Why is Yosef Beleived by Rabbi Yossi Goldin

many of us I'm sure have struggled with and thought about over the last number of years in general is what type of day is Ros supposed to be it seems like a very very confusing day um on the one hand if you look in many of the sources it seems to be a day of seriousness a day of judgment right it's y it's the day that is is is judging us and yet on the other hand there are a number of sources that seem to indicate that it is a it is a yomtov um so let's just let's just dive into some of the sources to really highlight this this this question if you we're actually going to begin with Source number six Source number six is is a relatively well-known gar you may have heard before and that is regard the gamar is dealing with the question of why we don't say Hal on if R is a and generally on the we say Hal to even strengthen the question every roses we say Hal R is not justes it's R so why do we not say Hal asks the gar in Source number six says the you're implying based on the previous conversation that we don't say Hal R my why not we should definitely be saying gives the following answer the angels in heaven turn to hem and they say the following creator of the world why are is not saying Hal to you on R these are days of of holiday they're days of God responds with again a refrain that I'm assuming many of us have heard how could it be that I'm sitting on my Throne the king is sitting on his throne he's got the book of life and the Book of death in front of him and you're going to sing Shir right rashash isn't a day for song rashash isn't a day for celebration rashash is a day of judgment and therefore says again whether this conversation actually took place or this is meant to just highlight and teach us a message here about rashash the message is clear rashash is a serious day and that's why we don't say Hal on rashash so it's clear that on the one hand rashash Shana is meant to be a very serious day and yet if you continue on Source number number seven again this might be a source that some of you are familiar with we have ai that discusses or or questions not questions I would say discusses and and and tries to highlight the way that we act or the way that we approach Russ Source number seven is rash there were two people one of them said what kind of nation is like our nation generally in the standard way of the world if a person knows that he's going to have judgment if a person's about to go to court he'll wear something very serious I again it says black here doesn't mean black it means he'll wear serious clothing he's not going to wear celebratory he's not going to walk in in a fan in a nice you know his brand new shiny suit let's say he might wear a very serious clothing Miss he'll wrap himself in something serious he might even grow his beard as a sign of the seriousness of this he doesn't know how things are going to turn out and yet how do we act on this day of a no that's not how is act they wear white clothing whether it's white or it just means our nicest clothing we wear celebratory clothing we wear wrap ourselves in white some have the to wear a they shave their beards they eat they drink they know that is going to do for them Miracles okay so so again we're this just highlights our question so then what should we be doing what should we be feeling on rashash and as the sources we keep going many other sources we see this we see this dichotomy continuing to develop says the rambam in Source number eight when this discussing the question of why do we not say why don't we say they are days of chuv they are days of returning to repentance the year of and fear and another word also and and and and and and again intense fear they're not days of too much happiness okay so the ra has started to kind of explain to us or highlight the fact that there's some kind of balance here that we're trying to figure out they're days of happiness but not too much happiness and by the way if you follow if you if you look along later on when the r describes other there actually is one where he calls it a day of that is the day of sukot so it's interesting to see the ram is being very deliberate in his description here he's saying these are not days of to much happiness they're days of seriousness they're days of intensity and therefore we don't say Halal on Rashana and yet again the Mish why is it Source number nine why is it that we wash our clothing and we take a haircut before rash and we shave look at source number nine we're confident in hashem's kindness that he is going to give us a good judgment so there's a we're coming in with this balance between seriousness and yet between also confidence then says the but you shouldn't wear your Finest Clothing what he he describes as certain types of materials you shouldn't wear your nicest clothing like you would other why you should have the seriousness of the judgment on your head you should wear white clothing now by the way it's actually interesting the Min hog actually is differently than the mission Brewer describes here many of us wear our Finest Clothing in fact in Israel you might have seen this a few times this is something that I thought was very very interesting I noticed this the first time I was in Yeshiva many Israelis who don't wear suits on chabis and don't wear suits generally actually wear suits on Russia shanum Kipper that's like their their nicest time so they bring out the best clothing that they have so again the minu seems to be seems to be a little bit a little bit different but we see here already that there is an element here of of balance and if you see if you look at source number 11 the mishura highlights this as well why is it that we sit and we eat and we drink and we're happy ratar Source number 11 says the Mish even though it's a day of judgment the applies here as well because this is also a day of Celebration okay so the question the first question I want to try to understand is how do we navigate this how do we navigate on the one hand having a day of intensity of seriousness and at the same time having a day