The high holidays had a different meaning at different stages of my life. As a child, the high holidays was fun and greatly anticipated, because many more children would come to shul since their parents felt it was an important time of year. The best way to explain it, for example, is to envision yourself in a crowded movie theater or packed stadium, watching a great film or an important ball game. The buzz of excitement was apparent. The best chazanim would come from Israel. As a young adult, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur began to differ a bit. On Rosh Hashanah, it was fun; we all had a chance to show off our dapper don new suits which we bought in honor of the holiday, from the fancy shmancy boutiques on Austin St in Forest hills. However, the anxiety of fasting on Yom Kippur was a bit more of a hardship. As we got older, we started to realize the seriousness of and the potential impact of Yom Kippur. There’s an elderly tall gentleman in the Sephardic shul in Forest Hills, Mr. Moradi, who would not speak and would cry throughout the entire Yom Kippur services; he got us all in a repentant mood. However, Rosh Hashanah, with the fancy suits and delicious special foods (dushperreh-mantu – meat dumplings) was more majestic and a special time.
If one realizes, though, there is not one reference to slicha – please forgive me – on Rosh Hashanah; there’s not one banging on the heart; no tears are shed. If there is no reference to forgiveness, then what’s Rosh Hashanah all about? What’s the purpose? The answer lies in what we read every Sunday morning ME ZE MELECH HAKAVOD – who is the King who gets the honor – G-d. This is one of the themes of Rosh Hashanah. The King is enwrapped in royalty; He gets the kavod. We pronounce through the Rosh Hashanah prayers, MELECH – King – because Rosh Hashanah is designed to be royalty. However, if a king has no followers, his kingship is weakened. His people are the ones that raise the volume and strengthen his kingship. If that’s not accomplished, then the people are not needed. In essence, the people have the illustrious responsibility to honor G-d all year round and especially on Rosh Hashanah. Fine new clothes have to be worn; delicacies have to be eaten; one has to feel good about himself; one has to feel like royalty. But he has to have the intention that the clothing, the food, the feeling, is not for your KAVOD – honor – but for G-d’s. Everything is dedicated to G-d. The same concept applies for Shabbat, if one eats well on Shabbat. For the sake of Shabbat, he’ll have a bracha the up and coming week; if he buys food with the intention of it being for Shabbat, then there would be a bracha attached to it.
There is a true story which happened in Israel. It definitely has an Israeli flavor to it. One religious Jew wanted to sell his car to another religious Jew. “There’s one stipulation,” the seller demanded “it should not be driven on Shabbat.” “This car follows Shabbat laws and has never been driven on Shabbat.” The buyer was taken aback, “How can he say that to me? I’m an observant Jew 100%.” Regardless of the comments, he agreed, and the sale was completed. A number of years later, the buyer decides to sell this very car and found someone who is interested. However as he’s about to finish the transaction, he’s reminded of the first seller’s words, about not driving it on Shabbat. The new buyer had a ponytail and an earring. The seller said, “Oh I don’t know how to say this, but this car should not be driven on Shabbat. It’s an observant car and it never violated the holy Sabbath. You have to promise me you’ll never drive it on Shabbat.” After realizing the seller was not joking, the buyer had a puzzled look on his face and thought he was a little crazy. “Yea, yea, sure, sure, whatever you say, I won’t drive it on Shabbat.” So he’s driving the car and everything is fine. When Friday night arrives, the car doesn’t start. After an hour or so he gives up and decides to call a tow truck on Sunday. Sunday morning arrives and lo and behold, the car starts. He has it checked out by the mechanic every way, but nothing was found. The next Friday night however, the car doesn’t start again.
A few years have passed and the last seller of the car was stopped one day on the street by a Chassidic looking man. “Hey, you don’t recognize me, do you? I’m the guy with the pony tail who you sold the shomer Shabbat car to.” “This is a pleasant but drastic change; what happened?” said the seller. The buyer replied, “I said if you people are so careful about cars, about Shabbat, about G-d, it must be something to explore, and I did. People designate special suits for Shabbat. They save items for KAVOD – G-d – because honoring G-d is the biggest attachment one can achieve. We say during the ten days of repentance which includes Rosh Hashanah, LE MA A NACH – for Your sake, for Your kavod. This is the biggest repentance one can make – honoring the King. |
