Thoughts that Count for Rosh Hashana

For You are He who remembers forever all forgotten things. (Musaf Rosh Hashana Amida)

One of the great Chasidic masters said of this verse: G-d remembers only that which a person forgets. If a person sins but he remembers the sin and it troubles him, G-d forgets it. But if he sins and he forgets about the sin, i.e., it doesn't bother him, G-d remembers it. The same is true of mitzvot (commandments). If he does a mitzva and remembers it, always thinking how great he is to have performed the mitzva, G-d forgets it. But if he does a mitzva and forgets about it, i.e., he doesn't become impressed with himself over it, G-d remembers it.

The Cry of the Shofar

The word used in the Torah to describe the sound of the shofar also denotes the sound of someone crying. There are two types of crying sounds. The first is like the moaning and crying of a person in pain, which is slightly drawn out. Another type of crying is tightly spaced short sobs. And sometimes, the first turns into the second; longer sounds followed by the shorter sounds. The first category of sounds are called shevarim, the second are teru'ot and the combination are shevarim-teru'ot. Each type of crying must have a single long sound, called a tekiah, preceding and following.

Good Wishes on Rosh Hashana

Reb Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch said: "Every person is accompanied by two angels when he returns home from the synagogue. After the evening prayers of Rosh Hashana, when they hear each person wishing his neighbor with a pure heart - 'May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year' - they soar aloft and appear as defense attorneys in the Heavenly Court, where they plead that the well-wishers be granted a good and sweet year, as well."

Between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur

Between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we are given a period of seven days, containing every day of the week - one Sunday, one Monday, and so forth. This complete week, neither more nor less, enables us to atone and repent for any wrong deeds accounted for during the previous year, and to better our way of life in the new year. That we have been given a complete week in which to accomplish this is significant: Spending the Sunday of this week as we should, and making the most of the time, serves as an atonement especially for the wrong done on all the Sundays of the previous year. The same is true of the repentance done on Monday for all Mondays, etc. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

Reprinted from the Parshat Nitzavim-Vayeilech 5763/2003 (Issue #787) email of L'Chaim, a publication of the Lubavitch Youth Organization in Brooklyn, NY.