that's meant to be a okay and the truth is is that this isn't just connected to the of of of of rash if we now go back to the first sources if you go back to the beginning of your Source sheet I apologize for the back and forth this dichotomy is actually built into the definition or the the name of the day that the Torah gives to r r is not the name that is given in the Torah and is not the name that is given in the Torah what does the Torah refer to as how does the Torah refer to Y look at look at source number one on the seventh month the first of the month it is a day of Holiness you shouldn't do any work it is a day of yum tras so the that's very nice thank you yum tra the problem is what does yum tra actually mean what is a y trua so many of us might think automatically the Y tra reminds us of the the chaar okay and what is the chofar again we'll get to the chaar a little bit later in the day but the simple understanding of the chaar or the the way that the develops chaar chaar is a a sound of crying okay if you look at tumulus the way uncus translates it and sort number two that I brought you the Highlight I underlined the part for you what is y y what is the word y actually originally comes is from in in in Chim when it describes the mother of cisra her reaction as she awaits for cisra to come home and what does y mean it's a cry okay what's a cry what does a cry cry evokes a certain intensity a sadness slash not sure what's going on so on the one hand yum is as we know it a y it's a day of it's a day of intensity it's a day where we're we're just not sure how we're going to come out on the other hand in other sources other places the word tra doesn't actually mean Y is interpreted differently if you look at source number three in par Bak as part of theam bam says in Source number three Lo he beat it's describing how relates to it says he he doesn't see any sin any iniquity inov he doesn't see any bad amongst is with him and the of the king is upon him now what is trah here mean does it mean the Cry of the king that that would be the standard interpretation but if you look in some of theim they explain the word tra to be very different says the ezzar what's trat says ezar in Source number four TR refers to the sound of war or the sound of gathering the sound of it's almost not just War but celebration it's when the king wants to gather his people he makes the sound of the tra so the tra is not necessarily a sound of intensity and a sound of sadness it's actually a sound of Celebration it's a sound of the king Gathering his people and that's what when we blow the tra or when when God commands us to blow the TR with the it's about bringing the people together and look at Rashi how does Rashi interpret this is a fascinating interpretation it comes says rash what does the word tra come from the word true says Rashi actually the root root of the word is friendship love but we have the we know that we're familiar with the word R means a friend and here is a of of Love of connection refers to a friend so according to these MIM the implication of the word tra might not be just simply sadness intensity it actually seems to be referring to Celebration a certain amount of happiness so already in the name y we see this dichotomy taking place so question number one that I want us to try to understand is how are we supposed to navigate this how are we supposed to navigate rashash sh and what should we be feeling on rashash should I be going in intense sad frustrated not frustrated nervous should I be going in ready to celebrate how how do should we be approaching rashash yes Marvel to see our soldiers our solders their excellent when they're in excellent true and that's 100% true and the chaar is a symbol of so many different things by the way the chaar is a symbol of going into war which could also be a sense of trepidation but it's also a sign of Victory okay and morale so you're excuse me 100% right here and and therefore that the chofar has so many different aspects to it but I'm also pointing out that the rashash itself seems to have seems to have that as well you're 100% correct yes so I just want to let you know when I was a kid I went to Gat growing in Heights and it was very confusing for me because inad we celebrated as a and then you went to Gates head and it was very serious had all this and I'm like well so so and exactly so everybody will highlight exactly 100% true different groups was Will highlighted differently and I think you know you go to one type of yiva and they're singing and dancing I vaguely remember I V remember I I I went to I went to shalim uh and I live in shalim right now and I and I went to Yeshiva chal I remember the daving of rash is very very celebratory a lot of singing and a lot of dancing and I remember I I always there was always the side he's not there anymore he's he's now moved he's now moved to a different different area but there was one of the assistant rash his name was ravans and ravans was an older Israeli actually I think he was he even a holocaust Survivor and his approach was a little bit more serious and I always remember that the dancing would be very very labor dick and very exciting and there would always be this point to rash ofans would turn around and be like atan like that's it like okay you had your dancing it's still Yad and that was the and that was the balance that we're all that we're all that we're all trying that we're all trying to find question number two that I want us to try to understand and I think it's again building off of question number one is if Russ sh is a y then the of rashash and this is again our Focus for the Shi the F seem to be a little bit strange there is mention of yadin okay and perhaps the most famous mention of yadin in rashash would be in Source number 14 when right is the famous we talk where we're where we're highlighting and we're stressing the fact that this is the day of judgment and everyone's passing by so there's no question that there are moments where there is a highlight of din but if you were to survey the of and you were to pick one