Judgment built on emes and shalom

בראש השנה אומרים ודברך אמת.

On Rosh Hashanah we say, "and Your word is emes (truth)."

The Sefas Emes opens by noting that the davening of Rosh Hashanah emphasizes that Hashem's word is absolute emes, because the entire day is a day of mishpat (judgment), and judgment must rest on truth.

כי עיקר המשפט הוא בבחי' אמת ושלום.

For the essence of mishpat (judgment) stands on the aspects of emes (truth) and shalom (peace).

True judgment cannot be built on truth alone or peace alone; it requires both qualities working together.

כדאיתא במדרש בראשית אמת אמר אל יברא עולם דכולא שיקרא ושלום אמר אל יברא דכולא קטטה.

As it is brought in the Midrash on Bereishis: Emes (Truth) said the world should not be created, for it is all falsehood; and Shalom (Peace) said it should not be created, for it is all strife.

The Sefas Emes cites the Midrash where the heavenly attributes argued against creating the world — Truth, because man would be full of lies, and Peace, because man would be full of quarrel — showing that this lower world inherently lacks both emes and shalom.

נמצא המשפט עומד על אמת ושלום והקב"ה זיכה את בנ"י באלה הב'.

It emerges that mishpat (judgment) stands upon emes and shalom, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu granted these two to Bnei Yisrael.

Since the world itself is deficient in truth and peace, Hashem gave these very two qualities as a gift to Bnei Yisrael, enabling them to stand in judgment.

ור"ה קול שופר הוא קול תורה והוא בחי' אמת בחי' משה כדכ' ויהי בישורון מלך.

And on Rosh Hashanah, the sound of the shofar is the voice of Torah, and it is the aspect of emes, the aspect of Moshe, as it is written, "And He was King in Yeshurun."

The kol shofar (sound of the shofar) corresponds to the kol Torah (voice of Torah), which embodies the trait of emes — the trait of Moshe Rabbeinu, through whom Torah was given and Hashem's kingship was revealed in Yeshurun (Bnei Yisrael).

וזה רמז הקול שופר כי בדיבור יש התחלפות שהקול נשתנה כפי מוצאות הפה ובכמה לשונות.

And this is the hint of the sound of the shofar: for in speech there is variation, since the voice changes according to the points of articulation of the mouth and into many languages.

Speech is changeable — the same raw sound is shaped by the mouth into different letters and even different languages — representing the outer, shifting dimension of the world.

אבל הקול עצמו הוא כמו שהוא.

But the voice itself is just as it is.

Beneath the variable speech lies the simple, unchanging kol (sound) — the shofar's wordless cry — which represents the inner aspect of emes that never changes.

ולזה אין זוכין רק בנ"י.

And to this only Bnei Yisrael merit.

Only Bnei Yisrael are granted access to this pure, unchanging inner voice of emes.

כמ"ש תתן אמת ליעקב.

As it is written, "Give emes to Yaakov" (Michah 7:20).

The pasuk testifies that the quality of truth is the particular inheritance of Yaakov and his descendants, Bnei Yisrael.

ושלום הוא ביו"כ מדת אהרן.

And shalom (peace) is on Yom Kippur, the trait of Aharon.

If emes is the trait of Rosh Hashanah and Moshe, then shalom is the trait of Yom Kippur and of Aharon HaKohen, who loved and pursued peace.

לכן נבחר אהרן לעבודת יוה"כ.

Therefore Aharon was chosen for the avodah of Yom Kippur.

Because Aharon embodied shalom, it was specifically he who was selected to perform the avodah (service) of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur.

כדאיתא שביו"כ יש שלום בישראל.

As it is brought, that on Yom Kippur there is shalom among Yisrael.

Yom Kippur is the day on which peace prevails within Klal Yisrael, fitting it as the day of Aharon's trait of shalom.

וע"י שני אלו זוכין בנ"י במשפט:

And through these two, Bnei Yisrael merit in the mishpat (judgment).

By being granted both emes (on Rosh Hashanah, the trait of Moshe) and shalom (on Yom Kippur, the trait of Aharon), Bnei Yisrael are able to stand and prevail in the divine judgment, which rests precisely on these two pillars.

Summary: The mishpat of the Yamim Noraim stands on the two pillars of emes and shalom — qualities the world itself lacked, which Hashem gifted to Bnei Yisrael. Rosh Hashanah and its kol shofar embody emes, the unchanging inner voice that is the trait of Moshe and the kol Torah; Yom Kippur embodies shalom, the trait of Aharon. Through both gifts together, Bnei Yisrael merit a favorable judgment.