The avodah of Rosh Hashanah - kabbolas ol malchus shamayim with expansiveness!

00:00 The Gemara says about Rosh Hashanah: Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, “Recite verses of Kingship before Me on Rosh Hashanah so that you will make Me King over you; verses of Remembrance so that your remembrance will come before Me for good. And through what? Through the shofar.” In other words, the central avodah of Rosh Hashanah is “Recite verses of Kingship before Me.” By reciting them, we awaken the matter of kingship. Chassidus explains that “recite” here does not simply mean speaking. It also has the sense of praising, as in the verse, “You have acclaimed Hashem today.” Rashi explains “acclaimed” as an expression of praise and exaltation. In other words, you praise the King and His kingship. That is why most of the Rosh Hashanah prayers revolve around kingship. By accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven upon yourselves for the entire year and praising His kingship, you awaken the desire and delight in kingship, and thereby draw down His kingship for the entire year. But what is the avodah of accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven? At first glance, this is unclear. Accepting that yoke is not something unique to Rosh Hashanah; it must be our avodah throughout the year. The Alter Rebbe writes in Tanya, chapter 41, that accepting the yoke is “the beginning of avodah, its essence and its root.” In other words, accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven is the foundation of all avodah—its beginning, its essence and its root. If a Jew wants to begin serving Hashem, what is the starting point, the foundation, the essential thing, the root on which each day’s avodah stands? It is accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is what the Mishnah in Berachos says: “Accept My kingship, and afterward accept My decrees.” That is the avodah of every day. When a Jew says “Shema Yisroel,” that is “Accept My kingship.” So, seemingly, this is

02:09 the avodah of the entire year. Why, then, do we say that the central avodah of Rosh Hashanah is accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven? That is a question we need to understand. We need to understand what accepting the yoke on Rosh Hashanah means, and how it differs from accepting it throughout the year. In simple terms, accepting the yoke on Rosh Hashanah is the gateway to accepting it all year. This is discussed in a number of maamarim. The mitzvos that begin in the month of Tishrei—Tishrei is the beginning of the year, the head of the year. The commentators explain that “Rosh Hashanah” is not merely the name of the day: it is the head of the year, and the head encompasses the entire year and all its days. Therefore, the mitzvos of Rosh Hashanah encompass all the mitzvos; everything that begins in Tishrei encompasses all the matters of the entire year. In other words, the avodah of Rosh Hashanah is the gateway to accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven for the entire year. Throughout the year there must be avodah of accepting the yoke, which is called “the beginning of avodah, its essence and its root.” But what is the gateway, and on which day is it found? Rosh Hashanah is when accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven begins, and from it comes the strength, you know, for the entire year. We say something similar about the Exodus from Egypt and Pesach: Pesach is the Exodus from Egypt. We recall the Exodus in every generation and every day. The Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, chapter 47, that a Jew is always engaged in the inner avodah of leaving Egypt. But when is its time? The festival of Pesach, the season of our freedom, is the gateway that gives us the strength to leave Egypt, and from it comes the strength for all the avodah of leaving Egypt throughout the year. That is Pesach. The same applies to the time of the giving of our Torah, the festival of Shavuos. And when a person

04:16 enters the month of Tishrei, it has four festivals. The festivals of Tishrei are all-encompassing: from Rosh Hashanah we receive the strength to accept the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven and to have yiras Shamayim throughout the year, and from Yom Kippur we receive the strength for teshuvah throughout the year. After all, teshuvah can be done all year, as the Rambam writes. But what is the primary time from which we receive the strength for teshuvah throughout the year? It is Yom Kippur. Similarly, from Sukkos we receive the joy of a mitzvah for the entire year, and from Simchas Torah we receive joy in Torah, in Torah study, for the entire year. As for Rosh Hashanah, its central avodah, as we said, is accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. Chassidus explains, in a number of maamarim by our Rebbeim, that accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven on Rosh Hashanah is a very special kind of acceptance. It is a distinct avodah—not the usual acceptance of the yoke that applies throughout the year, but an altogether different kind. What does this mean? What is special about accepting the yoke on Rosh Hashanah? Let us try to understand it a little, as it appears in several maamarim by our Rebbeim, where they discuss a number of points about the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven that is unique to Rosh Hashanah, especially this year. Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos,

