Likkutei Sichos Vol. 2 – Rosh Hashanah – Significance and Observance
In order for him to be able to buy something in the market and sell it, so that he would have funds for Shabbos expenses, the Tzemach Tzedek told him to come to his house after davening and he would give him the money. When the Tzemach Tzedek was preparing for davening and had placed the tallis on his shoulder, he remembered what Reb Pinchas had told him—that today is a market day, the market opens early, and surely Pinchas needs the money immediately. The Tzemach Tzedek then took off the tallis, went home, took five silver rubles, and gave them to Pinchas so he could engage in some trade and earn a living.
When the Tzemach Tzedek returned to the minyan and washed his hands at the hand basin to begin davening, the Alter Rebbe appeared to him and resolved all his doubts, and his holy face shone.
5. We learn from this story that tzedakah also has an effect in spiritual matters. The Tzemach Tzedek, with all his endeavors, especially the closeness he experienced during the time of the Alter Rebbe's passing—when he was alone with the Alter Rebbe, as the Mitteler Rebbe was in Kremenchug, Reb Chaim Avraham was unwell, and Reb Moshe was on the other side of the front and could not come due to the war—had many close moments with the Alter Rebbe. He undertook various efforts to see the Alter Rebbe, yet all this did not help.
Only when he encountered a Jew in the street, not within the Tzemach Tzedek's own four cubits (meaning, not that the Jew came to the Tzemach Tzedek), but within Reb Pinchas's four cubits, and found him not engaged in saying Tehillim or similar activities, but thinking about an act of kindness, did he merit to see the Alter Rebbe.
In order for him to earn a living, he set aside the matter of prayer, and moreover—the Tzemach Tzedek's prayer, which is a time of expanded consciousness above and also below. It is explained in Iggeres HaKodesh the superiority of prayer over Torah, that prayer effects a change in the physical world, healing the sick and blessing the years. Through setting aside his prayer to do a Jew a favor in the physical realm, he merited to see the Alter Rebbe.
9. Regarding practical application: Just as there are those whose virtue lies in two areas, a) they have something to give, b) the virtue of enthusiasm, they should go on Rosh Hashanah to the synagogues to inspire Jews. Rosh Hashanah is two days, each of which has its own virtue. The first day of Rosh Hashanah...
10. On the first day, the judgment is strict, and on the second day, the judgment is lenient. The first day is from the Torah, and the second day is rabbinic. Since the words of the Sages are more stringent, each day has an advantage over the other, and they complement each other until they become one long day. Therefore, one should go on both days.
One might argue, "I have such a tangled account from the whole year, I don't know what is from the good inclination and what is from the evil inclination. Now I have been given forty days of favor to sort things out, and how can I spend such time on others?" To this, it is said that gifts to the poor are like giving to one's friend. By going to inspire others, he will also benefit himself.
The Rebbe, my father-in-law, recounted in the name of the previous Rebbeim that once it was announced to the congregation in the synagogue that the main thing is not so much the cry of 'Father, Father, save me,' but the cry itself.
The explanation is: There are two aspects here: a) the cry itself, b) the content one puts into the cry. The main thing is not the content one puts into the cry, but the cry itself.
In the content one puts into the cry, not everyone is equal, but in the cry itself, this is relevant to every Jew. Every Jew cries out, whether with an audible voice or an inaudible voice, but within his soul, he is indeed crying out. And this is the essence of the shofar blasts, and this is accepted above.
As there is the parable from the holy Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, where a child wanted an apple, and the father did not want to give it to him. The child quickly made a blessing, and the father had to give him the apple. This is when the father does not want to give, and certainly, when the father wants to give, and the refusal is merely to test the child's cleverness, it is certainly so.
Above, the situation is that the Almighty wants to give, as it is brought in the saying: more than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to nurse.
1. Just as it is stated above: "The work of Your hands You desire," so too, the Almighty desires that we serve Him. When Jews recite the blessing "He hears the sound of the shofar of His people Israel, with mercy," which according to halacha is a case of doubtful blessings where one should be lenient, if the Men of the Great Assembly decreed that this blessing should be recited, they also decreed that the Almighty accepts the shofar blasts of His people Israel—the cry of the Jews, which is the essence of the shofar blasts—with mercy. Because the Almighty accepts the shofar blasts of His people Israel with mercy, it extends to all Jews, to each and every one, in all matters they need, both spiritually and materially, in children, life, and sustenance.
And since the Almighty gives it from His full, open, holy, and generous hand, the children, life, and sustenance that are drawn down are abundant. All of this is included in the phrase "for a good and sweet year," and it descends into the physical realm below ten handbreadths in a visible and revealed good.
2. My revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, greatly valued brevity. The summary and essence of the entire forty-eight hours of Rosh Hashanah are two points: one point below and one point above.