He said to them, "Go, eat choice foods and drink sweet drinks and send portions to whoever has nothing prepared, for the day is holy to our Master. Do not be sad, for the joy of Hashem is the source of your strength."
The Joy of Hashem Is Your Strength
In Sefer Nechemiah, we find a remarkable window into a moment that should stir every neshamah: the first Rosh Hashanah celebrated by the returnees from Bavel, led by Ezra and Nechemiah. Ezra read aloud from the Torah, reminding the people of the halachos they had forgotten and neglected. The Levi'im interpreted and explained, and Klal Yisrael wept, broken with remorse over the years in exile in which the Torah had not been properly kept. Ezra and Nechemiah stopped them:
וַיֹּאמֶר נְחֶמְיָה הוּא הַתִּרְשָׁתָא וְעֶזְרָא הַכֹּהֵן הַסּפֵר וְהַלְוִיִם הַמְּבִינִים אֶת־הָעָם לְכָל־הָעָם הַיּוֹם קָדֹשׁ הוּא לַה' אֱלֹקֵיכֶם אַל־תִּתְאַבְּלוּ וְאַל־ תִּבְכּוּ כִּי בוֹכִים כָּל־הָעָם כְּשָׁמְעָם אֶת־דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה:
Nechemiah the Tirshatha, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levi'im, who were explaining to the people, said to all the people, "This day is holy to Hashem your G-d: you must not mourn or weep," for all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Torah.
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם לְכוּ אִכְלוּ מַשְׁמַנִּים וּשְׁתוּ מַמְתַקִים וְשִׁלְחוּ מָנוֹת לְאֵין נָכוֹן לוֹ כִּי־קָדוֹשׁ הַיּוֹם לַאֲדֹנֵינוּ וְאַל־תַּעֲצֵבוּ כִּי־חֶדְוָת ה' הִיא מָעָזְכֶם:
He said to them, "Go, eat choice foods and drink sweet drinks and send portions to whoever has nothing prepared, for the day is holy to our Master. Do not be sad, for the joy of Hashem is the source of your strength."
וְהַלְוִיִם מַחְשִׁים לְכָל־הָעָם לֵאמֹר הַסּוּ כִּי הַיּוֹם קָדֹשׁ וְאַל־תֵּעָצֵבוּ: (נחמיה ח ט-יא)
The Levi'im were quieting the people, saying, "Hush, for the day is holy; do not be sad."
Surely, one might think, this is exactly the response Hashem desires. What greater teshuvah is there than tears of contrition, a heart shattered with regret? The answer is embedded within the command. Rosh Hashanah is a Yom Tov - a day on which Hakadosh Baruch Hu rejoices. And it is from that Divine simchah that we are called upon to draw our maoz, our strength, as we stand before Him in judgement. Teshuvah is indeed the work of these sacred days, but the how of that teshuvah matters enormously. It must be done b'simchah, in joy and bitachon, rooted in the goodness and mercy of Hashem - not from a place of heaviness and despair.
Rosh Hashanah: A Day of Joy
The Baal Shem Tov addresses this at length. He teaches that Rosh Hashanah is fundamentally a Yom Tov - indeed, the Mishnah itself refers to it as "יוֹם טוֹב שֶׁל רֹאשׁ הַשָׁנָה" (ר"ה כט ע"ב) and therefore it is a yom simchah, a day of joy, which is why we recite Shehecheyanu. Indeed, we cry on Rosh Hashanah. The Arizal said that whoever does not cry in these days shows that his soul is not perfected. But the Baal Shem Tov reframes the very nature of that weeping: הַבְּכִיָּה שֶׁבּוֹכִין הוא בְּכִיָּה שֶׁל שִׂמְחָה - עַל שֶׁהֶחֱיָינוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ "The weeping ... is a weeping of joy - over the fact that we have been granted life and have arrived at this moment."
