Divine seeing renews the world for Torah

בראש השנה כל באי עולם עוברין לפכיו כבני מרון כו'. דכ' באור פני מלך חיים.

On Rosh Hashanah all who come into the world pass before Him like sheep, etc. (Rosh Hashanah 16a), for it is written, "In the light of the King's face there is life" (Mishlei 16:15).

On Rosh Hashanah every creature passes before Hashem for judgment, but the very passing "before His face" is itself the source of life — being seen by the King gives chiyus (life-force).

ובראי' זו דבאי עולם עוברין לפניו מזה ניתן לכל אחד חיות.

And through this "seeing," by which all who come into the world pass before Him, life-force is given to each one.

The judgment is really an act of divine gazing upon each creation, and that gaze renews the chiyus of every being.

וכמו בשעת הבריאה כתיב ביום הזה וירא אלקים כו' אשר עשה והנה טוב כו' ומזה נתקיים העולם.

And just as at the time of creation it is written, "And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was good" (Bereishis 1:31) — and through this the world was sustained.

At creation, Hashem's "seeing" that the world was good was what gave it existence and continuity. Divine perception is the foundation of being.

כן בכל שנה מתעורר ראי' זו לחדש קיום העולם.

So too, every year this "seeing" is aroused anew to renew the existence of the world.

Rosh Hashanah re-enacts the original divine gaze of creation, renewing the world's existence for another year.

ועיקר הראי' הי' שבנ"י יקבלו התורה שנק' טוב.

And the main purpose of that "seeing" was that Bnei Yisrael would receive the Torah, which is called "good."

The "good" that Hashem saw at creation points ultimately to Torah ("there is no good but Torah") and to Bnei Yisrael's future receiving of it — the goal toward which the gaze was directed.

ולכן צריכין לתקוע בשופר שהוא רמז לקבלת התורה ולהראות כי עיקר רצון להחיות כדי לקיים התורה.

Therefore we must blow the shofar, which alludes to the receiving of the Torah, and to show that the essential desire to be given life is in order to fulfill the Torah.

The shofar recalls the shofar of Har Sinai. By blowing it we declare that the whole reason we wish to be granted life on the day of judgment is so that we can keep the Torah.

ומתעורר זה הזכות גם בשמים ומתקיים העולם.

And this merit is then aroused also in the heavens, and the world is sustained.

When we declare that life is for the sake of Torah, that merit ascends and secures the continued existence of the world.

וזהו עיקר התשובה חדש ימינו כקדם כמו שעלתה במחשבה שמחשבתן של ישראל והתורה קדמו לעולם.

And this is the essence of teshuvah — "renew our days as of old" (Eichah 5:21) — as it first arose in the [divine] thought, for the thought of Yisrael and the Torah preceded the world.

True teshuvah is a return to the primordial state, before sin, when Bnei Yisrael and Torah existed in Hashem's thought prior to creation. We ask to be renewed back to that pristine origin.

ותחילת הבריאה הוכן האדם בגן עדן לעבדה ולשמרה אח"כ ע"י החטא נתגרש.

At the beginning of creation, man was set in Gan Eden "to work it and to guard it" (Bereishis 2:15); afterward, through the sin, he was driven out.

Adam was originally placed in Gan Eden to carry out avodah, but the sin caused his expulsion — the first loss of that ideal closeness.

והוחזר בקבלת התורה וע"י החטא אבדנו גם זה התיקון.

And it was restored through the receiving of the Torah, but through the sin [of the egel] we lost this rectification as well.

Kabbalas HaTorah at Sinai restored what Adam had lost, but the sin of the golden calf undid that restoration too.

אח"כ במשכן ומקדש ראשון ושני. והכל ניטל מאתנו:

Afterward [it was restored] in the Mishkan, and in the first and second Bais Hamikdash — and all of it was taken from us.

Each successive vessel of divine closeness — Mishkan, first and second Bais Hamikdash — renewed the tikkun, yet each was lost. Teshuvah on Rosh Hashanah is the longing to recover that original, repeatedly-lost ideal.

Summary: On Rosh Hashanah, Hashem's "seeing" of all creatures as they pass before Him renews the world's existence, just as His seeing that creation was "good" sustained it originally. The deepest purpose of that gaze is Torah, which is why we blow the shofar to declare that we seek life in order to keep the Torah. True teshuvah is "renew our days as of old" — a return to the primordial closeness with Hashem that was repeatedly given and lost through Gan Eden, Sinai, the Mishkan, and both Batei Mikdash.