5. The Benefit of Rosh Hashanah Coinciding with Shabbos
This is the benefit of a calendar setting (as on this year) in which Rosh Hashanah coincides with Shabbos. For then, the advantage of a person’s avodah is emphasized even more so than when Rosh Hashanah coincides with any other day of the week. This can be readily understood:
In a regular year {when Rosh Hashanah does not fall out on Shabbos} the renewal of creation is evoked by the mitzvah of the day, i.e., through the avodah of man (through the sounding of the shofar). In contrast, when Rosh Hashanah coincides with Shabbos, the renewal is achieved without the avodah of man. Nevertheless, we tell a person: “Even though the world was entirely and completely renewed on the first day of Rosh Hashanah (for it is achieved by the sanctity conferred from Above {on Shabbos} and {is therefore} enduring) still, notwithstanding all of this, your contribution to this process is needed. So when the second day arrives, you must sound the shofar.”
This then is the directive for every person [uniquely emphasized by how the calendar is fixed this year]:
The obligation of a person to serve Hashem does not apply only when a deficiency exists that needs attention, and through his efforts, a person can rectify and perfect the matter. Rather, even when something has already been rectified and perfected by tzaddikim—or by Hashem, the Tzaddik of the world—it still is necessary for a denizen of the “lower realm” to perform his duty. So much so, without this avodah, the matter is not truly complete. Even Gan Eden, regarding which it says, “Hashem planted a garden in the Eden of yore,” required man “to work within it and protect it.”
Also, the above explanation also accords with the mystical explanation of the concept (as explained in Section 1—that on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the (inward dimension of the) worlds are elevated, and that on the second day—their external dimension is elevated:
When Rosh Hashanah coincides with Shabbos, the importance of a person’s divine service is emphasized. For on the first day, when the spiritual dynamics are accomplished by Shabbos’s inherent holiness, the import of the shofar is not recognizable or apparent in this physical world, as neither the blessing over the shofar nor the blessing of shehechiyanu is recited.
On the following day {on the day after Shabbos}, in contrast, when a person does sound the shofar, he recites the blessings, (and elicits) “...who has sanctified us with His commandments and who has commanded us, ונוויצ” (ונוויצ is related to the term אתווצ, meaning, connection). On this second day, he doesn’t need a new garment, or the like; rather, he simply recites the blessing, “...who has kept us alive, and who has sustained us, and who has brought us to this time.”
-Based on a sicha delivered on the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah, 5733 (1972)
