TOP STORY: JEWISH HIGH HOLY DAYS: COMMENTARY: Begin the new year by thinking about what God needs

c. 1996 Religion News Service (Rabbi Eli Hecht is vice president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He is the director of Chabad of South Bay in Lomita, Calif., and has been involved in counseling and outreach programs for more than 25 years. Contact him via e-mail at rabbieh(at sign)aol.com.) (UNDATED) Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Eli Hecht is vice president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He is the director of Chabad of South Bay in Lomita, Calif., and has been involved in counseling and outreach programs for more than 25 years. Contact him via e-mail at rabbieh(at sign)aol.com.)

(UNDATED) Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, is a time of intense self-examination. Each of us is expected to evaluate our actions of the past year to discern what we have done and what we have failed to do.


The familiar scenario for Rosh Hashanah is to repent for our misdeeds, with the understanding that God will grant us a good year. If we promise to do good and become accountable for our actions, God will grant us a new year blessed with family, life, health and sustenance.

Why do we always think of our needs on Rosh Hashanah? Why do we keep asking for things from God? Perhaps we should consider what God needs from us. How can we make God interested in keeping this great world alive? Come to think of it, does God have needs?

The late hasidic rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson had a great deal to say about how we humans address the needs of God. If God is to be considered the king of all kings, Schneerson taught, he needs us to be his subjects. You cannot, after all, be a king if you don’t rule. If people do not accept God’s kingship, then there is no purpose for the world to exist.

This forms a paradox. God created us. But does he need us for his own satisfaction? If the answer is yes, then we have a God who has”personal”needs that are affected by the actions of mankind. This is a direct contradiction to the basic tenets of Judaism _ and many other religions _ which consider God to be above all.

If God were influenced by human actions, he would be finite. But we all know that God is infinite and does not change by the actions of man.

So how do we reconcile the idea of Rosh Hashanah as the time we give God a reason to bless and sustain the world with the understanding that God is omnipotent?

Part of the answer may be found in the story of the first Rosh Hashanah, which occurred on Friday, the sixth day of creation. On that day, according to Jewish tradition, God first created the beasts of the field, of the woods, and all the creeping things and insects, and, lastly, man.


Adam, the first man, was created in his full stature. The moment he opened his eyes, Adam recognized his creator.”Come, let us worship, bow down and kneel before God, our Maker,”Adam declared. He did this because he knew that God needed to be recognized as the king.

Thus Rosh Hashanah is the day of coronation of the king of the universe. And just as the coronation of kings is heralded by the sounding of trumpets, so the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah symbolically reminds us also of the divine coronation. This is a day of amnesty and forgiveness. And it is traditional at the coronation of the king to forgive all.

I have been brought up to believe that God is master of the world, whose omnipotent power is not limited in time and place. Moreover, God is the source of goodness and he desires his human creatures to live a life based on justice and morality.

It is in the nature of the good to do good, so it follows that God not only desires the true good, but also wants his goodness to be enjoyed in the fullest measure. If such good were given to man by divine grace, if it were to be achieved without effort, it would have an intrinsic flaw, for it would be what our sages call”bread of shame.”We creatures would be on the receiving end only; not having earned the goodness of God, we would not feel any self-worth.

To be sure, God could have established a world order wherein morality and ethics would reign supreme, with little or no effort on the part of mankind. But there is no comparison between something received as a gift and the same thing attained through hard work. By persevering and doing good we acquire a great sense of satisfaction.

Just remember the faces of the winning Olympic athletes. Each one feels like a hero. That is God’s plan for all of mankind.


God wants us to feel good and happy with our accomplishments. He wants us to feel that we are helpers and partners, making this world a place of holiness; a world where we can feel God and be kind and God-like. After all, we are created in his image.

God wants us to feel that we are helpers and partners in his world, carrying out the mission of making this world a place of holiness.

So the twin ideas for the holiday are that we need God and, in a way, God needs us to accept him, making him feel that we need him. God has cause to rule, thus God grants us life.

Adam taught us how to ask God for our needs in a respectful and humble fashion. This was only after recognizing that even though God cannot be changed or affected by his giving, he wants the recognition.

The Jewish High Holy Days are often described as”The Days of Awe.”With a sense of solemnity and awe we participate in a coronation of the supreme king of all kings. The very act of coronation renews the personal union between God and his creation.

So in addition to repenting for our sins and promising to do better for the coming year, we should remember that Rosh Hashanah really marks the birthday of mankind. It would be good that not only Jews, but all mankind to celebrate this event. May we all let God enter our homes and hearts and understand that God needs us as much as we need God.


Happy New Year.

MJP END HECHT

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