Mine.” Chana’s prayer was a prayer—how does it say there?—of pouring out her heart. Eli thought she was drunk.

50:15 Speaker 5 Yes, he wants to drive her away from there.

50:18 Speaker 2 No, because she said, “I am a woman of troubled spirit... and I have poured out my soul before Hashem.” There’s a pouring out of the soul here. So as we begin the year, this is another critical point. It’s essential to Rosh Hashanah.

50:30 Speaker 5 Prayer.

50:30 Speaker 2 “And I have poured out my soul before Hashem.” Prayer needs to be different. And it’s in our hands to begin—ultimately, it’s avodah. All of Rosh Hashanah is avodah, from beginning to end, in the matters we’ve discussed and those we haven’t discussed. And there’s far more we haven’t discussed. Within these points, we need to be part of the story.

50:56 Speaker 5 L’chaim, l’chaim.

50:57 Speaker 2 L’chaim, l’chaim, and may it be for a blessing.

50:59 Speaker 5 Yasher koach, Rabbi Chamo. Thank you very much. And a wish for a good inscription and sealing, with Hashem’s help.

51:06 Speaker 2 May you be inscribed and sealed for a good, sweet year.

51:08 Speaker 5 Amen.

51:08 Speaker 2 With goodness that is apparent and revealed, and the revelation of the Rebbe, with Hashem’s help, immediately.

51:12 Speaker 5 Amen.

51:13 Speaker 2 And that’s it.

51:14 Speaker 5 L’chaim. May everyone be inscribed and sealed for a good year.