This is a profound transformation. The tears of Rosh Hashanah are not the tears of a broken man collapsing under the weight of his failures. They are the tears of a Yid overwhelmed with gratitude that he is alive, that Hashem has brought him once again to this extraordinary day and to such kirvas Elokim.
(בעש"ט דברים לראש השנה ויום כיפור אות כט)
The Vayaged Yaakov returns to that very scene in Nechemiah - "Do not mourn and do not weep... for the day is sacred to our Master" - and draws the same essential principle we have been tracing.
"And I heard from ... my rebbe, the holy Rebbe of Belz zt"l, that although the holy sefarim speak of weeping during these days, הַבְּכִיָּה לֹא תִּהְיֶה מֵחֲמַת אֵבֶל וְצַעַר the weeping must not come from grief and pain, chas v'shalom - only from dveikus, from the burning closeness of a Yid clinging to his Creator."
The Vayaged Yaakov continues, bringing a striking analogy from the Midrash. The Turei Zahav, in his commentary on the laws of Shabbos (אורח חיים סי' רפח), quotes a story mentioned in the Midrash:
The talmidim once found Rebbi Akiva weeping over Shir Hashirim on Shabbos. "Rebbi," they said, "it is Shabbos today!" Rebbi Akiva simply replied: עֹנֶג הוּא לִי - "It is a pleasure for me." The Turei Zahav explains that this does not mean that Rabbi Akiva enjoyed crying. His tears were not borne of sorrow. They were the overflowing of a heart so filled with dveikus, so aflame with love, that his eyes could not contain it. Notably, the Turei Zahav writes that this is an experience familiar to all who daven with true kavanah.
This is the key to fully understanding Ezra's words. When he said "do not mourn and do not weep," he was not silencing the hearts; he was redirecting them. Do not weep from grief. Do not weep from the weight of regret alone. כִּי הַיּוֹם קָדֹשׁ וְאַל־תַּעֲצֵבוּ - Instead, let the tears flow from the kedushah of the day, from the overwhelming awareness of standing before the Ribbono Shel Olam, from the dveikus itself.
(ויגד יעקב לראש השנה אות כו)
The Singularity of the Yidden
The Yerushalmi (ר"ה פ"א ה"ג) offers a striking contrast. Rebbi Simon cites a pasuk from Devarim (ד ח): וּמִי גּוֹי גָּדוֹל אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ חָקִים וּמִשְׁפָּטִים צַדִּיקִם כְּכֹל הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם הַיּוֹם "Who is a great nation that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this entire Torah?" He then quotes the Amoraim in elaboration:
"When a man knows he faces judgement, he dresses in dark garments, wraps himself in black, lets his beard grow wild - for he does not know how the verdict will fall. But Yisrael does not act this way. Instead, they wear white, they wrap themselves in white, they groom themselves, eat, drink and rejoice - מִפְּנֵי שֶׁיּוֹדְעִין שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה לָהֶם נִסִּים - because they know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will perform miracles on their behalf."
This is not naÝvetÅ. This is the deepest expression of emunah and bitachon. The Yid who stands in white on Rosh Hashanah is not ignoring the gravity of the day - he is affirming something far deeper: that his Father is the Judge, and that He loves him.
Grief Belongs to the Sitra D'Klipah
The Chasam Sofer issues a solemn warning:
"Yes, Rosh Hashanah is יום נוֹרָא a day of awe, of divine judgement over all the creatures of the world. But it is not, emphatically not, a יום עַצְבוֹן a day of sorrow. On the contrary: the proper mode of teshuvah on this day is one of gladness of the heart, teshuvah, love, dveikus, and joyful weeping. הֵטִיבוּ נַגֵן בִּתְרוּעָה - 'Play sweetly with the teruah!'"
