On this auspicious day of the auspicious month — Chai (18) Elul, the month that all of it, especially the last twelve days of it beginning from Chai Elul, are dedicated to preparing for Rosh Hashono and for the entire new year, may it bring us and all our people Israel goodness and blessing,
It is surely the appropriate time to reflect on one of the main features pertaining to said preparations; which, of course, have to encompass all aspects of human life, comprising thought, word, and action, and in accord with the Divine purpose of the creation of man (ordained on the first Rosh Hashono), and in accord with the purpose of man's life, namely, to serve the Creator in all three areas: Torah, Avodah and Gemilus Chasodim (Torah-study, Prayer, and acts of kindness, namely, mitzvoth).
It has been discussed many times that although Rosh Hashono is the festival that commemorates the “birthday” of the world (as we say in our prayer, “This is the day of the beginning of Your works”), it is actually the day when the creation of the world was completed with the creation of man, on the sixth day of Creation. Thereby the world attained its fulfillment (and pronounced “very good”), for it is through man that the whole of creation attains completeness and fulfillment, in accordance with the design of the Creator. This was actually achieved immediately after Adam, the first man, was created, as related by our Sages of blessed memory that Adam called upon all creatures, saying: “Come, let us prostrate ourselves and kneel; let us bend our knees before HaShem our Maker.” And so it was, and “HaShem reigned, garbed in Glory.”
One of the aspects in which the creation of mankind differed most conspicuously from that of all other creatures is that man was created as a single individual —
- single — unlike other creatures, both in the animal world and in the world of plants, where creatures were simultaneously created in couples (male and female),
- single also in terms of being one species, the human race, unlike other creatures, both animals and plants, where thousands of species were created right from the beginning.
Needless to say, the Torah, Torah Or, which illuminates and explains all “things”, calls attention to this conspicuous difference. Our sages of the Mishnah declare: “For this reason man was created single — to teach you that each individual is a 'whole (complete) world.'” Secondly, “For the sake of peace among people, so that no one will be able to say, I am a descendant of a greater ancestor than yours.'”
