ועתה, and Now
At the depiction of the sin of the Eitz HaDaas, the Torah tells us:ויאמר ה' אלקים הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו לדעת טוב ורע ועתה פן ישלח ידו ולקח גם מעץ החיים ואכל וחי לעלם – “And Hashem G-d said, ‘Behold, Man has become like the Unique One among us, knowing good and bad; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also the Tree of Life, and eat and live forever” (Bereishis 3:22).
The Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 21:6) comments that this pasuk indicates that Hashem gave Adam HaRishon the opportunity to do teshuvah. The word ועתה , and now, is the source for this explication, since we find that the word ועתה , is used in reference to teshuvah in the pasuk,ועתה ישראל מה ה' אל קיך שאל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ה' אלקיך ללכת בכל דרכיו ולאהבה אתו ולעבד את ה' אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך – “Now, O Israel, what does Hashem, your G-d, ask of you? Only to fear Hashem, your G-d, to go in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul” (Devorim 10:12). However, since this pasuk seems to have nothing to do with teshuvah, this explanation is difficult to understand. In fact, in the sefer Ahavas Chessed (Chelek 2, Perek 11, in a hagoah), the Chofetz Chaim pointedly asks how teshuvah is hinted at in the word ועתה . He states, that although the subsequent words of the pasuk כי אם ליראה, only to fear [Hashem] – may hint at the concept of teshuvah, that does not answer how the word ועתה, and now, specifically refers to teshuvah?
HaYom, Today
The pasuk in Parshas Netzavim states:אתם נצבים היום כלכם לפני ה' אלקיכם ראשיכם שבטיכם זקניכם ושטריכם כל איש ישראל – “You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem, your G-d: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers – all the men of Yisrael” (Devorim 29:9). The Yom Tov of Rosh Hashanah is known by several different names in the Torah, including Yom Teruah and Yom HaZikaron, and we call it Rosh Hashanah. Yet, as we will soon see, throughout Tanach, rather than these appellations, the term HaYom, today, is often used to refer to Rosh Hashanah. This would provide us with a powerful insight and compelling reason why Parshas Netzavim is consistently read on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah as it portrays dramatically the Yom HaDin that we are about to face:אתם נצבים היום כלכם לפני ה' אלקיכם , that very soon, we will all be standing before Hashem היום , on the fateful day of Rosh Hashanah. There are numerous pesukim in Tanach where היום is employed to describe the day of Rosh Hashanah.
Examples in Tanach Where היום Refers to Rosh Hashanah
1) In Iyov 1:6 we read: ויהי היום ויבאו בני האלקים להתיצב על ה' ויבוא גם השטן בתוכם – “And it happened on the day: The angels came to stand before Hashem, and the Satan, too, came among them.” Rashi says that this היום , the day, was Rosh Hashanah, the Yom Teruah, the day of the shofar-blowing, when Hashem commanded the Satan to bring the merits and demerits of the Bnei Yisrael before Him.
2) In Malachim 2 (4:8) the pasuk reads:ויהי היום ויעבר אלישע אל שונם ושם אשה גדולה ותחזק בו לאכל לחם – “And it happened on the day that Elisha traveled to Shunem. There was a prominent woman, and she importuned him to eat a meal.” The Zohar HaKadosh writes that “the day” Elisha went to the Ishah HaShunamis was Rosh Hashanah.
3) By the Akeidas Yitzchak, the Torah (Bereishis 22:14) states:ויקרא אברהם שם המקום ההוא ה ' יראה אשר יאמר היום בהר ה ' יראה – “And Avraham called the name of that place Hashem Yireh, as it is said, this day on the mountain Hashem will be seen.” What does Avraham mean by saying, “as it is said, this day”? On that day, no one knew about the Akeidah so no one was able to talk about it. The sefer Meor V’Shemesh (Rimzei Rosh Hashanah 22) explains as follows: Avraham’s statement that “as it is said this day” is a remez that through the Akeidah that took place there, Hashem decreed that the strict judgment of Rosh Hashanah would be sweetened: אשר יאמר היום , as it [will be] said on this day of Rosh Hashanah, בהר ה' יראה. The word הר forms the roshei teives, initial letters, of Rosh Hashanah. Avraham is stating that היום , on this day of the Akeidah, בה''ר, on Rosh Hashanah, Hashem appeared on the mountain in order to have rachmanus on Klal Yisrael during the days of judgement.
