Parshas Nitzavim
September 18th-19th, 1998
28 Elul, 5758

We wish all our readers a k'siva v'chasima tova, and a good, sweet, happy and healthy new year.

TO LIFE!

The Talmud, in tractate Rosh Hashanah, tells us that a great judgment takes place on the Jewish New Year.  The Master of the Universe looks into the hearts of all people, scrutinizes the state of their souls.  For some, a final verdict is reached immediately, while others enjoy a 10-day  reprieve--ending on Yom Kippur--until final sentencing:

R. Kruspedai said in the name of R. Johanan: Three books are opened [in heaven] on New Year, one for the thoroughly wicked (reshaim gemurin),   one for the thoroughly righteous (tzadikim gemurin), and one for the intermediate (beynonim).

The thoroughly righteous are forthwith inscribed definitively
in the book of life; the thoroughly wicked are forthwith inscribed definitively in the book of death; the fate of the intermediate is suspended from New Year till the Day of Atonement; if they deserve well, they are inscribed in the book of life; if they do not deserve well, they are inscribed in the book of death.  (Rosh Hashanah 16b; Soncino translation.)

I think most people understand the book of life and the book of death as referring to our physical life in this material world; our earthly fate and fortune for the coming year are being decided. Indeed, this is quite true, as evidenced by the haunting words of the Rosh Hashanah (Musaf) service:

On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth, and how many will be created...who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm...Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried... who will be degraded and who will be exalted.   (Artscroll Machzor, p. 483)

Whether floodwaters will wipe out a coastal village or not; whether the Stock Market will crash or not; whether your novel will be accepted by a publisher and help catapult you to literary celebrity, or be scornfully rejected (causing you to decide to apply for law school and make your parents happy)--all of this is determined by the King of Kings on Rosh Hashanah.  As we watch the President totter, how can we not take the truth of this divine judgment deeply to heart: "...who will live in harmony and who will be harried...who will be degraded and who will be exalted."

Yet, there is a deeper meaning to the book of life and book of death as well.   Tosafos [the collective name of explanatory notes on the Talmud of the French and German rabbis in the 12th and 13th centuries, printed next to the text of the Talmud itself, opposite Rashi's commentary] explains that life and death here refer to one's existence in olam ha'ba, the world to come.  Simply put, this would mean that we are judged on Rosh Hashanah as to whether or not we are spiritually worthy of eternal life.  

Ultimately, that's the more important judgment, no?  It's better--in the final analysis--to have good standing in the world to come, even if one suffers a bumpy journey in this world, than to have smooth sailing here with pain and tzaros there. 

While we all certainly want peace, health and prosperity for the coming year (and should pray for them with all our hearts), we should realize that attaining them is not necessarily a proof that G-d's essential judgment - which is of our spiritual state, remember--was favorable.  After all, it's a well-known idea in Torah that Hashem sometimes pays the wicked all their reward in this transitory world...only to destroy them in the world to come.  And He sometimes gives certain righteous people great difficulties as an atonement in this world...in order to allow them perfect bliss in the next life.

In short, our main focus on Rosh Hashanah should be the LIFE of our souls.  If our marks are good there, there's really not much to worry about.

That also may be the best insurance that we'll be given a good and sweet year in this world, as well.  Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva, Chapter 9) writes that those who loyally follow the Torah are given physical blessings in this world not as an ultimate reward, but as an incentive to progress in their service of G-d.  If G-d sees, then, that we want life for a noble purpose--in order to grow as Jews and as human beings, and not just to eat more hamburgers--, then He will be more likely to grant us what we want. 

This is exactly what we say in one of the additions to the Shemoneh Esrei for all the 10 Days of Repentance from Rosh Hashanah toYom Kippur:

"Remember us for life, O King Who desires life, and inscribe us in the Book of Life--for Your sake, O Living G-d."

For Your sake, grant us life--so we can serve You and follow Your Torah. (Each of us progressing at his or her own pace, of course...but headed in Your direction!)

Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, zt'l, one of the most profound Torah thinkers of our time, writes that the will (ratzon) of a person is his essence   (Michtav Me'Eliyahu: II, pp. 62-66). Whether or not we are put in the Book of Life is not merely the outcome of a numerical tallying of our sins versus our good deeds, though that is part of it; the nature of our basic will and desires--the present state of our heart--is the decisive factor. 

Do we want to be connected to G-d and spirituality--to true life--, or are we content to remain among the living dead, who Rav Dessler describes as clinging singlemindedly to the Imaginary (dimyon)--i.e., the transitory pleasures of this world.  (Enjoying permitted physical pleasures in this world is, of course, encouraged by the Torah; we're supposed to be happy people.  The basic question, though, is: What's the focus of our lives?) 

It's probable that many (if not most) of us will be judged neither completely righteous, nor completely wicked; we are the beynonim--those in the middle, as stated by the Talmud.  Rav Dessler explains that we are the folks whose ratzon (will) wavers back and forth: sometimes we yearn to be in the camp of the righteous (when the parsha sheet is a winner, when we finally do a certain mitzvah and it feels good, etc.)...and sometimes we cling to the Imaginary (I'll let you fill in your own examples of non-righteousness).  We beynonim want true life...but not all of the time.

We need to make use of the precious 10 Days of Repentance, to make an extra effort in that time to cling to spirituality: set aside time for introspection, do more mitzvos, study more Torah, avoid anger and pettiness of all sorts.  And, of course, do teshuvah--making amends to those we've wronged, feeling true regret for our transgressions, confessing them to Hashem and sincerely
resolving--without a vow--to try to avoid repeating them in the future.  (Am I sounding like the President, or what?!)

10 days to pay close attention to your heart.

And to take to heart the words of this week's parsha, which not coincidentally is always read during this High Holiday period:

"See--I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil...choose life!"  (30, 15 and 19)

It's completely up to us which book we get inscribed in. 

May Hashem inspire us this Rosh Hashanah to wholeheartedly accept Him as the Supreme King, and turn back to Him during the 10 Days of Repentance.  He's certainly rooting for us.

GOOD SHABBOS
AND SHANAH TOVAH!!!

Insights Into Genesis
Insights Into Exodus

Rabbi Yosef Edelstein is Director of the Savannah Kollel/ Savannah Torah Education Project. Phone: 355-0157;
fax: 354-9923; e-mail address: Yosef18@aol.com

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