05:45 and there is something special here about accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven specifically on Rosh Hashanah. Let us begin with a story about a chossid, Reb Mendel Futerfas, who showed mesirus nefesh, and so on. He related that he was among the Temimim who still lived in Russia. He was one of the students who learned during the time of the Frierdiker Rebbe. This was back in the years 5685 and 5686, when the Frierdiker Rebbe lived in Leningrad. It was a period of [unclear], when the government wanted to be able to watch him and see what he was doing. They ordered him to move from Rostov to Leningrad, where they could keep track of his activities. The Frierdiker Rebbe was in Leningrad during those years, until, as is well known, he was arrested and imprisoned in 5687. At that time, when Tishrei arrived, the students traveled to the Rebbe. As is well known, young chassidim and chassidim in general made an effort to be with the Rebbe, especially on Rosh Hashanah. It was an established practice: chassidim tried to be with the Rebbe on Rosh Hashanah. As chassidim would say about the familiar verse, “Fortunate is the people who know the shofar’s call”: regarding the sounding of the shofar, it does not say, “Fortunate is the people who sound the shofar’s call,” as though it were only a matter of blowing the shofar. It says “who know the shofar’s call”—one must know and understand

07:27 and realize that this can only be accomplished with the Rebbe. That is why chassidim made a point of traveling to the Rebbe for Rosh Hashanah. Reb Mendel related that they, the students of Tomchei Temimim, traveled to Leningrad to be with the Rebbe, the Frierdiker Rebbe, for Rosh Hashanah. On the second night of Rosh Hashanah, it was the practice of our Rebbeim, including the Frierdiker Rebbe, to deliver a maamar of Chassidus. That was the order: on the first night there was no speaking, only davening. The davening took a long time, as is well known, and the Rebbe did not speak at all on the first night or the first day of Rosh Hashanah. But on the second night, a maamar of Chassidus was delivered. The first maamar of the year was on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. Because the chassidim were very tired from their exertions in avodah, both in davening and in teshuvah, on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, some would say, “Let’s close our eyes for a bit and rest before the maamar, so we’ll have the strength to listen to it.” There was a ruling people would tell the chassidim: even if you are exhausted, do not lie down to rest on Rosh Hashanah. In the afternoon, when they had gone a long time without sleep, there was a concern that if a person slept on Rosh Hashanah, he would miss out

08:47 on his good fortune. But they said it was better to miss out on good fortune than to miss the maamar. Of course, this was permitted according to halachah: so that they could listen to the maamar, understand it and concentrate on it—these were difficult, deep and lengthy maamarim—they would lie down to rest for a few minutes, refresh themselves and regain their strength to hear the maamar. Reb Mendel related that there were some sensitive young men staying somewhere, at an inn, who were getting ready to go hear the maamar. Without meaning to, they dozed off. When they were woken and told it was already starting, it was a little late, and they ran out. They ran and ran, hoping to arrive as the Frierdiker Rebbe began the maamar. He related that when they entered the hall, the beis midrash, the [unclear] where the Frierdiker Rebbe was delivering the maamar of Chassidus, the Rebbe was already in the middle of it. They heard the Frierdiker Rebbe explaining the meaning of blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. He was speaking about accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven: the avodah of Rosh Hashanah is to accept that yoke for the entire year. And he explained that what this means is

10:14 To a servant who devotes himself to his master and accepts his master’s yoke upon himself. He said then that when a servant accepts his master’s yoke, he is completely devoted to him. His devotion to his master and to his work is so strong that it is unthinkable for him to oversleep and miss his work. And then he said the words: “A servant never oversleeps and misses his work.” Reb Mendel heard those words just as he entered the room. He relates that he came in from the side; it was barely possible to get in even physically. [unclear] People were packed in shoulder to shoulder, all standing and pressing forward to hear the maamar, and he slipped in quietly. But just as he entered, the Frierdiker Rebbe said the words: “A servant never oversleeps and misses his work.” And he understood, of course, that the words were addressed to him. You can also look in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Sefer Hamaamarim 5686, and indeed, in one of the maamarim, you find these words discussed at length: “A servant never oversleeps and misses his work.” That is what it means to be a servant. But within this itself, there is the service of a servant throughout the year, and there is kabbolas ol of the kingdom of Heaven as it is on Rosh Hashanah. What connects the two? This is explained in that maamar from 5686, and, in fact, in several other maamarim along similar lines. The point is that accepting the yoke of

