Overview
of the Torah Reading
To be
read on Rosh Hashana, 1 and 2 Tishrei 5787/Sep.11
(night) -12 and Sept 12 (night) - 13, 2026)
1 Tishrei/Sept.11 night-12
Torah: Gen. 21:1-34; Num. 29:1-6
Haftorah: Samuel I 1:1-2:10
2 Tishrei/Sept.12
night 13
Torah: Gen. 22:1-24; Num. 29:1-6
Haftorah: Jeremiah 31:1-19
An
Essay from
Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, Director of Ascent
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
One
of the basic concepts in understanding what is expected of us on Rosh
Hashana is to understand the significance of the name of the holiday.
"Rosh Hashana" means 'Head of the Year'. The Rabbis could
have called these days, 'Beginning of the Year', or 'Start of the Year',
or even 'Happy New Year.' We call this holiday 'Head of the Year' since
these two days stand in the same relationship to the rest of year as
the head does to the body. Just like the head is the source of the life
force of the person, and afterwards this life force is distributed to
each individual organ of the body, so also Rosh Hashana has hidden within
it all of the life force of the year, and from the holiday it apportioned
to each and every individual day.
This is
the reason that we are so strongly encouraged to use each and every
moment of the two days of Rosh Hashana in a positive way, even taking
the trouble to plan how we will use our time in advance, because hidden
in every moment is the potential and spiritual force for each of the
days of the coming year. We see this in the actual physical organs themselves;
the brain in the head is much more sensitive and delicate than the other
limbs and organs of the body. Similarly a person must treat Rosh Hashana
differently than he would treat the rest of the year. Only when a person's
head is healthy and complete can his body be always healthy too. This
is the service of Rosh Hashana.
What are
we supposed to do special when the first day of Rosh Hashana falls on
Shabbat, as happens this year? The Rebbe Rashab once discussed this
with his son, the future Rebbe Rayatz: Preparing for Shabbat requires
a happy heart. Preparing for Rosh Hashana requires a broken heart. What
does one do when Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbat? The Rebbe answered with
the Talmudic dictum, 'what is frequent takes precedence over what is
infrequent'. (This is the halachic reason we put on our talit
before tefillin).
Therefore,
when Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbat, Shabbat takes precedence, and we
prepare with a happy heart. 'But', his son asked, 'a happy heart is
incongruous with preparing for Rosh Hashana!' The Rebbe Rashab answered
that a person begins with a happy heart. A truly happy Jewish heart
means that a person is happy because he is conscious of all the blessings
G-d gives him. When a person thinks deeply about what G-d gave him,
he realizes that he has yet to fulfill all his obligations to G-d. This
is the broken heart of Rosh Hashana that comes with the happy heart
of Shabbat that prepares us for this special day.
The third
Lubavitcher Rebbe, called the 'Tzemach Tzedek' met with a group of 'Cantonists'-Jewish
Russian soldiers who were kidnapped as young children to serve in the
army, thus deprived of a Jewish education, and usually forcefully baptized.
They told the Rebbe how during their army training they would do whatever
they could to hold on to their Judaism. Some would try to keep kosher,
or pray a bit here and there.
Many would
say Psalms they remembered from their childhood, often crying, especially
when doing the grueling task of polishing the buttons of their uniforms.
How would they polish them? With sand and water. The Rebbe told them
that the sand was like the words of Psalms, and the water was their
tears that would wash their souls clean. The soldiers answered the Rebbe
that a war is not won with tears, but with a marching song! This made
the Rebbe very happy!
As for
the second day of Rosh Hashana, when the shofar will be blown:
The Rebbe Maharash once told the Chassidim on the eve of Rosh Hashana
before the evening prayers that the blowing of the shofar is like a
person shouting 'Father! Father!'. The main thing is not the words 'Father,
Father', rather the main thing is the shouting. On Rosh Hashana of that
year the sound of people crying could be heard everywhere.
May
you and yours be signed and sealed for a good and sweet New Year!
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
For last year's essay by Rabbi Leiter on this
week's Reading, see the archive.
FROM
THE SAGES OF KABBALAH ON KabbalaOnline.org
Specifically, for
an overview of the recommended articles in the columns:
Holy Zohar, Holy Ari, Mystic Classics, Chasidic Masters, Contemporary
Kabbalists, and more,
click to Rosh
Hashana
one sample:
Chasidic Masters
Revelation and Concealment
By Simon Jacobson
One of the main themes of Rosh Hashanah is knowing that compassion is
imbued into the very fabric of existence -for otherwise, the world could
not have endured. This becomes an eternal source of hope, giving us
the strength to overcome any challenge
To
continue, click
here.
For a free email subscription to our weekly anthology,
click
here.
For another taste of recommended Kabbalah articles on a variety of subjects,
click to the
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weekly Kabbalah magazine
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