theme that summarized the r it wouldn't be din what would it be anyone I encourage you to look this through it would be malus it would be kingship it' be kingship and I brought just two examples one example is the main in Source number 12 which is usually the bra uh the bra is where K highlight the main theme of the day that's the main BR it's where we're supposed to basically turn to hasem and say this is what I'm doing for and what do we say you should I I I underlined it for you you should you should be the king of the world and the entire world should recognize that you are in charge meaning what is this all about God we're we're we're re-energizing and we're reconnecting to God being the king of the universe being the king of the world we say everyone should know the whole Every Soul should know that you are the king we end with okay so we call it we have as part of it but the focus the majority of our and the songs that we sing there's also mention about din but the focus is on kingship and the question becomes why what is there a relationship between the day of judgment and the theme of kingship or is this just a is this just some kind of a oh there's two different themes to the day and and it's just a coincidence or is there something more happening why are we focusing so much on on this and not focusing on DIN and to take this even perhaps a step further if this day was really all about din I would think that the process of chuva would be front and center and what do I mean by the process of chuva Chua is a process the process of repentance doesn't just mean that we feel bad there's a there's an actual process we're supposed to go through what is the main part of the process that we do in is part of the process of Chua the vi the confession there's no confession on rash there's no V on rash why is there no V on rash why if if this is the Y I would think this is the day when we should be focusing now of course as we know yum Kipper is the day where we focusing on the V and we have the V duringa we have the V intertwined but all of a sudden we take a break from the vi and rashash and the question is where is the V if this is y we should be focusing or at least having a an important part be about about Y and about and where is the V blend the concept connected to about his King so that's the excellent that's what we're meaning the question is why what what where is the V and why is Russ seem to have a different theme and that's what we're that's that's what we're going to discuss and the fourth thing the fourth question I'd like I'd like to raise this is more I think relevant to this year okay I myself personally I'm just going to talk personally for a second I can't say I'm dreading rashash Shana I'm finding it harder to prepare for rashash Shana this year and I imagine many of you feel the same way many and for each of us there could be different reasons okay I know myself and this I'm I I I I don't have an answer to this but I can tell you I'm just talking for you know personally for one second last year I DAV in the I left there feeling like I had a great rash was beautiful i d there on yipper and then what happened 10 days later 15 days later and I look at myself and I say well well then what does that mean about my feel and the truth is I don't have an answer to that I think that's a question that we're going to continue to struggle with which is we don't have answers to some of the tragedies that are happening that shouldn't necessarily take away art fot but that's just one thing that I'm struggling with but another thing that I'm struggling with is that's that's Sur that's the whole point what do you mean please share the I feel anyway the whole point is that our job is to D correct that's our job to D does you think it's not it's not like it's not like you hav you got it correct you haven't written out not everything is given to us as 100% answer is legitimately we we true and we don't understand it I still find it to be a little bit hard for myself in the sense that as you know I felt like I had a nice D so maybe it makes me question maybe I need to approach my differently this year maybe Thea for me shouldn't all be just about the singing and the dancing maybe I I I don't know I I I I'm struggling with that and I can say that there's that there's a clear answer I think there are some things that we have to just say and we don't really we don't really fully understand but what I what what I did want to highlight that I think is something that maybe we can talk about talk about or try to relate to here is these big themes of the kingship of God zon not CH for there are so many big themes that are in the F of Rashana and it's one thing when we're personally going through struggles and everyone always has own personal issues but when the nation is going through such upheaval now we continue to dive in that what's going on right now in the everything is continuing excellent agree people that say Hashem is definitely going to give us a good judgment I I agree with you I'm I don't I don't I don't disagree with you that that we're gonna win this thing Qui I don't disagree with you and I and I do it and I and I agree with you I I agree with you 100% And I answer a resounding amain to everything you're saying 100% and I don't mean to put I don't mean to create problems where problems are there I agree with you that that it right of leas and events we should have a tremendous amount of a tremendous amount of a tremendous amount of and I don't and I don't question that and if anything that is helping me go in but I will tell you that before the recent events I was dreading it because I just I looked I looked around and I think this is also something we can't we can't ignore there is still tens of thousands of Jews that they are displaced from their homes there are still Kim there are still how many so many families that are still that are still that are dealing with with with Rua okay the amount of soldiers that whose lives will never be the same because simply because of their because because of their injuries and families and