11:43 the kingdom of Heaven throughout the year relates primarily to practical service. In other words, it is an external kabbolas ol, a kabbolas ol that concerns what one actually does. It takes the form of a servant’s work in the plain sense. When a Jew gets up in the morning, he is a servant of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Whether or not his yetzer hara is stirred, he has things to do. A Jew gets up in the morning and must serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He says Modeh Ani, washes his hands, and begins his daily routine, and so on. His daily routine is to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu according to the Torah, according to halachah, according to the Shulchan Aruch, and to do what a person must do. That is kabbolas ol of the kingdom of Heaven: he accepts Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King and follows the path of serving Hashem, fulfilling His will in every mitzvah, every action, every word, and every thought. And this, broadly speaking, is the service of the entire year. But when Rosh Hashanah arrives, something much more inward is awakened in a Jew; his innermost self, his soul, is revealed. This is also expressed in the prayer said throughout Elul and Tishrei: the familiar psalm “LeDavid Hashem Ori,” with the verse, “On Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My face’; Your face, Hashem, I seek.” In other words, the service of these days is “Seek My face”: a Jew seeks, searches for, and reveals his inner self. What does “Seek My face” mean? The innermost heart, the innermost soul. On these days, and especially on Rosh Hashanah, a Jew awakens

13:25 the innermost soul, the innermost heart. And this awakens the yechidah of the soul. This is the cleaving, the essential bond a Jew has. He neither wants nor is able to be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This impulse, the power of mesirus nefesh, this essential strength that every Jew has—the desire to devote himself completely to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and never to be separated from Him in any way, even to the point of actual self-sacrifice—is the revelation of the yechidah, the revelation of the essence of the soul. That is what awakens in every Jew through the service of Rosh Hashanah. Consequently, the kabbolas ol is of an entirely different kind. The kabbolas ol of the entire year is kabbolas ol at the lowest level, in actual deeds, in practical service—an external service expressed in concrete action. The kabbolas ol of Rosh Hashanah is at the beginning of all the levels. It is a kabbolas ol connected to the innermost being and essence of the soul, to the yechidah of the soul. So it is an entirely different kind of kabbolas ol. In other words, it is kabbolas ol on a much deeper level: it means that, from this perspective, one feels that there is nothing besides Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is not merely that he goes out and does what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants, fulfilling His commands in practice. For then he feels that there are commands, there is a world, and he must actually carry out what Hakadosh Boruch Hu...

14:52 Rather, the point here is that it is about the King Himself, not only a feeling toward the King, toward the King’s exaltedness, toward the King as He stands in His great exaltedness, inspiring awe and fear. When a Jew devotes the essence of his soul to the very Essence and Being of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, that is complete devotion. Within that devotion, he feels that there is no existence apart from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Consequently, his conduct, his [unclear], his whole way of being—it cannot be otherwise. For example, kabbolas ol is not merely external, [unclear] concerning what one does. You see it only in the garments of the soul—in thought, speech, and action. But you cannot say that, for him, any other way is inconceivable. After all, we are speaking about what he does, about the external aspect of actual action. By contrast, when kabbolas ol comes from the innermost being and essence of the soul, and the yechidah of the soul feels that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the only reality, and there is nothing besides Him, there is nothing else, and no other way is possible. Consequently, this then shines through in everything he does. For, of course, kabbolas ol must then be reflected in practical service throughout the year. But he feels it in such a way that his entire existence is nothing but [unclear], and it is unthinkable for him to be any other way, for him

16:09 to be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And so it is clear why we say that a servant does not sleep late. [unclear] It is very simple. [unclear] A servant. What is a servant, really? [unclear] This is the point about the service of kabbolas ol of the kingdom of Heaven on Rosh Hashanah as compared with the whole year. And this is what is explained in the maamar “Yom Tov Shel Rosh Hashanah Shechal Lihiyos BeShabbos,” from 5710. [unclear] Rosh Hashanah 5724—the Rebbe once spoke about this at a farbrengen. [unclear] Rosh Hashanah fell on Thursday and Friday, and on Shabbos there was a farbrengen continuing the theme of Rosh Hashanah. [unclear] In general, one can look in the sichos, letters, and maamarim. [unclear] This is especially relevant to us here, right now. [unclear] To our generation in particular.