The Chasam Sofer then makes a remarkable observation: the word בְּכִיָּה weeping, contains the initial letters of בְּשִׁמְךָ יְגִילוּן כָּל הַיּוֹם - In Your Name they rejoice all the day. This teaches that crying is indeed appropriate, but only of one specific type - tears of joy
Sadness and brokenness of spirit? The Chasam Sofer is unambiguous: עַצְבוּת וְשִׁבְרוֹן לֹא יִזְכֵר וְלֹא יִפָּקֵד "Sorrow and dejection shall not be mentioned or called to mind," for they belong to the sitra d'klipah and the realm of harsh judgement. To bring heaviness of spirit to Rosh Hashanah is to draw precisely on the force we seek to sweeten.
(דרשות חת"ס, דרוש לז"ך אלול ד"ה ויהי היום ויזבח)
How Joy Sweetens the Judgement
The Baal Shem Tov takes us deeper yet, into the spiritual mechanics of simchah on this day:
"This day, Rosh Hashanah, which is the beginning of the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, [is] a good hour an hour of mazal - to give pleasure to our Creator: to weep with a weeping of joy over the fact that we have merited to stand before the Throne of His Glory, before the King Who sits upon the high and exalted Throne... to bring great joy to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And through this, all the stern judgements shall be sweetened from upon us."
(בעש"ט לראש השנה ויוה"כ אות כב)
The simchah itself - joy that we have merited to serve our Creator, joy that we stand once more in the King's presence - is the very force that sweetens the heavenly attribute of din and opens the gates of rachamim.
The Coronation Day
On that line, the Chasam Sofer illuminates yet another dimension of the pasuk "the joy of Hashem is your strength." He cites the familiar teaching from the Gemara (ר"ה טז ע"א): Hakadosh Baruch Hu declares, "Crown Me as your King... so that your remembrance may ascend before Me for good." The act of accepting the Divine kingship is itself the source of our merit. How?
The Chasam Sofer explains at length that Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of Hashem's kingdom, and should be celebrated as such. On the other hand, on this very day, our lives are on the line, and we stand in trepidation - it is the feared day of judgment. It is not easy to be joyous on this day. There is rightful cause for prayer and supplication.
And yet, the Chasam Sofer quotes what the people of Hashem choose to say: "Let us cast aside our own concerns and refuse to allow sadness to enter on the day of Hashem's joy - the day of His coronation. Let us rejoice with Him, whatever may come." And remarkably, says the Chasam Sofer, this very choice to honour the King's simchah above our own fear - is itself a greater source of heavenly mercy than many fasts. For when the Ribono Shel Olam sees His children setting aside their own anxious self-concern out of honour for His glory, the gates of mercy are opened. This is the fulfilment of "Crown Me as your King" - for through this joyous coronation, our remembrance ascends before Him for good.
(דרשות חת"ס ח"ב עמ' שסז)
The Joy That Proves the Teshuvah is Genuine
The Chasam Sofer returns to this theme in the opening of his Rosh Hashanah derashos, adding a layer that is as subtle as it is profound.
He begins with a verse from Tehillim (יד ז): מִי יִתֵּן מִצִּיּוֹן יְשׁוּעַת יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּשׁוּב ה' שְׁבוּת עַמּוֹ יָגֵל יַעֲקֹב יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל Who would give from Zion the deliverance of Yisrael? When Hashem restores his people, Yaakov shall exult, Yisrael shall rejoice.
The question, he explains, runs deeper than it first appears. During these sacred days, Hashem sends a special awakening from above, a stirring of the heart of every Yid toward teshuvah. But precisely here, a heavenly prosecutor can enter an objection: this teshuvah is not truly theirs. It did not emerge from within them - it came only because You aroused them. The sincerity of the repentance is, in that sense, open to challenge.
And so, the answer comes: יָגֵל יַעֲקֹב יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל "Yaakov shall exult, Yisrael shall rejoice." This is the resolution. For precisely this reason, says the Chasam Sofer, it is a mitzvah to meet these days with simchah - with the joy of a Yid who is glad that teshuvah has arrived, who wants to return, who is genuinely eager to step back from wrongdoing. That joy - כִּי שְׂמֵחִים אֲנַחְנוּ לִקְרַאת בּוֹאוֹ וְרוֹצִים אֲנַחְנוּ לָשׁוּב "For we are joyful to greet it and we wish to return" - is itself the proof of the heart's authenticity. This simchah is what closes the prosecutor's mouth, and through this simchah, the salvation of Yisrael is granted.
