The subject of this exposition is the first piyut recited in the Mussaf repetition of Rosh Hashanah, which so elaborately depicts the motifs manifested by the bracha of zichronos:
Based on Maamar from Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik Elul 1971 (full English translation available at: http://www.noraosharav.com/uploads/4/7/5/4/4754545/volume_15_yomimnoraim.pdf - pages 49-63)
(1) אֻפַּד מֵאָז לְשֶֽׁ פֶט הַוֹיּםבּ .ְ חוֹן מַﬠֲשֵׂה כָּל יוֹם.
(2) גִּישַׁ ת יְקוּמִ ים פְּנֵי אָיוֹםדּ .ִ ינָם וֹבּ לְפַלֵּס לְפִ דְ יוֹם.
(3) הָרִ אוֹשׁן אָדָם וֹבּ נוֹצָר. וְצֻוָּה חֹק וְלֹא נָצָר.
(4) זֶה מֵלִיץ כְּהִ רְ חִ יב בַּצָּר. חֲקָקוֹ לַמִּשׁ ְפּ ָט וְלַוֹדּרוֹת הֻנְצָר.
(5) טִ יﬠַת חוֹצֵב גְּבָעוֹת וְצוּרִ ים. יֻלְּדוּ בוֹ מֵרֹאשׁ וּצּרִ ים.
(6) כְּישׁוְֹ בֵי נְטָﬠִים הֵֽמָּה הַוֹיּצְ רִ ים. לְלַמֵּד וֹבּ צֶֽדֶק לַﬠֲצוּרִ ים.
(1) On this day G-d dons his judicial robes in preparation for trial. He examines the deeds of each day of the year.
(2) All creatures approach You with dread. You weigh their actions and redeem them.
(3) Man was created on Rosh Hashanah. He also sinned on Rosh Hashanah.
(4) G-d, acting in man's defense, widened the narrow path (and granted asylum to Adam). G-d ordained that day as an eternal day of judgement.
(5) The one who shaped the hills and rocks implanted a small sapling so that the ancient rocks could be fashioned.
(6) The creators are equal to those who live among the planted trees and vindicate those who are trapped.
Man is judged היום, on Rosh Hashanah, because he frivolously wasted כל היםו the other days of the year. The first verse of the piyut states:
אֻ פַּ ד מֵאָז לְשֶֽׁ פֶט הַוֹיּםבּ .ְ חוֹן מַﬠֲשֵׂה כָּל יוֹם.
On this day G-d dons his judicial robes in preparation for trial. He examines the deeds of each day of the year.
The piyut anticipates that man will attempt to suppress all thoughts of the yom hadin since nothing is more frightening than a trial of one's actions. People will, therefore, attempt to reassure themselves that the yom hadin will be deferred. The paytan, therefore, admonishes humanity: "G-d is already dressed in His judicial robes. He is ready to start the trial. Judgment is imminent and unavoidable."
היום today, contained in the first phrase, is contrasted with כל היום, every day, contained in the second phrase. It criticizes man for not realizing that any day, could have become today, the singular day, the life altering day and/or the designated day. Thus, verse one denotes that G-d judges man היום, on this special day, accounting for all of man's trivial and routine deeds on כל היום (i.e. each day). Man refused to recognize that each day could have been converted into something significant, the first day of a long life devoted to Torah and Mitzvos. He dismissed any need to return to G-d or to make each day important. Man could have saved himself by treating כל היום as היום. It is man's trivializing of every day, or כל יום, the mortality of כל יום, the wasteful repetitiveness of כל יום, which is the source of fright on היום, on the day that he must account for his wastefulness.
The bracha of zichronos contains the message that G-d accepts certain forms of ransom
The second verse of the piyut states:
גִּישַׁ ת יְקוּמִ ים פְּנֵי אָיוֹםדּ .ִ ינָם וֹבּ לְפַלֵּס לְפִ דְ יוֹם.
All creatures approach You with dread. You weigh their actions and redeem them.