and to me it makes a little bit harder for me to focus on the bigger themes to focus on the bigger themes because I just I'm overwhelmed now normally I'm overwhelmed with my own personal stuff but I fight I'm able to push that to the side on rash and say okay but here I find that it's a little bit harder and I'd like to just for us I think there is something that we can talk about today that can hopefully help us in that because because that is something that I think I'm feeling and I imagine many people are feeling which is just how am I supposed to push aside now it doesn't mean you shouldn't dive in for all those things of course we should dve in for our personal challenges and of course we should dive in for all of Amel and as we've spoken about we should be asking for the bigger things last week and two weeks we talked about how we shouldn't just be asking for the small things we should be dreaming big and we should be asking for that but it sometimes it becomes harder to focus on those bigger things when there's so much around us that's just that seems to be a little bit in in upheaval and so again just to summarize the questions that we have and I'd like us to kind of hopefully come to some understanding question number one is what kind of day is Russ sh supposed to be is it a day of happiness is it a day of of intensity question number two what is going on where is why are we focusing on the kingship of God and why is that the main theme of the day whereas we seem to be minimizing more the Judgment aspect we talk about it it's mentioned but it's not the focus of the day I would think this should be the focus of the day number three or really I would say 2A if you will what's where's where where's the where's the uh where's the vooy where's the act of chuva that we're usually that we usually are associating with yadin we kind of we kind of push that off to Yum Kipper why in rashash are we not mentioning and and number four is just how this year can we successfully focus on these bigger picture events with all with all that's going with all that's going on so what I'd like to do is I'd like to focus on question number one first and that is is what's going on in rashash and I'd like to share with you a couple of different approaches to that and hopefully through that we'll be able to answer to answer our other questions as well so the first answer that I'd like to share with you to how to approach rashash is a day of Judge is it a day of intensity or is it a day of of Happiness this is by is an answer by rev nansel rev nansel in Source number 15 shares something that I thought is very very interesting and he differentiates between the Y and theor between the individual and between the community and he says the following Source number 15 there is the Judgment of every individual and then there is the Judgment of the Jewish Nation as a whole for yourself you know when it comes to the individual every single individual needs to have a certain amount of fear trepidation concern that maybe he won't that's the focus for every when we're thinking about us as individuals the focus should be mostly says on the judgment and maybe we won't come out to have a good judgment and when we talk about individuals we're not just think worried about ourselves as individuals we're worried about our families as individuals we're worried about our friends as individuals we're worried about all of am Isel as individuals every single individual should be wondering and concerned with how he's going to come out even on the situation in by the way he's not R this many many years ago because there was always okay and on this unfortunate situation even in when it comes to every single individual there is a sense of uncertainty we don't know what's going to be and our focus is on the and on the yes but there was another type of judgment and that is the Judgment for the nation as a whole excuse me and when it comes to the Judgment between and the other nations say is z as a nation we know that Isel is going to be is going to come out on the on top is right the eternity of the Jewish nation is NE is is never going to lie is never going to end or as some of the famous songs we say right we know that as a nation we're going to survive we're going to continue as individuals there's more of this fear there's more of this unknown and that's us how we're supposed to balance this yes please doesn't question question why we don't correct this is answering question number one I'm I want to share with you a couple of approaches to answer number one the third answer that we're going to come to with answer number one I think it's going to answer all of them together but I wanted to just First share with you a couple of approaches to answer number one correct this just answers number one finding the balance between rashan and Yom Kipper okay answer number two and again this one also you could argue is focusing more on on question number one but it might it might relate and this is I want to share with you some words byon perz D perz is head of world mrai um aside from my my the opportunity to teach with you here I work at world mrai and R perz is the is the head of world mrai and many of you may be familiar with him um unfortunately he is the the father of a of a soldier Daniel Perez who was killed on October 7th his body is still kept in Gaza still being held in Gaza for many many year for many months it was was thought that maybe he was still alive only years later only months later excuse me did we know that he was actually in fact killed on October 7th he he was on the Nal o base which is a base the closest base to Gaza and he had him and his tank mates gone out on October 7th and and killed hundreds of terrorists saving many many many lives and unfortunately eventually his tank was overrun and he was killed um and what was particularly unique about the situation and is relevant to what we're about to learn about is that roron peris had another son yonathan who was at the time living in Yad binyamin with his family went down on October 7th because he got called down