Maamar Yom Tov of Rosh Hashanah 5732 - Rabbi Boruch Boaz Yorkovitz shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast of Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 When Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, the rule is that they would not sound the shofar throughout the land; they sounded it only in the Beis Hamikdash, not elsewhere in Eretz Yisroel. So the Rebbe asks a question: Why do we observe Rosh Hashanah, the day of judgment, on the day we do, and not on 25 Elul, when creation began? We explain that Rosh Hashanah is the day Adam was created and began his unique service of Hashem. Through that service, he brought all of creation to completion, including what had been created before him. The main purpose of creation is for a person to serve Hashem. Now there’s a very interesting question. We explain why, when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, we don’t sound the shofar: through sounding the shofar, we seek to arouse above a desire for kingship—for Hakadosh Boruch Hu to desire to be King and take pleasure in His kingship. Shabbos is higher than that, so when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, that desire and pleasure in kingship come about automatically. That’s how we explain it. The explanation is this: Generally, when we speak of desire and pleasure, they come from the sefirah of Binah, while Shabbos is the source of desire and pleasure. So Shabbos is higher, and the effect of the shofar—its call to “improve your deeds”—is already present. We therefore don’t need to sound it. But in the Beis Hamikdash, they did sound the shofar. Why? Because there is a deeper desire than the level of Shabbos, and the shofar sounding in the Beis Hamikdash could reach it. We, however, do not belong to that level,

03:12 Speaker 2 and we don’t have the power to draw down that great revelation. That’s why we don’t sound the shofar. Only in the Beis Hamikdash, where its holiness gave them greater power, could they sound the shofar and reach a deeper level of pleasure. This is how it’s explained in the maamarim of all the Rebbeim. So here’s the question the Rebbe asks: The whole reason we don’t celebrate on the day the world was created, 25 Elul, is that what happened then came about automatically. Hashem’s influence upon the world was not brought about through human service. The special quality of Rosh Hashanah, the day Adam was created, is that human service began then—and that’s what matters most. So here’s the question: If that’s so, when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, you’re saying that the level is so high that we don’t need the human service of sounding the shofar; it happens automatically. Then where is Rosh Hashanah’s special quality? We could just as well celebrate on 25 Elul, since there’s no human service involved here, nothing distinctive about it. It’s a very strong question. And the Rebbe explains a very deep point: Even on such a day, we must say that there is human service. If there weren’t, Rosh Hashanah would lose its special quality. It must come specifically from below upward; everything depends on human service. There’s no shofar sounding—but what is there? There are the verses about sounding the shofar. Reciting those verses also elevates… It, too, is considered service performed by a person. The Rebbe explains this point and goes further,

05:55 Speaker 2 explaining that since the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four cubits of halachah. So wherever Torah is studied, you are on a level comparable to when the Beis Hamikdash stood. That means we can perform the service of Rosh Hashanah as it was performed in the time of the Beis Hamikdash. On the one hand, the Rebbe says we cannot reach that level, which is why we don’t sound the shofar. But through studying Torah, we can have an effect through human service and reach an even higher level. That is the Rebbe’s explanation. But the Rebbe says something else as well: A year that begins with Rosh Hashanah on Shabbos is a year of rest. It will be a peaceful year, a good year, a year full of blessings. We begin with Shabbos; the head of the year is a Shabbos, and Shabbos is rest and repose for life everlasting. May the Eibershter help us—may Hakadosh Boruch Hu help us—so that after all the accusations and harsh judgments of the past year, we truly have a good year, a year in which its curses come to an end, with only goodness and kindness for the Jewish people and the entire world. May Moshiach be revealed speedily in our days, right now.