4) In Tehillim (119:91) it says: למשפטיך עמדו היום כי הכל עבדיך – “For Your judgment they stand today, because all are you Your servants.” Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (Chochmas Chaim, pg. 225) points out that, remarkably, the gematria of this entire pasuk is the numerical equivalent to that of the words ראש השנה. Once again, היום , is used in reference to Rosh Hashanah.
5) In Mussaf of Rosh Hashanah we say: היום הרת עולם היום יעמיד במשפט כל יצורי עולמים – “Today is the birthday of the world; today they will stand in judgement, all of creation.” Again, clearly the redactors of this tefillah are referring to Rosh Hashanah with the word היום .
Why “HaYom”?
Of all the potential terms that could be used to refer to Rosh Hashanah, why is the word “hayom” chosen? The word “hayom” means today. Why would we call Rosh Hashanah “today”? “Today” can be used to refer to any day of the year. Would it not be more logical to refer to Rosh Hashanah as “that day”?
Procrastination
The Mesillas Yesharim (Perek 6) writes that there are many people in this world who are delinquent and ineffective in fulfilling their obligation to observe Torah and mitzvos. It is not out of lack of a clear understanding about man’s mission in life. They are fully aware that Hashem created Man to serve Him, to learn Torah, and to do mitzvos for the purpose of meriting Olam Haba. When pressed to explain why his daily activities and practices apparently contradict this stated objective, his response is that while he recognizes the critical necessity to do mitzvos, he merely has not yet started on his quest to fulfill them. He consistently plans to begin to perform mitzvos tomorrow. Thus, the Mesillas Yesharim continues, people do genuinely recognize the obligation they have to serve Hashem and to make this the primary objective of their lives, but often they are overcome by laziness, and they perpetually postpone initiating their life of service to Hashem.
In Ahavas Chesed, the Chofetz Chaim says similarly: Some people are not involved in the performance of mitzvos or chesed, not because they are stingy, but rather as a result of laziness. Laziness is the reason that people do not perform the mitzvos of chesed that they should. A person’s nature is to continually procrastinate, postponing performing the mitzvos until another day, meanwhile remaining deficient in Torah and maasim tovim.
Understanding Why V’atah Refers to Teshuvah
The Chofetz Chaim offers a piercing explanation for why v’atah is the word that refers to teshuvah. Doing teshuvah is not a matter of learning what to do – we know what to do. Teshuvah is about when to do it – we must do it now! Capitalize on the moment now; there is no time like the present. The main technique of the yetzer hara is to trick a person into believing that he has no time today to learn Torah or do mitzvos. The yetzer hara knows that he cannot convince a Jew, that learning Torah, giving tzedakah, and doing chesed are all unimportant. Rather, he takes a different approach: He agrees that these are critical elements in our lives. But the yetzer hara convinces a person that today he has too many pressing matters that need his attention, and therefore the mitzvos must wait until another day. This recurs daily, with the yetzer hara continually coaching a person that the opportunity to do mitzvos will always be better tomorrow, as on every today there is simply too much to do.
This is the catchphrase of the yetzer hara: Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.
When the pasuk (Mishlei 3:28) states: אל תאמר לרעך לך ושוב ומחר אתן ויש אתך – “Do not tell your neighbor, ‘Leave and come back; tomorrow I will give it’, when it is already by you” the word רעך, friend, alludes to the yetzer hatov, who is a person’s true friend. We are being taught not to tell our true friend to wait until tomorrow.
The Torah tells us:היום הזה ה ' אלקיך מצוך לעשות את החקים האלה ואת המשפטים ושמרת ועשית אותם בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך – “This day, Hashem, your G-d, commands you to perform these decrees and the statutes, and you shall observe them and perform them with all your heart and with all your soul” (Devarim 26:16). This pasuk teaches us that we need to perform the mitzvos היום , today. Additionally, Chazal (Avos D’Rabbi Nossan 15:4) teach us: Repent היום , this day, for tomorrow one may pass away.
Chazal are consistently coming to teach us that we should not allow ourselves to fall victim to the blandishments of the yetzer hara, who is constantly trying to convince us to procrastinate. Instead, we should be regularly asking ourselves, “What does Hashem want me to do with my time היום , today – i.e. now?”
Thus, whenever one is faced with a choice and must decide what activity to perform next, he should ask himself, “What does Hashem want me to do now?” When you wake up, when you finish davening Shacharis, when you finish work, etc. always ask yourself, “What would Hashem want me to do at this moment?”