um he got shot in the leg unfortunately he was actually right near where his brother Daniel was he had re he he retook over helped retake over the nal's base after it had been run over um and and 2 weeks after October 7th he got married and the family was faced with the decision he was meant to get married whether or not they should have they should have the wedding while their son at the time at the time their son Danielle was was unknown they didn't even know if he was taking hot chage they didn't know if he was alive and the question was how do you what do you how do you find the way to have a wedding should you have this wedding while also dealing with this this with with with this intense unknown uh in in in the in the fate of their son Daniel so so has actually put out a a small booklet which you might have seen if you haven't seen it yet if you haven't seen it yet you should see it soon it was put out together with the Hami magazine the booklet is called days of awe and Times of War a number of essays that he wrote personal Reflections connected to the am if you haven't seen it yet I encourage you any sh that receives the Hami magazine which I believe many of your schs probably do we'll be getting copies of it if they if you haven't seen it already it should be there it's a small little booklet I have it oh I didn't bring it in with me anyway so I want to share with you a short a short piece from it because Dome basically and aners to answer our first question is that when it comes to different emotions we usually sometimes like and we've mentioned this a couple times in our own classes so far we generally tend to assume that our emotions are linear either I feel happy or I feel sad either I feel ready to go it's AOG it's a happy H or it's a day of intensity and the answer is humans are able to hold more than one emotion at once contradictory emotions at once and therefore rashash is a day that is complex it's a day that is both intense and and and and and difficult and challenging and maybe even sad on some level and it's a day of happiness because we sometimes oscillate between one and the other and sometimes we even hold those emotions together at the same time and I want to just read to you an excerpt where of Theon highlights this in his own personal experience the answer it seems again he's talking about rashash that he's going to talk about his own personal experience the answer it seems is that it is both at the very same time this is some answering the very question that we asked which is what is rashash we feel so close to God at times like a friend and feel the privilege of living in his world we celebrate and we coronate him yet at the same time we feel so distant fractured and broken so many things in life are not the way that they should be we're in Source number 16 in case I didn't say that in our distance we yearn for closeness the Chau far is the most visceral natural deepest cry for closeness celebrating the privilege of feeling close and at the same time yearning from a broken heart when we feel so distant on rashash we are somehow whole and broken at the same time complete yet fractured the main stay of rashash Shana is to pray for a vision of an Ideal World a UT utopian world where we all follow the world of word of God and a life of spiritual and moral Clarity we so deeply crave to live this ideal but in the reality of life we are often very distant from achieving it hopes dreams and aspirations often come crashing down in the harsh reality of life the distance between the real and the ideal is where life is lived we celebrate when our reality is close to the ideal we envision we are broken and yearning when we feel so distant and so rashash is a day where we feel both of these emotions at once and list how he continues the greatest lesson for me from the marriage of yonatan yonatan was his older son while our dearest Daniel was missing is how expansive the human heart is it is indeed somehow possible to totally hold conflicting emotions at the same time that are happiest occasion was tinged with our saddest moments that appreciation for yonatan and deep angst and anxiety for Daniel can be contained together that blessing and curse the exhilaration of that which is present and the pain and yearning for that which is absent can somehow live together and so rashash is a day of complexity it's a day where we have different emotions and where we're commanded I would I I would suggest and almost showed how we can hold and maintain different emotions you know when I when I I've I've had the privilege in various different ways to to talk to lots of groups that have come from missions that have come from America since October 7th in various different roles as part of my part of my job at M and I always used to say to them that I feel like if I had to pick how Amel has been feeling and it's obviously shifted and gone I would say that Amel has been holding two different emotions that seem to be conflicted at the same time the motion number one is We're a nation in pain We're a nation that's hurting and that's that's that's continued since October 7th and used all the way through and yet at the same time We're a nation that is strong we're an AR that's that arel GI Al as the as the well-known song We Are a nation of superheroes so we're a nation that's strong and We're a nation in pain how could that be the answer is that's just who we are and we're able to hold both of those emotions at the same time and that's what I think many of us have been trying to do throughout this entire War which is on the one hand we're sad we're broken every face that we see every family we learn about that's torn apart everything we hear about it's it it it's pain the pain is and at the same time there's a certain amount of pride and gur that we've been experiencing and that we've been tapping into and that we've been we've been understanding that I think again it shows us that we're able to hold those two emotions yes please another you could use is that the devotions are not exclusive of each other absolutely absolutely correct