Why Celebrate the Day of Judgment? Rosh Hashanah Reveals the Answer—Rabbi Singer

Welcome back to the podcast. My name is Aaron Solo and you're watching Passion Inspired. My guest tonight is Rabbi Tovia Singer. Rabbi Singer, it's an honor to have you back. >> It's great to be with you. Thank you. >> The book of Nehemiah chapter 8:12 describes a scene where Jews who were not so Torah observant came to the temple on Rosh Hashanah and they learned the Torah and they were crying and they felt really bad. And Nehemiah and the priests both told them not to be sad, to go eat, enjoy, have a good time on Rosh Hashanah. So, maybe you can lead us out with just a thought on Rosh Hashanah about, you know, many times people they are afraid of going to show on Rosh Hashanah. So, maybe you can just lead a message about what Nehemiah's message was to those people. >> Those people made a lot of sense. I I'm going to say this, but this can't be too quick. Rosh Hashanah is transparently obviously the most complicated holiday on the calendar. Every other Jewish holiday is very simple. If I ask you what what exactly is going on Rosh Hashanah is not simple to understand. Moreover, if Rosh Hashanah is a day of uh well, we crown it God as king, for sure. Uh the day which Adam was created, the day which God is judging the world. Even the trees the angels are shaking. Everybody What Why is this a day that's a festival? Why are we happy on Rosh Hashanah? Like it should be that we should be petrified on Rosh Hashanah. What Now, just know this clearly. It is a mitzvah from the Torah to rejoice on Rosh Hashanah and that's what's going on in Nehemiah chapter 8. It means we are supposed to celebrate. What are we celebrating exactly? Even the fact it's a day of judgment, then this should be a day that's actually terrifying. And the audience in MI8, and as you pointed out, these were not very knowledgeable Jews. We'll call them they were like Zionists. They some were aware, but many were not. They didn't know. And they got scared. And they started shaking, but they were doing what was forbidden. That means you're not allowed to be sad on Rosh Hashanah. It's a really a festival. You have You're not allowed to be sad on Rosh Hashanah. And they did. So right away he said, "Go home and have a festival." What are we exactly celebrating? So I want to share this thought with you. And this explains why Rosh Hashanah would come before the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, which doesn't really make sense. You should first plead your case and then God renders judgement, right? So this is explains that part as well, which is very odd. So if we can think of Rosh Hashanah differently, if we can think of it as a day of judgement in that God looks back at the world and sees his creation. And a married imagine a married couple that uh contemplates their marriage. And imagine a woman who looks at her husband or they look at each other and they go, "You know what? While if I could do it all over again before our first date, I would go on on that date with you and I'd marry you all over again. But our marriage needs a little bit of work. Let's get to work." So if God really is in a sense judging his creation and going, "You know what? If I could start all over again, I would create the world all over again, but we need some work." So we wreck on Rosh Hashanah with really the central piece of it is that we're recognizing God as Melech, as king. There's very little, almost nothing to do with atonement in our prayers on Rosh Hashanah, very little of it. It's all about remembering, it's about coronating God as king and blowing the trumpets. So, Hashem said, "Oh, you're recognizing me as a king? Okay, our relationship needs work. There's your 10 days. Start working on it." So, then we say, "Ah, this is really This is very moving. So, this is really a festival of great joy." Cuz Hashem is saying, "I love you." And that's why Yom Kippur comes after. That's the culmination of the 10 days. And then, what's Sukkot? That's why Sukkot is an extra happy time cuz since we're getting married all over again under the chuppah, in the wedding canopy, on the Festival of Tabernacles. That's why it's all breathtaking. But, Rosh Hashanah needs to be understood in this filter, or else it is it is very difficult. We may wind up like the people in the audience in Nehemiah who didn't understand and got petrified became petrified but was supposed to be happy. What am I happy about? Thank you so much for having you on. Good Shabbos and a happy, healthy New Year. See you at the simcha. >> If you enjoyed this program, please like and subscribe. >> Adonai echad. >> [music] [singing] [music]