The terms איום and פדיום are apparently contradictory. איום has the connotation of being fearsome, awesome, dreadful; it refers to G-d. On Rosh Hashanah man realizes that he will be convicted and therefore is fearful of G-d.
G-d's verdict would appear to be clear and irreversible; man cannot be acquitted. Thus, איום expresses man's complete confession of unmitigated guilt, with no hope of pardon. However, Yahadus never concludes with איום, despair and resignation. Yahadus promotes hope. Accordingly, the verse concludes G-d will weigh their actions and redeem them. The word פדיום is synonymous with the word פדיום, a ransom. One experiences dread and horror, because one has no hope of being ransomed and pardoned. Conversely, one who anticipates redemption does not experience dread. This duality characterizes the central motif of zichronos. After being convicted, דנים בו דפלס פדיום, man is suddenly ransomed and redeemed. G-d accepts ransom from man. Apparently, G-d does accept certain form of ransom even while rejecting other forms of ransom. Rosh Hashanah thus emerges as a day of ransom. At the last minute, man desperately offers a ransom and substitution, and G-d in His infinite grace accepts the ransom and pardons man.
Why? What prompts G-d to accept certain types of ransom?
The Akeidah episode portrays the mechanics of this redemption
The resolution to this enigma is contained in the story of Akeidas Yitzchak. Since it serves as the prototype of acceptable ransom, Avraham offered the ram instead of Yitzchak, the Akeidah is central to the kedushas hayom of Rosh Hashanah. The analogy is clear. G-d lays claim to all of man's assets. Man's talents, loved ones and riches all belong to G-d. G-d can take away whatever and whenever He chooses. G-d's claim is total and absolute. G-d could have demanded Yitzchak's physical destruction. G-d, however, accepted Yitzchak's metaphysical loss in substitution. That type of ransom is acceptable to G-d.
The concluding phrase of verse two is: G-d will weigh their actions and redeem them. Man can pay ransom and avoid the full sentence. The typical ransom is similar to the Akeidah which took place in the metaphysical sense, with Yitzchak's having survived physically. Thus, Rosh Hashanah emerges not just as the day in which man's complete and unmitigated guilt is determined, but also as the day on which man's attendant ransom is accepted in lieu of a full sentence. The sound of the shofar, of the ram's horn, is reminiscent of that original ram which was offered instead of Yitzchak. It symbolizes that, though guilty, man may avoid his fate by paying a ransom. The piyut continues, therefore, to describe the mechanics of this ransom.
Though created by G-d, נוצר , Adam did not comply with G-d's instructions, לא נוצר
The third verse of the piyut, therefore, continues:
הָרִ אוֹשׁן אָדָם וֹבּ נוֹצָר. וְצֻוָּה חֹק וְלֹא נָצָר.
Man was created on Rosh Hashanah. He also sinned on Rosh Hashanah.
Adam was told not to eat from the עץ הדעת, and he promptly violated that injunction. The ultimate achievement for a Jew is not merely complying with G-d's laws, but cleaving to G-d, communing with G-d, serving as a prism through which G-d's glory is reflected. Man must become an abode for the shechina, its ultimate resting spot. In essence, man is charged with becoming G-d's friend and companion. Man's task is to develop a close relationship with G-d. As a נוצר, a being created by G-d, man is expected to abide by the will of his Creator. Nonetheless, this creation is לו נוצר; Adam failed to comply with his Creator's instructions. On Rosh Hashanah, man commemorates the initial companionship between G-d and man, man's subsequent attempts to usurp and replace G-d, and the resulting alienation of man from G-d. We commemorate man's emergence as the צלם אלקים as well as his expulsion from the divine presence. Adam was found guilty on that first Rosh Hashanah. G-d could justifiably have punished Adam for trying to usurp G-d's role. Nonetheless, G-d, the intercessor and defender of all mankind, even of vain man who attempts to defy G-d and who alienates himself from G-d, intervened and spared Adam.
