סְלִיחוֹת בְּאַשְׁמוֹרֶת הַבּוֹקֶר וְאֵין נְפִילַת אַפַּיִם. הַתָּרַת נְדָרִים וּבַעֲשָׂרָה. עֵרוּב תַּבְשִׁילִין.

[The penitential prayers called] Selichos are recited “at the morning watch.”

On this day, Tachanun is omitted.1

[In the morning,] the Annulment of Vows2 is carried out with ten [listeners who serve as an ad hoc court].3

An Eruv Tavshilin is made.4

יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת אֶת הַצֶּמַח צֶדֶק — שְׁנַת תקמ"ט. מִפִּתְגָמֵי רַבֵּינוּ הַזָּקֵן: מעֶן האָט גאָר קֵיין הַשָּׂגָה נִיט, וִוי עֶס אִיז טַייעֶר בּאַ הַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרֵךְ דעֶר גּוּף פוּן אַ אִידעֶן.

The Tzemach Tzedek was born on this date in 5549 (1789).

*

A saying of the Alter Rebbe: We have no comprehension of how dearly G‑d cherishes the body of a Jew.5

Probing Beneath the Surface

In Tanya,6 the Alter Rebbe states that G‑d’s choice of the Jewish people is focused on their bodies which, physically, resemble the bodies of non-Jews. The reason is that G‑d desires the Jewish people as they exist in the material world, carrying out His mission to make it a dwelling place for the Divine.

The judgment made on Rosh HaShanah primarily concerns a Jew’s material welfare.7 In this spirit, the above teaching was chosen as the entry for the eve of Rosh HaShanah. Its message is that G‑d loves each and every Jew not only for his soul and spiritual qualities — but as he exists in this world, with his Divine soul and his earthy body inseparably intertwined. It is not that G‑d loves and cherishes him despite his body and physicality; rather, it is the very body and the materiality that evoke that love.8