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The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16b) teaches: Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah--one for the righteous, one for the wicked, and one for Beinonim / those in the middle. The righteous and the wicked are inscribed immediately, while a Beinoni is given ten days to repent; then he is inscribed either with the righteous or with the wicked. [Until here from the Gemara]

The Talmud Yerushalmi (R.H. 1:9) quotes the same teaching, but adds: Does Hashem not know the future? He does, but He judges a person as he is in the moment. [Until here from the Yerushalmi]

What is the Yerushalmi asking, and how does it answer its own question? (It does not appear to be asking the well-known, general philosophical question: Does man really have free will if G-d knows what he will choose? If that is the Yerushalmi’s question, its answer is not adequate.) Also: Why is there a book for Beinonim at all? Is it not enough that they will eventually be inscribed in the book of the righteous or the book of the wicked?

R’ Yisrael “Salanter” Lipkin z”l (1810-1883; founder of the Mussar movement) answers, as explained by R’ Shlomo Hoffman z”l (1922-2013; Israel), that the Yerushalmi is asking: What is the point of waiting ten days for man to repent? Surely Hashem knows that a person cannot change a lifetime of bad habits or bad choices in only ten days!

The Yerushalmi answers: Hashem judges a person as he is in the moment. Hashem does know the future, but He does not use that knowledge when judging man. Instead, He looks at each person’s current situation and evaluates the likelihood that the person will repent. Hashem considers, for example: Based on a person’s current circumstances, the choices he is making now, and the influences he is surrounding himself with today, is there a reasonable chance that he will mend his ways and begin taking a better path? If so, Hashem gives him a chance.

It follows, R’ Yisrael writes, that what a person needs to do in order to succeed in his judgment is not to complete the Teshuvah process, not to change everything about himself that needs changing, but to begin to repent, to show Hashem that he is aware that he has shortcomings and he is bothered by them, and to become a person who is in the process of doing Teshuvah. This is why there is a separate book for Beinonim--because being a Beinoni is a category of its own, neither righteous nor wicked. A Beinoni is on the road to Teshuvah, he is prepared to do Teshuvah, but he has not completed his Teshuvah and will not perfect himself before Yom Kippur. This is what Hashem is looking for when He judges a person as he is in the moment.

R’ Hoffman adds that this answers a question that many ask: The reality is that people fall back into (most of) their bad habits immediately after Yom Kippur. What, then, was the point of the whole Teshuvah exercise, and how can we say that we have repented? The answer is that we are not expected to become perfect by the time Yom Kippur comes around. Rather, all we are being asked is to be on the road to Teshuvah, to sincerely acknowledge, to care about, and to be bothered by our shortcomings. Then we are called people who are “Osin” / “doing”--in the present tense--Teshuvah, and we can be inscribed for life “on credit,” with the expectation that we will continue advancing step-by-step along our new path. (Ohr Yisrael #30 & Va’adim B’inyan Osin Teshuvah)

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Hashem is King!

Rosh Hashanah is called the “Yom Ha’din” / “Day of Judgment,” yet we barely mention our sins or Teshuvah in the day’s prayers, and we do not recite Vidui / confession on this day. Instead, the Rosh Hashanah prayers focus on recognizing Hashem as our King. Why is that an appropriate focus on the Day of Judgment?

R’ Moshe Sternbuch shlita (formerly rabbi in Johannesburg, South Africa; now Rosh Av Bet Din of the Eidah Ha’charedit in Yerushalayim) explains: The Gemara (Yoma 86b) speaks of two types of Teshuvah. One is Teshuvah mei’ahavah / repentance motivated by love for Hashem; the other is Teshuvah mi’yir’ah/ repentance motivated by fear of Hashem. R’ Sternbuch explains that every sin has two components: (i) the wrongful act that the person did and (ii) the fact that the person felt distant from Hashem and therefore was able to sin. If a person were aware of being in Hashem’s presence, he would not be able to sin.

R’ Sternbuch continues: When one’s repentance is motivated by Yir’ah / fear, he regrets the wrongful act and hopes not to be punished for it, but he does not seek to regain his closeness to Hashem. In contrast, one who repents due to Ahavah / love not only regrets his wrongful act--he regrets and seeks to bridge the distance between himself and Hashem that made sinning possible.

The Gemara says that one who repents due to Yir’ah merits that his intentional sin (“Meizid”) is downgraded to an unintentional sin (“Shogeg”). But why is a person who sinned unintentionally held liable at all? Because, writes R’ Sternbuch, even an unintentional sin would be impossible if a person were sufficiently connected to Hashem. Likewise, a person whose repentance is only due to Yir’ah is not sufficiently connected to Hashem.

On Rosh Hashanah, R’ Sternbuch concludes, we do not focus on repentance for individual sins. Rather, the order of the day deals with the big picture, which also is the first step in Teshuvah--reconnecting with Hashem. Once we genuinely acknowledge Hashem as our King and recognize that He is watching over us and providing for us at all times, regret and Teshuvah for all sins--intentional and unintentional--will follow naturally. (Shu”t Teshuvot V’hanhagot II 296)

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Shofar

R’ Moshe ben Maimon z”l (Rambam; 1135-1204; Spain and Egypt) writes: Although blowing the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a decree of the Torah [i.e., we would be required to blow the Shofar just because the Torah says so, even if we had no inkling of its meaning], it does hint something to us. It is as if the Shofar says: Awaken, awaken, from your sleep, you who are sleeping! You who are sleeping deeply, get up from your deep sleep! Search your ways, return in Teshuvah, and remember your Creator! You who forget the truth because of the nothingness that fills man’s days, you who are mistaken all of your years, pursuing empty things that are of no real use and will not save you--look at your souls and improve your ways; let each one leave his bad path and his thoughts that are not good! (Mishneh Torah: Hil. Teshuvah 3:4)

The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16a) says, “Let your Zichronot / remembrances come before Me (Hashem). How? With the Shofar!” R’ Tzaddok Hakohen Rabinowitz z”l (1823-1900; Chassidic Rebbe in Lublin, Poland) writes: This is the same idea as Rambam’s teaching that the Shofar says, “Awaken, awaken, from your sleep.” How so? Because we read (Tehilim 121:5), “Hashem is your shadow.” Therefore, when a person awakens and remembers Hashem, Hashem remembers him as well.

R’ Tzaddok continues: This is the meaning of the Gemara’s statement that the Shofar “mixes up” the Prosecuting Angel. Our Sages say that the Prosecuting Angel and the Yetzer Ha’ra are one and the same. The primary modus operandi of the Yetzer Ha’ra is to send a person thoughts, dreams, and fantasies that distract him from remembering Hashem and why man was created--i.e., to serve Hashem. The Shofar awakens man and foils that plan. (Resisei Lailah #35)

R’ Avraham Moshe Rabinowitz shlita (Skolya Rebbe in Brooklyn, N.Y.) writes: The blowing of the Shofar is a meeting between the Borei / Creator and the Nivra / created thing (as Rambam writes, “Remember your Creator!”). The difference between the words “Borei” (בורא) and “Nivra” (נברא) is that the former has a Vav and the latter has a Nun. When the Jewish People stand before the Creator and draw Him downwards into their lives, it is as if they stretch the Vav of Borei into a final-Nun so that “בו” becomes “בן”/ son--i.e., we reveal that we are His children.

R’ Rabinowitz adds: The Gematria of “Uru yesheinim” / “Awake sleeping ones” is the same as the Gematria of “Teru’ah.” It therefore is fitting that Rambam says that Shofar “hints” to the idea of awakening from our sleep. (Hadrat Melech p.41)

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