MEANING IN MITZVOT by Rabbi Asher Meir

Each week we discuss one familiar halakhic practice and try to show its beauty and meaning. The columns are based on Rabbi Meir's Meaning in Mitzvot on Kitzur Shulchan Arukh.

NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS

The Rema writes that it is customary on Rosh HaShana to greet with the expression, "May you be inscribed for a good year" (OC 582:9). However, some people adopt a slightly different expression, which is not mentioned in the early commentaries: "May you be inscribed and sealed immediately for a good year!"

The basis for this alternative greeting is the gemara which states that it is only the ordinary person whose judgment is written on Rosh HaShana and sealed on Yom Kippur. The complete tzaddik, however, is immediately sealed on Rosh HaShana for a good year (Rosh HaShana 16b). By wishing our friends an immediate sealing, we are implying that they are perfectly righteous individuals, in the exalted category of the "tzaddik gamur".

The most basic understanding of this passage is that for those who are completely righteous, G-d does not have to wait ten days to scrutinize their actions and determine if they are worthy of a good year, which will afford them the maximum opportunity to sanctify His name. He is sure of their steadfast commitment. This understanding affirms the modified greeting we often hear.

However, there is an alternative under- standing which confirms the traditional blessing. This understanding makes a special inference from the word "completely" righteous.

No human being is perfect, and everyone needs to constantly grow in all good qualities. Someone who is "complete" is really "finished" - he or she, although a saintly person, is done growing. (In modern Hebrew when we say that someone is "gamur", we mean he or she is "done for".) We could say that such a person, though written for life, does not benefit from the special opportunity the 10 Days of Repentance provide. Unlike the ordinary person, who has until Yom Kippur to revise his inscription, such a person is inscribed on Rosh HaShanah and then HaShem so to speak closes the book on him.

It follows that being sealed for life already on Rosh HaShanah is not necessarily the blessing it is sometimes made out to be. Perhaps the traditional blessing mentioned in the Rema is really best. (Based on an explanation of Rav Yisrael Sonnenblick.)

Rabbi Meir has completed writing a monumental companion to Kitzur Shulchan Aruch which beautifully presents the meanings in our mitzvot and halacha. It will hopefully be published in the near future.

Rabbi Meir authors a popular weekly on-line Q&A column, "The Jewish Ethicist", which gives Jewish guidance on everyday ethical dilemmas in the workplace. The column is a joint project of the JCT Center for Business Ethics, Jerusalem College of Technology - Machon Lev; and Aish HaTorah. You can see the Jewish Ethicist, and submit your own questions, at  www.jewishethicist.com or at www.aish.com.