New Year Message 5770

New Year Message 5770 B”H


Dear CIKB and Friends Shyichyu

Rosh Ha' Shana this year begins on a Shabbat and is the 5770th Rosh Hashanah from creation. The Bal Shem Tov taught that we must take from all things that we see and hear a lesson in the service of Hashem.
The Midrash says "kol hashvean chavivon- all seven are beloved". We see: 1-G-d created the world in seven days; in the first six, creation itself and on the seventh He rested and created Shabbat. 2- Moses was the seventh from Abraham our forefather and was chosen to give the Torah to the Jewish people. Because "all who are seven are beloved". The concept of being beloved because you are seven is not based on self merit or personal worth but by being the seventh. In our new year the number seven appears multiples times. In the count of the week and in the number of the year there is an extra emphasis on the number seven this year.
What can we lean from this? All created existence has in it three categories that intertwine. a) Olam- literal translated: world; the place. b) Shana-literal translated: year; the passage of time.c) Nefesh-literal translated: soul; life. All existence exists in a frame of Olam, Shana, Nefesh-place, time and life. When a new year comes each year it is not only an event that occurs in time indicating the age of the world but is an event in life indicating how much we have lived on earth. The New Year is not just another calendar day but an event that involves the scope of all existences! The measure by which we begin a new year and indeed every day in time. Is by calculating how we have lived the past year and the steps we took to progress and grow towards our goal. For a human being; whom g-d created with intellect his purpose is to utilize his intellect to identify right and wrong and choose correctly between them. For the Jew in addition to intellect, there must be holiness which is exclusively achieved through the study and practice of Torah and Mitzvoth.
The New Year that begins represents a new future with new opportunities yet it is not detached from the years that preceded it. (5770 follows 5769). As we need to make use of the new opportunities that present itself in the new year we must complete the goals not yet reached of year’s and generations gone by. Even if one should argue correctly that our later generation is on a lower spiritual level then generations before us yet the earlier generations depend on us to complete what they have begun. More so our generation has a unique quality. We have the wisdom that comes with history of being a nation in existence for more then three thousand years, thank g-d! This knowledge taught us that we are a nation alone, divine miracles are our nature and unity is essential to our very existence as a people. Earlier generations great in torah, intensity of prayer and charity envy our good deeds having been done with unity and self sacrifice in these spiritual dark times.
The unique task of our unique generation is emphasized this year due to the number seven found multiple times in its date. It teaches how even though Moses lived in generations after Abraham and was greater then Moses for he is the first Jew and first Patriarch still Moses was chosen to lead the Jews out of Egypt not Abraham. He also was chosen to be the greatest prophet of all time who gave G-d's Torah to the Jewish people. Our generation must learn from this to acknowledge that it is not due to our personal merit we have been chosen to live in these times. Yet our purpose is to act in ways that bring into fruition the faith that burns eternal in the hearts of Jewish people in all ages, both the darkest period’s r’l as well as peaceful times of our history. The faith in being finally redeemed from all exiles, returning to our homeland, rebuilding the temple to practice Judaism to the fullest extent and bring G-d to the entire world.
Every good act we do adds more weight to the balance of good on the scale that g-d judges with it the world. It brings greater merit to us, our families, and the Jewish people, all of man kind, the world and universe for a quicker fulfillment of G-d’s plan for creation and in the New Year a favorable judgment to be written signed and sealed into the book of the righteous for a sweet good new year with kindness and compassion for all. Amen

With blessing for a chasiva v’chasima tova shano tova umasuka bkol ubchesed v’rachamim

y.w.

Parenthetically: One of my Rosh Ha’Yeshiva who had a way with words used to say when he saw us wasting time; “In America we say killing time but really it’s not killing time, its suicide! Time not utilized properly harms life itself, not only time. Time is a living entity whose soul is the very meaning and effort we put into it. Time without growth is like a time that never lived, like dead time g-d forbid.
May G-d help that our new year be a one full with blessing, success health and good utilized time.