Rosh Hashanah
ראש השנהThe Day of Coronation
37 translated essays · 98 total
תרל"ב(1871)
Rosh Hashanah simanim as hints toward Hashem's service· Essay 2
The simanim (symbolic foods) on the night of Rosh Hashanah: leeks (karti), fenugreek (rubia)… The Sefas Emes addresses the custom of eating symbolic foods on the night of Rosh Hashanah as omens for a good year. For on Rosh Hashanah we do no…
Rosh Hashanah as the source before Divine flow divides· Essay 3
"Rosh Hashanah" means [the point] before the abundance (shefa) divides up and becomes transformed. The Sefas Emes explains the inner meaning of Rosh Hashanah: it is the moment before the Divine flow of shefa branches out and undergoes chang…
Shofar as the undivided life-force· Essay 4
In the Midrash: "Forever, Hashem, Your word stands firm in the heavens" (Tehillim 119:89). The Sefas Emes opens with the verse that Hashem's word stands eternally — the starting point for understanding how creation is continually sustained.…
Limitless ascent through the shofar's cry· Essay 5
In the Midrash: the Holy One showed Yaakov the ladder, and he did not wish to ascend, and this caused galus for his children — see there in Parashas Emor. The Midrash tells that Hashem showed Yaakov the ladder of the nations rising and fall…
Ten days of teshuvah renew creation· Essay 6
The Aseres Yemei Teshuvah (Ten Days of Teshuvah) correspond to the Ten Maamaros (Utterances of Creation) and the Aseres Hadibros (Ten Commandments). The ten days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur parallel the ten Divine utterances by which t…
Rosh HaShana תרל"ב essays
הסימנים בליל ר”ה כרתי רוביא. כי בר”ה אין מבקשין על עניני עוה”ז. כמ”ש בזוה”ק ותיקונים. רק לבקש על מ”ש תן פחדך ותמלוך כו’. וי”ל דלכך מרמזין על צורכי עוה”ז שהם באמת רק רמזים להוציא מכל ענין…
תרל"ג(1872)
Hearing the shofar rebuilds doing· Essay 1
"To hear the sound of the shofar" — the essence of the mitzvah is the hearing, as the Rosh and the Tur write. The blessing is "to hear the sound of the shofar," and the halachic authorities establish that the mitzvah lies in the act of list…
Three tens, three brachos, three Avos· Essay 2
The Aseres Yemei Teshuvah (Ten Days of Teshuvah) correspond to the Ten Utterances (asarah maamaros) and the Ten Commandments (aseres ha'dibros). The Sefas Emes opens by aligning the ten days from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur with two ea…
Rosh Hashana תרל"ג essays
לשמוע קול שופר עיקר המצוה השמיעה כמ”ש ברא”ש וטור. וי”ל ע”פ המדרש קלקלתם נעשה הזהרו בנשמע כו’. כי הקול לא קלקלו שהוא מקום גבוה יותר וקיים לישראל לעולם כמ”ש הקול קול יעקב. וכ’ עושי דברו לשמוע כו’…
תרל"ד(1873)
Rosh Hashanah renews time above nature· Essay 1
On Rosh Hashanah the slave-labor of our forefathers in Mitzrayim ceased — for the essence of the darkness of nature is time, and since on Rosh Hashanah a new period of time begins, the concealments of the past period are removed. Chazal tea…
Crowning Hashem over all creation· Essay 2
On Rosh Hashanah we pray on behalf of the entire world — "Instill Your awe… upon all the creatures…" — and in the Gemara it is brought: "So that you make Me King over you." (Rosh Hashanah 16a) Our Rosh Hashanah tefillos ask that Hashem's aw…
The hidden inner point on Rosh Hashanah· Essay 3
"On the covered day for the day of our festival" (Tehillim 81:4) — that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us the Day of Judgment as a festival, for it is counted among the moadim even though it is a day of judgment; and this is from His great kindnes…
Rosh Hashana תרל"ד essays
בראש השנה בטלה עבודה מאבותינו במצרים כי עיקר חשכות הטבע הוא הזמן וכיון שבר”ה נשתנה זמן חדש ניטל הסתרות זמן העבר. ונמשך חיות לזמן החדש ממקום שלמעלה מהטבע והזמן. ואח”כ נעשה הסתר אחר משנה הבאה. והרד”ק פירש טעם תקיעת שופר לסימ…
תרל"ה(1874)
Rosh Hashanah's concealed joy· Essay 1
"On the covered [moon] for the day of our festival" (Tehillim 81:4) — for Rosh Hashanah is among the festivals, since for Bnei Yisrael it is a joy that, for our own good, Hashem gave us days of teshuvah and judgment each Rosh Hashanah, to b…
Bnei Yisrael as channel of shefa· Essay 2
"And your offspring shall inherit… the gate of its enemies" (Bereishis 22:17) — meaning that all the abundance (shefa) to the nations comes by way of Yisrael. The blessing that Avraham's descendants will "inherit the gate of their enemies" …
תרל"ו(1875)
Renewing the inner point of life· Essay 2
"Inscribe us for life." The Sefas Emes takes up the central Rosh Hashanah plea — "write us for life" — and asks what "life" we are really requesting. For in every Jew there is a holy point in his heart, and this is the "breath of life," as …
Why no Hallel on Rosh Hashanah· Essay 3
In the Gemara the ministering angels said before the Holy One, blessed is He: Why do Bnei Yisrael not recite song before You on Rosh Hashanah, etc. See there. The Gemara records the angels' question: since Rosh Hashanah is a festival, why i…
Shofar arousing Hashem's mercy· Essay 4