Amalek Is Always Machar, Tomorrow
When Amalek is mentioned in Tanach, his name is juxtaposed to the word machar, tomorrow. We see this in numerous places:
1)ויאמר משה אל יהושע בחר לנו אנשים וצא הלחם בעמלק מחר אנכי נצב על ראש הגבעה ומטה האלהים בידי – “Moshe said to Yehoshua, ‘Choose people for us and go do battle with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill ...” (Shemos 17:9).
2) ויכם דוד מהנשף ועד הערב למחרת – “And David smote them [Amalek] from twilight until the evening of the next day ...” (Shmuel 1, 30:17).
3) יבוא המלך והמן אל המשתה אשר אעשה להם ומחר אעשה כדבר המלך – “Let the king and Haman [Amalek] come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and tomorrow I shall fulfill the king’s word” (Esther 5:8).
4)ותאמר אסתר אם על המלך טוב ינתן גם מחר ליהודים אשר בשושן לעשות כדת היום ואת עשרת בני המן יתלו על העץ - “Esther replied, ‘If it please the king, let tomorrow also be given to the Jews who are in Shushan to act as they did today, and let Haman’s ten sons [Amalek] be hanged on the gallows” (Esther 9:13).
When we deal with Amalek, it is always “tomorrow.” Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld explains (Chochmas Chaim, cited in Otzros HaTorah pg. 121, 122) that this is because the middah of Amalek is the middah of tomorrow They are the embodiment of the yetzer hara, whose main tactic is to always postpone everything until tomorrow. This middah of Amalek, this trait of “tomorrow” must be completely uprooted from within us, because “tomorrow” Is one of the chief methods utilized by the yetzer hara to encourage us to constantly come up short in fulfilling the ratzon of Hashem.
Bribe the Satan
Interestingly, there are times that we can employ the concept of tomorrow against the yetzer hara. Just as the yetzer hara always tries to push us to postpone doing a mitzvah or chesed until tomorrow, so too we can convince him to push off the aveirah until “tomorrow”. For example, if someone has an urge to view something inappropriate, the more he says he won’t look, the more the yetzer hara will try to convince him to look. But by telling the yetzer hara, “Sure, it is great to look at; I will look at it first thing tomorrow,” the yetzer hara will back off. This method can be used creatively in various circumstances to postpone and thwart the efforts of the yetzer hara. The Michtav Me’Eliyahu (Vol. 1, pg. 262-263) refers to this as shochad l’Satan, bribing the Satan. If one seems to be giving in to the Satan some small level, the Satan retreats, and then overcoming the yetzer hara becomes easier.
Inspired? Change Today!
There are times when a person may be inspired by something that he learns from a sefer or by a shmuess he hears or by an experience in life. He tells himself that he is going to make changes in how he conducts himself. In comes the yetzer hara and implants a negative message in his mind: “Yes, this was a great shmuess; you should make these changes – just wait until tomorrow.” But when the next day dawns, the inspiration has receded and the desire to change is no longer the same. This is one way the Satan stunts our spiritual growth.
Rav Gamliel Rabinovitch teaches (Tiv HaMoadim pg. 365) that in the pasuk:אתם נצבים היום , quoted above, the word אתם is roshei teives for: אל תאמרו מ חר – do not say tomorrow! By not saying “tomorrow,” – נצבים , you will stand tall, and you will be successful – on היום – Rosh Hashanah.
A person who acquires this middah of אתם , of not pushing off mitzvos and opportunities until tomorrow, but who instead is in the habit of grabbing every moment and opportunity that he is presented with, and makes the most of them, will be in position to have a successful judgement on Yom HaDin.
Why Rosh Hashanah Is Called HaYom and V’atah Refers to Teshuvah
We now understand why Rosh Hashanah is given the appellation HaYom and why teshuvah is implied by the word “v’atah,” now. In order to be zocheh to a positive din on Rosh Hashanah, we must master the middah of not postponing until tomorrow the mitzvos we can do today, our attitude must be one of היום , today. Zerizus, seizing the moment, is the ultimate formula to receiving a good judgement. Furthermore, teshuvah requires that we acquire the middah of ועתה, meaning that we learn to discard the attitude of procrastination and make the changes we need to, in order to live our lives seeking to do Hashem’s will now, in every moment. This is a seminal part of the teshuvah process. Living our lives in this manner, capitalizing immediately on every moment and each opportunity, will ensure that we emerge from Yom HaDin with a kesivah va’chasimah tovah. (R’ Doniel Glatstein shlita, The Mystery and The Majesty)