18:04 [unclear] The maamar from 5710, the maamar “Yom Tov Shel Rosh Hashanah Shechal Lihiyos BeShabbos,” [unclear]. But it was especially for Rosh Hashanah 5710. And the first section of the maamar gives us, in particular, the foundations of these ideas, dealing with the service of Rosh Hashanah, which is not at all [unclear]. These are rich, wonderful words, and they are especially relevant to our generation. First, what the Frierdiker Rebbe says in 5710: that the main service of Rosh Hashanah is accepting the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven for the entire year. And this is [unclear]. That the kabbolas ol of the kingdom of Heaven on Rosh Hashanah is full of joy, with vitality. This is also the wording of the maamar: “The Jewish people accept upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven from within their hearts, from the heart’s innermost depths.” And he continues: “This is the service of Rosh Hashanah: to accept upon ourselves the yoke of His blessed kingship through Torah study, the service of the heart—which is prayer—and the fulfillment of the mitzvos” [unclear]. “And this acceptance is with inner joy.” The acceptance is with inner joy. Later, the maamar goes even further, saying that the kabbolas ol of the kingdom of Heaven on Rosh Hashanah is an acceptance with expansiveness. That is something distinctive: acceptance with expansiveness. [unclear] That kabbolas ol of the kingdom of Heaven is with expansiveness. The maamar explains this [unclear].

20:05 The Midrash, Midrash Rabbah on Parshas Emor, says that “the seventh month”—the Midrash explains that “seventh” is also related to the word for abundance. The seventh month is a month of abundance; it is the month filled with everything. And what does the Midrash explain? “Winepresses are in it.” Yes, because that is when there are winepresses, when the grapes grow and are gathered. Yes, the Jewish people are at ease and filled with good. And then all these things take place, [unclear]. There are “winepresses in it,” “atonements in it,” and all these things, “blessings in it.” All the things that take place during the month of Tishrei, both materially and spiritually. Because of this, the kabbolas ol of the seventh month, Tishrei, as the month filled with every material and spiritual good, is consequently a kabbolas ol of Rosh Hashanah with expansiveness. And here lies the great novelty: kabbolas ol with expansiveness is not the usual thing. Generally, when you look in maamarim of Chassidus and see how they speak about kabbolas ol—and this is also understandable in terms of the human psyche—the meaning of accepting the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, the service of a servant, is usually a movement in precisely the opposite direction from expansiveness. It is a movement of contraction, a feeling of pressure. Yes, the servant feels constricted, closed in, confined. And the yoke gives him no rest. And what is said about this many times,

21:49 In Chassidus, in Torah Or and in maamarim generally, and likewise in Kuntres HaAvodah, chapter 2, it is often explained that kabbolas ol involves constriction, a feeling of being confined. But here the Rebbe says the opposite: it is kabbolas ol with a sense of expansiveness. And the Rebbe said in the maamarim of [unclear] that since this idea was included in the maamar of 5710, it is a directive especially for our generation: accepting the yoke of Heaven on Rosh Hashanah nowadays must be done with a sense of expansiveness. It must be kabbolas ol connected specifically with a feeling of openness and joy—kabbolas ol with joy. What is the explanation for this, and how can kabbolas ol come with expansiveness? At first glance, these seem to be two separate things that do not go together. The explanation is based on what we said earlier: the kabbolas ol of Rosh Hashanah comes from the innermost essence of the soul. It is a special kind of kabbolas ol. When kabbolas ol is only external, it goes against a person’s nature—and that nature is superficial. A person wants to feel free of restraint, to do what he wants, to let his thought, speech and action cast off the yoke. But his obligation to G-d imposes a constraint on him, limiting his senses, his thoughts and words, and his powers of sight,