At the moment that Bnei Yisrael blow the shofar, the Kadosh Baruch Hu rises from the throne of judgment (kisei din) and sits upon the throne of mercy (kisei rachamim). The Sefas Emes cites the well-known teaching that the sound of the shofa…
Transforming din into rachamim through the Akeidah· Essay 5
In the Midrash: "And you, do not fear, My servant Yaakov" — that Hashem showed the ladder to Yaakov Avinu, peace be upon him, and he did not ask to ascend… he did not believe and did not ascend. The Midrash recounts that when Hashem showed …
Rosh Hashana תרל"ו
כתבנו לחיים. כי בכל איש ישראל יש נקודה קדושה בלבו והוא נשמת חיים שנאמר וחיי עולם נטע בתוכנו. אך בכל השנה שמסגלין עונות כל שהחומר גובר ומכסה הנקודה הנ”ל. צריך האדם לבקש רחמים מהקב”ה לחדש זאת הרשימה בלבו בר”ה וע”ז מבקש…
תרל"ז(1876)
Shofar awakens the soul's root· Essay 1
Regarding the sound of the shofar, it may be explained according to what my saintly grandfather, my teacher, of blessed memory, said on Parshas Beshalach concerning the Midrash, "Yaakov takes pride in his inheritance," etc. — that through t…
Binding renewal to its concealed root· Essay 2
"Blow the shofar at the new moon…" The Sefas Emes takes the verse "Blow the shofar at the chodesh (new month/renewal)" (Tehillim 81:4) as his theme, hearing in "chodesh" the idea of renewal. Meaning that Bnei Yisrael must look, in every kin…
Miracles earned through Yisrael's deeds· Essay 3
In the Midrash on the passage of the Akeidah: "You have given those who fear You a banner (nes) to be raised (l'hisnoses)" — so that they should not say, "Whomever He wishes He raises up... He lifts up..."; rather, they say to them, "Can yo…
תרל"ח(1877)
Shofar reconnects creation to its pristine root· Essay 2
In the Midrash: "Forever, Hashem, Your word stands firm in the heavens etc." (Tehillim 119:89) The Sefas Emes opens with the pasuk teaching that Hashem's creative "word" stands eternally in the heavens — the spiritual root that continually …
Malchiyos Zichronos Shofaros and the three loves· Essay 3
The matter of Malchiyos, Zichronos, and Shofaros — "that you crown Me as King over you, that your remembrance ascend before Me, by means of the shofar." (Rosh Hashanah 16a) The Sefas Emes introduces the three central themes of the Rosh Hash…
תרל"ט(1878)
Rosh Hashanah as the day of renewal and kingship· Essay 2
On Rosh Hashanah each person must accept the kingship of Heaven (malchus Shomayim) for the entire year, as Chazal said, "Recite before Me [verses of] Malchiyos…" (Rosh Hashanah 16a, 34b). The central avodah of Rosh Hashanah is coronating Ha…
Treasuring remembrance sweetens judgment· Essay 3
"Recite before Me Zichronos (verses of remembrance), so that your remembrance may rise before Me for good." On Rosh Hashanah Hashem instructs us to recite Zichronos so that we be remembered before Him favorably — the Sefas Emes will explain…
תר"מ(1879)
Judgment clothed in chesed· Essay 2
"And to You, Hashem, belongs kindness, for You repay each man according to his deeds" (Tehillim 62:13). The Sefas Emes examines this pasuk, which seems to call Hashem's exact repayment an act of chesed (kindness). And they ask: where is the…
Crowning Hashem as King to inherit the nations· Essay 3
It is taught: Recite before Me verses of Malchiyos (Kingship) so that you may crown Me as King over you. On Rosh Hashanah, Hashem asks Bnei Yisrael to declare His sovereignty, accepting Him as their King. For in truth, malchus Shomayim (the…
תרמ"א(1880)
Mercy joined to justice on Rosh Hashanah· Essay 1
It is brought that at first it arose in [His] thought to create with the attribute of strict justice (midas hadin), and He saw that it could not endure, and so He joined with it the attribute of mercy (midas harachamim). The Midrash teaches…
Man as the unifying root of creation· Essay 2
It is taught regarding Rosh Hashanah: "All who enter the world pass before Him…" and in the Gemara: they are all surveyed in a single glance, as it is written, "He who fashions their hearts together…" The Mishnah states that on Rosh Hashana…
תרמ"ב(1881)
Teshuvah restores Creation's original unity· Essay 2
The Ten Days of Teshuvah correspond to the Ten Utterances (asarah maamaros) by which the world was created. The Aseres Yemei Teshuvah parallel the ten Divine "sayings" of Creation. And Rosh Hashanah corresponds to "Bereishis," as it is taug…
Unity retained by Bnei Yisrael· Essay 3
On the verse "Remember the days of old… when the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of man…" The Sefas Emes opens with this verse from Ha'azinu, which describes Hashem apportioning the nations and s…
תרמ"ג(1882)
תרמ"ד(1883)
Rosh Hashanah as the avodah of prayer· Essay 2
Rosh Hashanah is the aspect of tefillah (prayer). The Sefas Emes opens by identifying the essential character of Rosh Hashanah: among the modes of avodah, it corresponds specifically to prayer — the act of standing before Hashem and crownin…
Rosh Hashana תרמ"ד
ראש השנה הוא בחי’ תפלה. דיש ד’ מצות שמקיימין בכל יום ק”ש תפילין ציצית תפלה כמ”ש בספרי קודש שהם נגד ד’ אותיות הוי’. וכן המועדות ג’ רגלים. בפסח בחי’ תפילין זרוע הנטויה. ובשבועות ק”ש אנכי מ…
Undated
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