Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the new Jewish year. Yet, unlike the 1st of January, the beginning of the secular year, Rosh Hashanah signifies much more than just the start of a new year; rather it is the time when G-D decides how the forthcoming year will be for all of us. Will we merit wealth or poverty? Health or illness? Peace in Israel or G-D forbid tragic incidents?
Initially this sounds frightening because our judgement is dependent on how devoted we are to G-D’s service; to our commitment to keeping His commandments. Who can say about themselves that they are perfect? Who can say that they are innocent from sin? However, it is crucial for every single Jewish person to know that it is possible, and even easy, to deserve a good judgment!
This is based on two fundamental points.
The first is that Hashem does not look at how much we achieve, rather at the effort we have injected into our Divine Service. Everybody is different. No two people have the same IQ, the same inner strength/control or the same surrounding circumstances. The logic is simple; if Hashem is the One who gave us our abilities and circumstances, then surely He only expects from us according to the extent of our abilities and our circumstances. He does not expect the same achievement from any two people. The expectations for a child brought up with little knowledge of Judaism would be different to that of a child brought up with much knowledge. Likewise, different expectations would be expected of a bright child than of a child not so bright.
Therefore our task of impressing G-D is only as much as we can do. This is the first thing what makes deserving a good judgment so achievable.
The second point is that good judgement does not even necessitate us actually attaining our potential. We just need to start in that direction, in a way that we will demonstrate to Hashem that we want to improve as best as we can. If we can pick on one area of our service to Hashem, be it in our commitment to prayer services, or to be more particular about the laws of Shabbos, and so on, then G-D will actually consider us as perfect! Now, how easy is that!
Nevertheless, without the minimum commitment we have mentioned, we are indeed in great danger. It’s just a matter of the little step in the right direction which will make all the difference.
I recently heard the following parable which brings out this point. Two close friends lost connection from each other after the Second World War. One of these friends married, began raising a family and settled down in England. A few years later, he found out that his friend was living in the USA and he dreamed of reuniting. As soon as he could afford the ticket, he booked a ticket to travel to the USA. Now, he had no idea where in the USA he would find his friend. After much research, all he could obtain was his friend’s phone number. Soon after he landed in New York. He immediately ran from the plane and began shouting his friend’s name, “Chaim, Chaim, Chaim”. An onlooker enquired about his most unusual behaviour. He explained that he was desperately looking for his long lost friend. “You fool! Go to the payphone just over there and call your friend on the phone”, was the response. So he did. He ran to the phone box and hastily picked up the phone and again began shouting. “Chaim, Chaim, Chaim”. Again, the onlooker came over to him. “It’s not enough to just lift the receiver, you have to feed a few cents into the machine to pay for your call then dial your friend’s number. It’s really not so difficult!”
This story may seem humorous, but if we are complacent, we can do exactly the same. We arrive at Rosh Hashanah and recall over and over again, “life (Chaim), life (Chaim), life (Chaim)!” But have we put the few ‘cents’ into the machine? Have we made that small commitment to becoming better?
If we want a year of goodness, we need to take that initial step. It’s possible, and even easy, but it’s got to be done.
To paraphrase Neil Armstrong, “One small step of spiritual commitment, a giant leap for our Neshamas (souls) and well-being”.
Wishing you all a meaningful new year filled with health and happiness!
Good Shabbos, Good Yom Tov.
Shragi