The first Rosh Hashanah set a precedent for each subsequent Rosh Hashanah
In the fourth verse of the piyut, the Paytan describes the reason that G-d deferred Adam's punishment on that fateful Rosh Hashanah.
זֶה מֵלִיץ כְּהִ רְ חִ יב בַּצָּר. חֲקָקוֹ לַמִּשׁ ְפּ ָט וְ לַוֹדּרוֹת הֻנְצָ ר.
G-d, acting in man 's defense, widened the narrow path (and granted asylum to Adam). G-d ordained that day as the day of judgment.
The phrase G-d widened the narrow path (and granted asylum to Adam), refers to the Midrash 17 which explains why Adam did not die after violating the injunction, You shall die on the day that you eat such fruit. (Bereshis 2,17) The Midrash answers that ביום refers to a day in the life of G-d, (i.e., one thousand years as opposed to a day in the life of man – Tehillim 90,4). Similarly, the phrase, G-d widened the narrow path, in effect means that G-d extended the short day, which would have otherwise dictated that Adam die on that very day, into a day in G-d's terms.
Modern man similarly lacks the recognition of the sin. There can be no reconciliation initiated by G-d, without a prior reconciliation initiated by man. How then can the modem man hope to be pardoned on Rosh Hashanah? Who redeems the unworthy? The Paytan answers זה מליץ. G-d suddenly switches roles - from judge to advocate. Chazal note the contradiction between the passuk which states, G-d sits on His throne (Yeshiyahu 6,1), and the passuk which states, G-d stands (Amos 9,1). They answer that initially G-d sits as a judge, but when He realizes that man is guilty, G-d immediately switches roles; he rises and serves as man's advocate.
The day on which man was created, the day on which he sinned, was judged and found guilty, the day on which he was then ransomed and pardoned, that day is set for Judgement. That first day established a precedent for all subsequent generations. The entire series of events from guilt to ransom is replayed every Rosh Hashanah. Each Rosh Hashanah replays that sequence of the events: companionship, alienation, judgment and ransom. The question remains, how does evil man pay the ransom? What are the mechanics of the ransom?
The bracha of zichronos portrays G-d's multi-dimensional omniscience
The answers to those questions are contained in the fifth verse of the piyut:
טִ י ﬠַ ת חוֹצֵב גְּבָעוֹת וְצוּרִ ים. יֻלְּדוּ בוֹ מֵרֹאשׁ וּצּרִ ים.
The one who shaped the hills and rocks planted a small sampling so that the ancient rocks could be fashioned
The bracha of zichronos depicts a comprehensive view of creation from G-d's omniscient perspective. The bracha portrays three different facets of this omniscience. The first message of the bracha of zichronos is that when G-d views His creatures, He sees, not only those that currently exist, but also those that existed in the most distant past, at the twilight of creation, as well as those that have not yet come into existence. Unlike man, G-d's existence is infinite. G-d does not share man's division of time into three dimensions, since G-d views everything through the gaze of eternity. To G-d, all three dimensions merge into one awareness. G-d sees the past and future as occurring in the present. The bracha of zichronos depicts this tension. It relates: G-d remembers all creations. As far as G-d is concerned, there is no difference between potentiality and actuality. Whatever has potential, is actual and real. This is the first message of zichronos.
G-d judges man based upon remote principles of causality
The second message of the bracha of zichronos is that G-d's judgment extends to the furthest reaches of causality. When man is judged on Rosh Hashanah, he appears before the Almighty, not as a lonely isolated being, but as part of a great cosmic drama. His deeds are examined and scrutinized, not just in relation to himself, but in light of past events which impacted upon him and upon the formation of his character and abilities. Man's actions are affected by his genetic code and by an endless chain of causality.
G-d judges man based upon his impact on the future
The third message of zichronos is that G-d judges the individual with respect to the future as well. The individual is placed within the frame of reference of events to occur in unspecified times in the future. The impact which this individual may have on future occurrences and persons is carefully scrutinized. G-d determines what, if anything, this individual will contribute to future generations. What future accomplishments can this individual be currently credited with? An individual may live in one generation, exert no influence on society and fail to accomplish anything during his lifetime. Nonetheless, he may have a profound impact upon future generations.