Now the words of Ezra to those weeping Yidden in Yerushalayim become luminously clear. Had the impulse to teshuvah arisen in the middle of the year, welling up from within their own hearts entirely unprompted, then yes - weeping, mourning, brokenness would have been fitting. But the day itself is the source of the awakening, and if in response to that Divine gift they descended into grief and sadness, the prosecutor's argument would stand: their teshuvah was given to them, not chosen. Therefore, says Ezra, חֶדְוַת ה' הִיא מָעְזְכֶם let your strength come from joy. Let the response to this awakening be: כִּי אָנוּ שְׂמֵחִים שֶׁזְכִינוּ לְהִתְעוֹרְרוּת הַלֵּב - We are joyful to have merited this awakening of the heart. Joy is not a retreat from teshuvah. It is its most genuine expression.
(דרשות חת"ס לר"ה ד"ה לכו)
Tzaddikim Shall Rejoice Before the Almighty
The Ateres Yeshuah weaves together the entire Yamim Nora'im season with Sukkos in a single thread. He teaches that the very work of avodas Hashem during the yemei ratzon - Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - is inseparable from the simchah of Zman Simchaseinu. During the joy of Sukkos, we must not let the days of judgement slip from our memory. Correspondingly, during the days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the avodah must be free of sadness, bound to the coming joy of Sukkos.
He derives this from the pasuk (תהלים סח ד): וְצַדִּיקִים יִשְׂמְחוּ יַעַלְצוּ לִפְנֵי אֱלֹקִים וְיָשִׂישׂוּ בְשִׂמְחָה And the tzaddikim shall rejoice and exult before Elokim, and they shall be glad with joy. Before Elokim - even before the attribute of stern judgement, on the very days of the Yamim Noraim - they are immediately joyful with the joy of Zman Simchaseinu. The fear of the Day of Judgement and the radiance of the Season of Joy are not opposites as much as held together in the heart of a Yid who lives all of it at once.
(עטרת ישועה לשמיני עצרת)
The Simchah of Rosh Hashanah Shapes the Entire Year
The Sfas Emes draws the full arc:
"The Navi commanded us to rejoice on Rosh Hashanah: 'Eat rich foods... the joy of Hashem is your strength.' The core of the strength of Bnei Yisrael lies in rejoicing in the portion of Divinity that is uniquely bound to the neshamos of Yisrael."
On Rosh Hashanah, says the Sfas Emes, the very power through which man was first created, וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים - He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (בראשית ב ז) - is renewed. And on this day, we accept the Kingship of Heaven. This acceptance must be performed b'simchah, for we are taught (שבת קל ע"א): "Every mitzvah Klal Yisrael accepted upon themselves with joy, they still perform with joy." And then the Sfas Emes crowns it with a principle that must enter our bones as we approach these holy days:
וּכְפִי הַשִׂמְחָה בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה בְּקַבְּלַת מַלְכוּתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ שְׁמוֹ, כֵּן מִתְקַיֵּם כָּל יְמֵי הַשָּׁנָה - In proportion to the joy on Rosh Hashanah in the acceptance of His blessed Kingship - so the entire year unfolds."
(שפת אמת ראש השנה תרסא)
The simchah of Rosh Hashanah is not an afterthought. It is not a concession to human weakness. It is the very foundation upon which the entire year stands. The white garments, the festive meal, the singing - these are not in spite of the Day of Judgement, but because of Who the Judge is.
Let us approach these yamim noraim as the Yidden of old approached them: with open hearts, with tears of joy. Rejoicing that we are alive to reach this moment. Rejoicing that we have the merit to stand before our Creator. Rejoicing that we have a Father who is also our King.
א גוט יוֹם טוֹב