Q:
Now that the judgment is coming, what can we do in order to find happiness as we approach Rosh Hashanah?
A:
The truth is I’m not interested in making people happy in facing the Day of Judgment. I’d like to make them afraid. Happiness is something that you’ll get if you’ll go to a doctor who wants to give you some pills in order to distract you. But we want you to face it! We want you to be very much afraid! And that’s the best thing that I can give you right now – eimas hadin, fear of being judged.
Old-time Jews told me they remembered in Europe years ago, way back, a hundred years ago, they used to weep on Rosh Hashanah. They used to weep. Everybody wept on Rosh Hashanah. So don’t look for any special ways of being happy on Yom Hadin.
That’s why I started out the lecture tonight with these pesukim, ... – I shudder at the fear of Your judgment (Tehillim 119:120) because it’s important for everyone to put foremost in his mind, the fear of the Yom Hadin. Somar means inflamed; sometimes if a person is very much frightened then he has gooseflesh on him, as if he’s inflamed on his skin. To actually shudder, that’s the healthiest thing you can do for yourself to prepare and that’s going to give you a good start in the year ahead.
Of course you can eat meals tomorrow, on erev Rosh Hashanah, if you want. Some people don’t but you can eat meals if you wish. You can sleep soundly tonight. I don’t think my words will make you lose any sleep. I’m sure you won’t tremble that much. But if once in a while you can give yourself a little artificial shudder, it pays to try it; it pays to shudder a little bit when you think of the Yom Hadin.
... – On Rosh Hashanah, the more your mind is bent over and humbled, the better off you are (Rosh Hashanah 26a). Because Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, “Oh, this man is humbled before Me; there’s some chance that he might make a change in his lifestyle.” But if a man breezes through Rosh Hashana with a happy mind, then I’m afraid he has no intention of changing.
TAPE # 425 (September 1982)