In conclusion, a person is judged, not just by his deeds within the present dimension of time, but also by the deeds of both his forefathers as well as his unborn descendants. G-d takes into consideration the conditions and circumstances of the past which had their impact upon him. He also weighs man's present culpability vis-a-vis the future, weighing what impact that individual may have on future millennia. The individual is judged as the link between those who existed in the past and are no more, and those who do not yet exist. G-d judges both in retrospection and anticipation.
Retrospection and anticipation are the primary themes of zichronos. G-d judges individuals based, not only upon their own conduct, but on the future conduct of their descendants. That would be unthinkable in human courts. The immediate past, such as the defendant's home environment and poverty, are mitigating factors used in modern courts. But the distant past - and certainly the future - is never taken into consideration. No one but G-d is omniscient. Only G-d can judge with retrospection and anticipation.
We need only revisit the Akeidah to understand how, in an instant, the same ram which was trapped by its horns, can be saved. This is the role of teshuva. One can never predict man's actions. Even though one is so completely intoxicated and addicted to sin that he can no longer return to G-d, nonetheless, the unrealized nobility and incorruptible good that resides in the recesses of everyone's personality is transmitted to future generations. On Yom Kippur man is charged with regaining his stature and altering his character. Rosh Hashanah, however, is directed at the man who is not powerful or courageous enough to change his life.
G-d accepts as ransom the potential which lies in each individual
Even as one gains insight into G-d's benevolence, the question remains, what ransom will G-d accept from us? What was the ransom offered by Adam, who did not even acknowledge his sin? Adam's ransom consisted of his great potential. Adam's great potential was not realized immediately. Adam's immediate descendants were not at all remarkable. Adam's great potential was realized only 20 generations later with the birth of Avraham. But on that first Rosh Hashanah, on that initial day of judgment, on that very first Friday, Adam was credited with Avraham. Though not prepared to sacrifice anything himself, Adam was credited with Avraham's readiness to offer Yitzchak as a sacrifice 20 generations later. G-d spared Adam because of an anonymous descendant 20 generations later, could arise only if Adam would not be condemned to immediate death.
This is fully expressed in the sixth verse of the piyut:
כְּישׁוְֹ בֵי נְטָﬠִים הֵֽמָּה הַוֹיּצְ רִ ים. לְלַמֵּד וֹבּ צֶֽדֶק לַﬠֲצוּרִ ים.
The creators are equal to those who lived among the planted trees and vindicate those who are trapped
Our ancestors are treated as though they lived at the time when the world was shaped. The verse further implies that the Avos are regarded as partners with G-d in shaping and creating the world. This concept of “not created” was devised in order to vindicate and justify those who are trapped and cannot pay the ransom. The fifth and sixth verses should therefore be understood as follows: The One who shaped the rocks and hills implanted a potential in nature (i.e., man), with the result that the Patriarchs were deemed to have been born at the time of creation. They are regarded as having fashioned the world together with G-d. This concept is necessary to ensure that somebody will be able to ransom the sinner.
Adam was ransomed since G-d judged him, not as an individual, but as the father of humanity. Thousands of years later, his descendant Avraham justified the pardon awarded to Adam. Thus, the drama of the Akeidah is deemed to have occurred on the day of creation.
Modern man is vindicated solely by reference to both the past and future
Adam had no past. Only the future could ransom him. On the other hand, modern man is ransomed by reference to both the past and the future. The message of zichronos is “You should remember the Akeidah of Yitzchak”. We are too small to pay the ransom. We are not ready to participate in the awesome drama of the Akeidah. But Avraham already paid the ransom for us. G-d judges us, not only as individuals, but as descendants of Avraham. On the other hand, we have the faith and trust that the future will also justify our existence. There is a great potential in each of us which will be ultimately realized by our descendants. The potential which G-d implants in every being will, in the future, be translated into deeds. The future, thus, validates our continued existence.