meaning meaning meaning in this case specifically correct correct we're going to get to something similar in a second yes we're really preparing for this because every time we have wedding we break the glass absolutely and people don't really practice these conflicting emotions but now absolutely well we do on some level not necessar National level but yes just to highlight what you're saying what not only Hally are we commanded Al but think about what families always do what do families always do when they have a one of the what what invariably The Matriarch or the patriarch or someone gets up and talks about those who are not here those who should those who helped us become who we are there's always going to be this element of we remember where we came from at those highest moments we're mentioning the sness as well because that's how we we deal with human emotion yes please it seems that the individual it's more espe as okay excellent so you're you're connecting the two almost in a certain way you're suggesting and and and it's similar to what we're about about we about to suggest but you're I think if I understand what you're saying is that for an individual it's a little bit easier it's a little harder to do that harder to do that because because becomes real whereas well I I would say it a little bit differently and and and and and and and this is this is the third answer that I'd like to suggest the question we're started with and this is question number one is how do we what what kind of day is rashash it's a day of H it's a day of Happiness yet it's also a day of deed and and and this connects to the second question which is it's a day of malus and it's it's also a day of din how do we balance the two and the answer is wait a second what's the happiness coming from and the truth is meaning we say is a day of Happiness so we saw the sources because we're confident that is going to give us a good judgment where's that confidence coming from the answer is in order to understand what it means when we say we're balancing Sim and we're balancing din the source of that Sim is the theme of the day what's the source of the happiness on rashash why are we confident that we're going to come out with a good din because we spend our entire day focusing on what kingship and I'll explain what I mean the purpose of the kingship is not simply another theme that we talk about on rashash because it happens to fall out and it works nicely with Y why are we confident that we're going to come out with a good din because we are turning around and we're re-engaging we're recommitting ourselves to God and when we recommit ourselves to God we're turning to a we're saying I want to be a part of this bigger picture we're taking a step back we're zooming at and we're saying this whole thing that we're experiencing this whole life of ours and this whole life of us as individuals and as a nation is much bigger than ourselves this is all part of a of a of of a long story a long history and so every single year we turn to and we say we want to be a part of that story you're the king I'm reacting you as my king and by definition what I'm saying is God I'm worthy of being a part of your kingdom I want to be a part of what you're trying to create and therefore it's worth it for you to keep me around it's worth it for you to give me a the malus the kingship that we discussed the re when we re-engage when we recommit ourselves to a when we recommit ourselves to and the mission that he has for us that is going to help us in our judgment and I want to bring you a couple of sources that highlight this that I think are very very very interesting look at source number 17 and 18 I'll take questions afterwards I just want to I want to just highlight the point says this is this is the introduction to the art scroll maxor Source number 17 what do we mean by King does god require Pomp and obedience surely his wish for recognition is not a sign of vanity no not at all ideally a king is the organizing power of a country he is the manifestation of the national will of Destiny he uses his absolute power to guide the people's energies and resources toward achievement of the greatest benefit of all admittedly there have been very few such Kings in all of recorded history but we are speaking of ideals and I I I I just as I read this I think about again and I'm not getting political in any way shape or form but if you compare the Jewish leaders in in general compared to the leaders of our enemies and how they treat their people and at least whether you agree or disagree with what's happening with the current leadership overall our leadership is for the people whereas our enemies what do they do they don't take care of their people in fact they they make their people vulnerable they take advantage of their people that's exactly that's the opposite of what a leader is meant to be a king is meant to be there for the people if the world could have such Kings and their populations would would unite behind them society would Thrive and countless dormant dreams would be revived and fulfilled in this sense God wants us to accept him as King by doing so we would benefit him only because we would be elevating ourselves by becoming his subjects we would join in the mission for which he created the universe in other words on rashash when we be Proclaim God as king we declare ourselves ready to make creation worthwhile this is what we are called upon when we Proclaim God's sovereignty on Rashana each rashash of the Jewish people as individuals and as a group can mesh the cogs of creation into a unified machine in the service of the king the fullest expression of kingship is the complete Obedience of all subjects to the will of the Monarch a King's greatest measure of majesty comes when his subjects freely intelligently and enthusiastically choose to serve him God's kingship too should flow from Mankind's Free Will decision that it best fulfills its own destiny by submitting to God's will to achieve this end God put man at the center of the universe and tied the fortunes of every creature to