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Rosh Hashanah falls out this year on Thursday and Friday, which means that we have three successive holy days: the two days of Rosh Hashanah followed by Shabbat. In Judaism, any phenomenon that repeats itself three times or more acquires a certain status known as chazakah, or stability. In other words, it is assumed to be a stable, expected event. Therefore, when we start off the year with three consecutive holy days, we are guaranteeing ourselves a year of continuing holiness.
To understand the special holiness of Rosh Hashanah, we need to know what happened on this day. On Rosh Hashanah, the events of the very first Rosh Hashanah of all time, 5772 years ago, are reenacted.
Although commonly assumed to be the first day of Creation, Rosh Hashanah was actually the sixth day. The world was already created almost in its entirety: heavens, earth, sea, dry land, stars, insects, birds, animals; but the “crown of creation” was still missing. Man had not yet been created; man, who would recognize the One creator of this glorious universe and worship Him as King.
Adam, the first man, was given the unique ability to converse with all of creation: animals, plants, even inanimate matter. Indeed, as soon as he was created he turned to the entire panorama before him and invited them all: “come, let us bow and kneel, let us bless G-d Who created us.” Let us bow to our creator and crown Him as King.
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This is the essence of Rosh Hashanah: a day of coronation. We celebrate Rosh Hashanah not on the first day of creation but on the sixth, when Adam was created; the first to recognize G-d and call upon all creatures to praise and bless His name.
Every year anew, on Rosh Hashanah we crown G-d as our King once again. The prevailing motif of the Rosh Hashanah prayers is majesty, and the key mitzvah of the day is to blow the shofar, the trumpet heralding the king.
Each year, G-d emanates to the world a new spiritual light which has never been experienced before. Every year when we accept G-d as our King on Rosh Hashanah, the ceremony takes on a new meaning like it never had before. And when the year opens with a chazakah of holiness, like this year, we know that a year of strength awaits us, a year of holiness, a year of special attachment and devotion to G-d.
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Does G-d need us to crown Him? In truth, we are the ones who need this. We need to stop and reflect once a year why we were created, and by Whose grace we live. But in some small sense, yes, G-d does need it – because for this interaction He created the universe.
The ultimate purpose of creation is that all of mankind should come to recognize our Creator; however, this recognition must come from within ourselves. In order for a leader to be a true king, not a dictator, the people must willingly accept his sovereignty. “There is no king without a nation.”
When we accept G-d as our King on Rosh Hashanah, we hasten the day when His Kingship will be revealed and accepted by all, with the true and final Redemption.
We wish all our readers a good and sweet year, a year of strength and holiness, with the true and complete Redemption.
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