Rosh Hashanah
General Letter
B"H, Days of Selichos, 5723 — the year of the 150th anniversary of the passing (Histalkus-Hilula) of our Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe — Brooklyn, N.Y.
To the sons and daughters of Israel, everywhere — may G‑d be with them —
Greetings and Blessing!
The days of Rosh Hashanah — the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe) with which the new year — "הבא עלינו ועל כל ישראל לטובה ולברכה" ("may it come upon us and upon all Israel for good and for blessing") — begins, fill every Jewish heart with a holy feeling.
This feeling of the "awesome days" is a much deeper one than "יראת העונש" (fear of punishment, G‑d forbid), and the like. The awe that is aroused [OCR unclear] … the awe that is aroused [OCR unclear — text missing between the pages] … the direct and inner bond of each individual as an individual, and not only as a part of the community and the collective. The coronation is carried out through the personal request of each and every one that the A-lmighty should accept the coronation. And through this is created the union of "אנו עמך ואתה מלכנו" ("We are Your people and You are our King").
The concept and feeling of the coronation comes to expression especially in the prayer: "אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו מלוך על העולם כולו בכבודך… וידע כל פעול כי אתה פעלתו… ויאמר כל אשר נשמה באפו ה' אלקי ישראל מלך ומלכותו בכל משלה" ("Our G‑d and G‑d of our fathers, reign over the entire world in Your glory… Let every creature know that You made it… and let everything that has a breath of life in its nostrils declare: The L‑rd, G‑d of Israel, is King, and His kingship rules over all") — the entire creation, and especially man who possesses a soul, recognizes and submits itself to the royal sovereignty of the A-lmighty. The prayer emphasizes the feeling of Yiras HaRomemus (awe of G‑d's exaltedness), and at the same time the unavoidable consequence of it — the readiness and desire to fulfill the commands of the King.
And therefore, even though Rosh Hashanah is the entrance into the Ten Days of Teshuvah and is the beginning of these days, on the days of Rosh Hashanah no Tachanun is said, nor any Viduy (confession) for sins. For the feeling of union with the A-lmighty through the coronation so encompasses the person that, however great the regret over the deeds of the past may be, it is nullified in the overpowering feeling of Yiras HaRomemus.
In essence, this too is teshuvah — in the deeper meaning of the word, "returning (to the source)"* — in full harmony with its inner content. [OCR unclear]
Only after Rosh Hashanah do the further matters of teshuvah begin — regret over the past and resolution for the future, with Viduyim and Selichos, etc. — as a necessary consequence of the coronation of Rosh Hashanah: the awareness of the renewed and strengthened bond and union with the King must arouse the will and the decision to be worthy of it, and this obligates the person to remove everything that disturbs the bond: the willful transgressions, the iniquities, and even unintentional sins.
…
Unfortunately it must be said that, for various reasons, there have been years and places in which the spiritual elevation of Rosh Hashanah and the Ten Days of Teshuvah was not utilized in the proper measure. The Days of Awe passed, and in some communities and with many individuals the inspiration evaporated, and the change and improvement that should have been expected in the personal, day-to-day life of every Jew, man or woman, was not noticeable. Consequently, the improvement in communal life was lacking as well.
One of the main reasons for this is that the elevation and inspiration of the Days of Awe are not utilized in a way that touches oneself, but rather for matters that concern others. Not infrequently these days are used for general slogans and world problems — "messages" that obligate no one at all, and certainly no one within his own four cubits. This "satisfies" everyone, and one even has the "justification" for it: for Rosh Hashanah, after all, encompasses the entire creation, and there is no shortage in the world of general, "big" [OCR unclear — text missing between the pages] … of Rosh Hashanah. The mitzvah of blowing the shofar is not an ensemble of many musical instruments, but specifically one instrument — and that, too, not a complicated musical instrument meant to produce extraordinary musical compositions. The shofar is specifically a simple horn of an animal, and "כל הקולות כשרים בשופר" ("all sounds are valid in a shofar"). The shofar emphasizes that the focus must be, first of all, on the individual, on oneself, and that the emphasis must be placed on bringing holiness even into the simple and ordinary matters of the day-to-day life of the individual, and afterwards into the communal life of the individual as a part of the community, and so on.
"ויהי רצון" ("May it be [G‑d's] will") — may the A-lmighty help that every Jew, man or woman, and especially the spiritual leaders, use the holy moments and the inner soul-awakening of the Days of Awe not for general world or national problems (for however important these problems may be, they are not the subject of Rosh Hashanah and the Ten Days of Teshuvah — neither for the individual nor for the community), but rather for the urgent call of these days — the call of "תמליכוני עליכם" ("Make Me King over you"): to accept the A-lmighty as King, as one's own personal King — and its consequence: the call to teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah, all of which must begin with oneself and from oneself, and afterwards around oneself, in the community and beyond.
And the spiritual awakening and revival of these days should illuminate and permeate all the days of the year, and bring about a deeper bond of every Jew with the A-lmighty — a bond that will express itself in day-to-day life according to, and in harmony with, the G‑dly Torah and the G‑dly mitzvos. And the change for the good in spiritual life will surely bring a change for the good in material life, that it should be a
[Continued on the next page]
Key Lesson
On Rosh Hashanah each Jew personally crowns G‑d as King, a bond so deep that there is no room for Tachanun or confession; teshuvah follows as its natural consequence. Like the simple shofar, the inspiration of the Days of Awe must be directed first to oneself and one's everyday life, rather than spent on general world problems, and only then outward to the community.