his choice and so one of the pieces here there's a lot here to unpack but one of the things he's stressing here that I think is the key point when we declare God as king and when we turn to and say we want to be a part we want you to be our King we're saying God I want to be a part of this whole thing that you're creating and you're developing and therefore keep me around therefore give me the tools give me what I need help me be a part of your nation help me be a part of who you are help me be a part of what you're trying to create and by doing that it is a method through which we're hopefully able to be the malus the focus on the kingship helps us ultimately in the DIN and and I want to just share with you highlights this again beautiful in a beautiful way in a beautiful way as well Source number 18 we'll read the Hebrew I'll translate it for you had we focused only on judgment then most of our fears and our thoughts and our concerns would only be on our own personal needs originally had Yad had been just a Yad every person would Escape into their little corner figuratively and focus on his own personal needs on what he needs which are important and should also be developed UND discussed on rashash but that's all we would do but this is the uniqueness of is what we really want on a deeper level that God's kingship should be revealed and the world should be fixed and should be redeemed even if sometimes it means we're going to get you know we're going to have to suffer on some level this is the great path that have chosen from our forefathers from our forefathers who chose to believe in hem even if that meant putting them on one side versus the rest of the world despite all all the pain that they had to endure chose not to assimilate amongst the Nations excuse me that continue to to raise the flag of in or order to fix the world and listen to this when we as a nation on R we push aside our personal needs we F we we mention them but we don't Focus just on that we push them to the side and we focus more on accepting God's kingship God turns to the god turns to the angels and says look at my look at my sons they put aside their own personal needs and are focused on my honor and through that the Satan who's trying to prevent us from having a successful is pushed to the side his against us are pushed away and then that is what causes and enables is to Merit a new year where they'll be able to push things forward one more step towards the greatest red greater Redemption the more that we're able to accept upon ourselves God's kingship on with humility and with fear with celebration and with trepidation then we as individuals will will Merit it because we're turning to and we're saying I want to be a part of this says if you want to be a part of this then I'm going to then then I want you to be a part of it as well and I think this approach recognizing the power of accepting God as our King is something that I think can answer some of our other questions as well we talked about number obviously the answer to the question why the focus is on is on malut we asked why are we not doing why is there no why is there no V on rashash because the focus of rashash is meant to be different there's going to be time for V we have a CH and we have Yer to Chua rash is one day where we take a step back we take a step back we look at the bigger picture and we recommit ourselves toes and to his mission which also is our mission and then we can turn back and say okay now I want to focus on on on those aspects of what I'm missing rash is that day where we basically we're worthy of staying around we're work we're worthy of a great Den because we believe in you and we believe in what this is all about and that's the focus of rashash is taking that bigger picture that that that macro picture stepping back and looking and thinking big picture what is this all about and hopefully that is meant to give us the inspiration to then focus on the rest of the week on the V and on reconnecting withes and fixing the small things and and I I would like to suggest that this is also a way that we can help ourselves this year as we approach rashash Shana thinking about everything that's going on with am Israel and all of pain and how can we focus on some of these bigger picture issues when there's so much going on one of the things that has always inspired me that I stood out for me when I hear family members of those who have been killed or those who are suffering and I hear them talk about what keeps them going and how they process this one of the themes that I've always heard that has resonated with me was the parents the families talking and they say this is just bigger than us this is this the war the situation I'm is mid Isel is not just about me and my son or me and my daughter and me and my father whatever is I recognize what gives me the to to be able to deal with my personal tragedy I'm talking about an individual quoting somebody what gives them the ability to deal with their personal tragedy is when they take a step back and they say this is part of a bigger picture this is part of a process this is part of something much greater than ourselves as individuals and even this generation and when you take that that step back it hopefully G gives you a perspective that enables you to deal with the personal tragedy and the pain that we continue to see and so I would suggest that that's what we're trying to do on rashash Shana well how do we deal with all these different things that are going on personal communal National how and the answer is we're not ignoring them and we can have some time on rash to focus on them but the main point of rash is to enable us to take a step back and try to see the bigger picture baru is our King re accepting and reaffirming is our King and recognizing that there is something greater than ourselves that is at play here and the hope is that through that it gives us the power to continue to go on and to deal with all of the different things that we're dealing with as individuals as a nation and uh and and and as a people and so I hope that