Ask the Rabbi
Days of Awe
A feeling of holiness fills the heart of every Jew with the approach of the days of Rosh HaShanah – the Days of Awe1 which open the new year. (May it come to us and to all of Israel with goodness and blessings!)
This feeling is far deeper than a fear of (G-d forbid) punishment or the like. The yirah that is aroused by the Days of Awe is 'yiras haromemus', awe in response to exaltedness. One is overwhelmed by the awareness that he is about to participate personally in the imminent coronation of the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He – for that coronation is the central theme of Rosh HaShanah.
The coronation of the Creator of the universe as King of the entire universe, which Jews request and accomplish on Rosh HaShanah, requires that every Jew have a personal bond with Him. This must be a direct and deep-seated bond on the part of every individual Jew as an individual, and not only as a part of the community at large. The coronation is carried out by the personal request of every man and woman among us, that the One Above should accept this coronation. And this brings about the bond that is expressed in the phrase, “For we are Your people, and You are our King.”
The concept and the experience of this coronation find their highest expression in the prayer, “Our G-d, G-d of our forefathers! Reign over the entire universe in Your glory, be exalted [over all the earth in your splendor...]. May everything that has been made know that You have made it [...], and may everyone who has breath in his nostrils declare that the L-rd, G-d of Israel, is King, and that His kingship has dominion over all.” All of creation – and especially man, who has a soul – recognizes and subordinates itself to the kingly dominion of the One Above. This prayer simultaneously highlights yiras haromemus, that is, awe in response to exaltedness, and also its inevitable consequence – one's preparedness and desire to fulfill the King's commands.
Hence, even though Rosh HaShanah is the introduction and beginning of the Ten Days of Penitence, [the penitential prayer of] Tachanun is not recited on those days, nor is there any confession of sins. This is so because the union with G-d that a person senses through the coronation permeates him so utterly, that no matter how intense is his anguish over his past actions, this anguish is nullified by his overwhelming feeling of awe in the presence of G-d's exaltedness.
Actually, teshuvah in its deeper meaning – returning to one's Source – is also in full accord with the innermost theme of Rosh HaShanah, which is related to the concept of coronation.
It is only after Rosh HaShanah that one proceeds to address the further aspects of teshuvah – remorse over the past and resolves for the future, together with confessions and Selichos and so on – as imperative consequences of the coronation that took place on Rosh HaShanah. This is so because a person's awareness of the renewed and tightened bond that unites him with the King must arouse a desire and a resolve to be worthy of it. And this in turn obligates him to set aside whatever disturbs that bond – his iniquities, his sins, and even his unintentional transgressions.