23:17 and hearing. They cannot act as he wishes, but must be restrained in their service of G-d. He cannot simply do what he wants and follow the dictates of his heart; he must do what his Master wants of him. But what happens on Rosh Hashanah, and in the month of Tishrei generally, is that the essential holiness of a Jew, the essence of the soul, the yechidah of the soul, is awakened. And from the perspective of the yechidah, it is just the opposite: the soul’s very essence is expansive. As explained in Chassidus, the innermost power of the soul is the power of delight. Nothing is higher than delight. Delight is the greatest and deepest power of the soul, deeper than all its other powers, even the will. The will is a powerful force, and within it, the will alone rules. But it works through force, through breaking through. A person feels that power within himself, makes his own way and does what he wants. Delight, though, is described by the verse, “Good news makes the bones flourish.” When good news arrives, delight arises, and as the Gemara relates in Gittin, the body physically expanded. For delight is the soul’s expansiveness. So when kabbolas ol comes from the essence of the soul and touches its innermost depths, it comes with delight and expansiveness. Kabbolas ol does not contradict who I am. On the contrary, it reaches into who I am, to the point of [unclear], until it becomes my entire being. With this, we can come

24:46 to understand the special avodah of Rosh Hashanah: the kabbolas ol of Rosh Hashanah, which is especially emphasized for Jews, should be accepting the yoke of Heaven with delight and expansiveness. This is especially understandable in a year like this one, when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos. The Rebbe spoke several times about the well-known question asked by the Alter Rebbe, and by all the Rebbeim in their maamarim: How can the mitzvah of sounding the shofar be set aside when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos? How is that possible? Such a great and exalted mitzvah, with everything it accomplishes, is set aside merely because of a decree? And a decree that applies only to [unclear], who might forget the laws of the shofar and, along with them, forget the laws of Shabbos? Yet shofar is such an exalted mitzvah. How can this be? The Alter Rebbe explains, and the Rebbe says in this connection, that when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, Shabbos accomplishes what the sounding of the shofar is meant to accomplish. What is the connection? Most of the maamarim on this subject explain that the entire purpose of sounding the shofar is to awaken delight in kingship within Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We do not want Him to be King reluctantly. That is not the point, and it is not what we want. We want

26:18 to bring about a state in which, when we accept the yoke of Heaven, Hashem’s kingship Above is characterized by delight. And as mentioned earlier, “Say before Me”—saying is associated with delight. “You have distinguished” or “He has distinguished you” speaks of praise and exaltation, of delight. The point is that Hashem should take delight in kingship. When there is delight in kingship, G-dliness is revealed and shines in the world: “Every being will know that You made it, and every creature will understand that You formed it,” along with all the other things we say in the Rosh Hashanah prayers. This is the revelation of kingship with delight. Broadly speaking, this is the revelation of Moshiach for which we are all waiting, when His kingship will be truly revealed in the world. Accordingly, the avodah of Jews, so to speak, must be kabbolas ol with delight. That is the idea of the shofar. Shofar is related to shufra, beauty; shufra is related to delight, to shapir—“You have spoken well”—an expression of pleasure and appreciation. The avodah must specifically be kabbolas ol with delight. This also makes the following understandable: about Shabbos it says, “You shall call Shabbos a delight.” The whole nature of Shabbos is delight; it is bound up with pleasure. So when Rosh Hashanah begins on this Shabbos, Shabbos itself brings about delight through the avodah of Shabbos. The Jews’ avodah with delight then draws down from Above Hashem’s delight in kingship, and therefore the whole matter of

27:46 sounding the shofar is not needed then, because this is accomplished through the mitzvah of Shabbos. And as the Rebbe said several times, since Rosh Hashanah, the head of the entire year, falls on Shabbos, it makes it easier for the avodah of the year to be accepting the yoke of Heaven with delight, expansiveness and joy. As the wording in the maamarim of 5713, which are often quoted, puts it, the Frierdiker Rebbe says there that accepting the yoke of the King of kings is, on the one hand, done with firmness and tremendous self-nullification, and on the other, with great joy. In particular, the avodah of Yom Tov is accepting the yoke of Heaven with tremendous self-nullification, great joy and delight, because of the delight of Shabbos. That means we must indeed be joyful—a Shabbos of remembrance, [unclear]—while carrying out the avodah with firmness, accepting the yoke of Heaven, but doing so with delight and expansiveness. Through this, may we merit a year of delight and joy, and may we merit peace, Shabbos and rest for everlasting life, and the true and complete Geulah, [unclear] materially and spiritually alike.