“Rosh Hashanah is our day of enlightenment; Yom Kippur, our day of salvation. (Midrash Tehilim 27:1)
Two questions:
- It makes sense to call Yom Kippur a day of salvation, but how can Rosh Hashanah, the day of judgment, when our lives and fortunes are on the line, be called a day of enlightenment?
- If G-d is the epitome of endless love, why doesn’t He give us Yom Kippur (forgiveness) before Rosh Hashanah (judgment)? Then we wouldn’t need to tremble in fear at all.
The Shofar
Our sages taught that the Shofar is sounded to inspire repentance and to crown G-d as king (Reb Saadya Gaon, Ta’amei Tekias Shofar). On the surface, these seem very different: people who routinely violate the King’s order are not the obvious choice to crown Him. However, upon closer examination, a new insight emerges that reconciles the two ideas.
Stop Hiding
Repentance is not merely about begging forgiveness for our shortcomings. Before we can list our sins, we must reach the point of caring. Let’s face it: when we stoop to enjoy a transgression, we are not thinking of G-d. We don’t have Him in mind when we speak harshly to someone or cut corners in business. We certainly don’t have Him in mind when we walk into a casino on Yom Kippur.
At such times we think only of ourselves: how to get ahead, how to enjoy some pleasure. We block G-d out because if we let Him into our minds, our G-dly soul would not allow us to sin.
We sin for many different reasons: greed, anger, desire, habit. But regardless of the motivation, we must first block G-d out of our minds before we can go ahead with it. This is possible only because we hide behind rationalizations: that G-d would understand, would not mind, would overlook. Inherently, every Jew cares about G-d, not as a sentiment but as a fact of the soul. Every Jew carries a neshamah, a spark of G-dliness that cannot help but care about its Source. So, we transgress by hiding, pretending that if G-d is not on our minds, we are not on His.
If we want to return to G-d, the first step is to step out of hiding and bring Him back to mind. Before we can seek forgiveness, we must accept G-d as our king, submit to His authority, and commit to His laws (Rabbenu Bachye, Chovat HaLevavot, Sha’ar HaCheniah, ch. 8).
The Pivot and the Journey
This is the essence of teshuvah. Repentance is not an adequate translation of teshuvah. Repentance means examining our behavior and regretting each transgression; teshuvah means “to return.”
Returning has two connotations. The first is simply to turn around. If I’ve turned from G-d, pretending He wasn’t looking at me because I wasn’t looking at Him, I now turn back to face Him. This is a pivot, not a journey, completed in a single moment. The second is to journey back to my origin: examining each transgression and repenting until my lifestyle again aligns with G-d.
We cannot make that journey without turning around first. If we face the wrong direction, we will simply go the wrong way. This is why the pivot must come first.
Rosh Hashanah is the day we pivot; Yom Kippur is the day we journey. On Rosh Hashanah we crown G-d as our king, accept the yoke of His kingdom, and declare ourselves His subjects. It is not about specific resolutions or sins. It is a general statement, a single pivot, not a journey of a thousand steps.
Shofar Versus Confession
That is why we blow the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah but not on Yom Kippur. The Shofar was the instrument historically used to crown a Jewish king, its plaintive call summoning the nation to accept its new sovereign. It is both a coronation and a call to teshuvah, not teshuvah as repentance, but as return.
Yom Kippur, by contrast, is about atoning for each sin separately: a twenty-four-hour journey of prayer and reflection. There are lists of sins in the prayer book, but we go beyond them, quietly naming our own, examining each thread, facing our shame directly, and beseeching G-d for forgiveness.
Have you ever noticed that we don’t confess our sins on Rosh Hashanah? In some congregations, the word sin is not even mentioned in the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. The surface reason: we don’t want to raise our shortcomings as we stand trial. We would rather focus on our strengths. The deeper reason: Rosh Hashanah is about reestablishing our connection, so we focus on our bond with G-d and sound the Shofar to accentuate that strength.
On Yom Kippur, we confess at length but don’t sound the Shofar, because examining our sins is inconsistent with trumpeting our loyalty. Yom Kippur channels the bond we revealed on Rosh Hashanah into the events of everyday life. We examine where we embodied our spirituality and where we failed, regretting our shortcomings and committing ourselves to a better year.
This requires self-examination, not a Shofar. Only at day’s end, once our sins are forgiven, do we sound the Shofar in triumph. We know why G-d forgave us: not because we deserved it, but because we turned around and reestablished our bond. The final call announces that we are once again loyal subjects. G-d is fully our king, not just in name but also in deed (Likutei Sichos 19, p. 303).
With this, we are ready to celebrate. We leave the synagogue and begin preparing for the joyful festival of Sukkot.
The Day of Enlightenment
We can now understand precisely why Rosh Hashanah is a day of enlightenment, and Yom Kippur a day of salvation. All year we were hiding in the dark, committing our transgressions far from G-d’s light. On Rosh Hashanah, our day of enlightenment, we return to the light and embrace G-d. On Yom Kippur, G-d saves us from our sins and ratifies our return. He accepts us and makes us whole again. This is our day of salvation.
We can also now understand why G-d doesn’t grant forgiveness before judgment. The judgment of Rosh Hashanah is not about our individual misdeeds; it is about our general demeanor and overall relationship with G-d. We must correct and repair this before we can even begin the journey of repentance, let alone be forgiven for our individual transgressions (Rav David Kohen, Ma’amarei HaChochmah 6:3; 6:8).
We have ten days to let the depth of our Rosh Hashanah bond spread through our consciousness until it permeates us on every level. Only then can we approach G-d clad in white, with pure hearts, and enumerate our sins with penitence and remorse. Only then are we prepared to be forgiven and reinstated. Only then can we accept that reinstatement with joy, and a pure commitment that the coming year will indeed be different (Likutei Sichos 19, p. 303).
Shanah Tovah