you know that perspective is able to give us a little bit something to uh to think about and to and as as we approach rash I wanted to share with you one other quick idea we have a few more minutes and as you know I don't I can't end too early no I'm just kidding we'll we'll give you some time today but I wanted to share one one other idea that that resonates with me it's connected to the to that I think has has always resonated with me and rash that I hope will will help you as well and that is what I call in Source number uh section number two the of thear there are many different reasons given for why we blow the chofar in R perhaps the most famous again there are a number of one perhaps the most famous is the one in Source number 19 is the ram where the ram says what's the purpose of the chaar the purpose of the chaar is it's an alarm clock right I underlined the part there is a hint to the those of you who are sleeping we're sleeping not physically we're sleeping proverbially wake up from your Slumber wake up from your Slumber so what is the chaar the chaar is an alarm PL that's basically saying hey guys wake up you've been you've been you you've been just you know walking sleepwalking for for an entire year it's time to get ready it's time to understand that that the judgment is coming that's one that's one answer for the Shar the other the other idea of the we we mentioned today is it's the sounding of the king it's the coronation of the king it represents the two themes we've been talking about DIN and and of course malus it also represents a certain level of Victory there are so many different in fact I think ra gives like 13 different reasons for why we blow for for the significance of the chaar but there's one aspect of the shaar that I wanted to mention to you that that I that I heard in the name of a I read really um in the w of salic that very much resonated with me salic points out that there are many parts of the chaar many themes within the chaar that are very much connected to In fact when do we blow the chaar so we blow the chaar before M but we also blow the chaar during M during K by the way there are some communities that blow not just during K they blow during the silent which is hard to you know hard to arrange how everyone should get to the right place but many people blow many communities blow during so so we're blowing the chaar during our what that really hints to is the fact that the chaar on some level is a form of is a form of and in fact we see this also we're not going to see this inside but the gamar in Source number 20 discusses what the shape of the chaar should be should the chaar be bent or should the chaar be straight and the way Rashi explains both interpretations is it's connected to different approaches to should a person be bent down when they went in the position of or should a person approached Fila with a certain amount of of seriousness and and seriousness means like in not confidence but also seriousness standing straight which means that the chaar is meant to represent an act of says how does the chaar represent he makes the following beautiful suggestion we're going to read it inside we're going to skip the first paragraph Source number 21 uh read read the the last two paragraphs Inside Man is not the only being that doin in if there's ever a word of Sal writings that you that you can't you can't figure out what it is chances are it's an English word that he's writing in Hebrew like they are all an expression of the animals calling out anding to when a Jew this is a beautiful imagery when a Jew gets up in the middle of the night to he continues he's joining in this chorus of animals that are doing and praying to at night every human being does not just is not just meant to DAV using the of speech not just as a human using his using his Instinct and using his intellect as speech but also as an animal also as a being is not just an expression of the uniqueness of man and our intellect but it also is an expression of what we share with the rest of the beings in the world Adam is the highest level of creation although we are the highest form of creation on the other hand we're also compared to like all the other animals in the world sorry what is the it's that person it's the sound of the human being not having words to express what he wants to say it's like every human being who's in pain and just shouts out oi the C as we would say or the or the cry that is the when it comes to it's not the words and the speech it's the cry it's that that that that shout that comes after we finish andich goes on to explain how a person DAV on rash and he says everything he wants to say and then he realizes he didn't even get to half of what he wanted to say so much more is inside and he wasn't able to express it because we have emotions that we simply aren't able to express in words and we get to this point where we're like how are we going to properly relay our emotions to say Sal that's for the chaar comes in the chaar is that sound of of our sound where we've reached the end of our words we've reached the end of being able to express but there's so much more in our in who we are that we want to say to Hashem and we just don't have the words to say them and the chaar is that sound that expresses that that part of who we are and so as we sit there or stand there on R sh connecting to the chaar this is just another another idea another way to look at the chaar the chaar this is as I mentioned this is connected to this the most the chaar is that sound that expression of what we all want to say and we just don't know how to say it everything that we want to say that we want we just don't have the words that's what the call of the chaar is meant to do is that expression of turning to and saying we want we want a relationship we want this all those things that we want to say that we can't express that is the sound of the chaar so I hope some of these themes will will help enhance our uh This Year wishing everybody and as they say that the year and its curses should end and the new year and the should begin