By the Grace of G‑d
18th of Elul,1 5735
Brooklyn, N.Y.

To the Sons and Daughters of
Our People Israel, Everywhere
G‑d bless you all!

Greeting and Blessing:

With the approach of Rosh Hashanah—may it bring good and blessing to us and all our people Israel,

Rosh Hashanah being the “head”2 of the year, hence a source of direction and instruction to guide3 the Jew’s conduct each and every day of the year, as the head directs all the limbs of the body,

And being also the anniversary of the creation of the first man, Adam, the progenitor of all mankind—4

It behooves us to reflect earnestly and deeply on the teachings of Rosh Hashanah, as these are explicitly or implicitly indicated in the Torah. Indeed, Torah means “instruction,”5 and it is called Toras-Chayim, because it provides instruction and guidance in the daily life of the Jew, man and woman.

The teachings are in aspects which are common to all Rosh Hashanahs, and in aspects that vary according to the occurrence of Rosh Hashanah on certain days of the week, and whether it ushers in an ordinary year or a Leap Year, etc.,

Although, generally speaking, each Rosh Hashanah brings new instructions.6

We will dwell here on one instructive aspect of Rosh Hashanah as it is expressed in the following teaching of our Sages7 of blessed memory:

The first man [Adam] was created on Erev-Shabbos. Why?8 It is like unto a king who built a palace, perfected it, and arranged a feast, and then he invited guests.... Such is the way of the Holy One blessed be He, Who created...the whole world with wisdom and all worldly needs ]and then he brought in guests[, namely, Adam and Chavah [Eve].

Yet, the Torah also declares, Man unto toil is born,9 and that every person should live by the credo, I was created to serve my Creator.10

How are these two contradictory ideas about the purpose of man to be reconciled? If man is G‑d’s honored “guest” who finds everything ready and prepared for him, how can he at the same time be a “servant” who has to serve G‑d constantly, and in a manner of real effort [“toil”]?

Even more compellingly is an explanation called for when Rosh Hashanah occurs on Shabbos,11 as this year. For Shabbos underscores the idea of rest and absence of work, in the sense that “everything has already been prepared for the Se’udah, “as though all one’s work has already been done.”12 This is surely not consistent with the idea of “man unto toil is born,” and “to serve my Creator.”

One explanation of the apparent contradiction is that precisely the combination of both characteristics provides a profoundly meaningful instruction in life, down to everyday living, which expresses itself in several aspects:

[1] It was expected of Adam and Chavah—which is a guideline for every Jew, man and woman—that even when they find themselves in a situation as if in a royal palace, which is provided with not only all requirements, but also “to perfection,” and they are invited to it as honored guests, it behooves them to make of it a service to G‑d, the Creator of the whole universe.

The highest degree of this achievement is found in Moshe Rabbeinu, as the Torah tells us. For, while the Torah testifies that “No other prophet arose in Israel like Moshe, to whom G‑d made Himself known face to face,”13 yet, when he had attained his highest degree of perfection, or, as our Sages expressed it, when he reached the “fiftieth portal of understanding,”14 he was still “Moshe, G‑d’s servant.”

On the other hand, as it has often been pointed out, a Jew serves G‑d not only through prayer, Torah study, and doing Mitzvos, but also—to quote the Rambam15—with his eating and drinking...and in all his doings, even sleeping.16 For a Jew must prepare himself before going to bed in a way that his sleeping is elevated thereby to the status of Divine service—which is one of the reasons, indeed the deeper content, of Kerias Shma she’al haMittoh ]the Prayer Before Retiring to Sleep[.

[2] A second aspect, which likewise has to express itself in the daily life, is that G‑d gave Adam and Chavah—and through them to all Jews, men and women, to the end of posterity—the capacity and ability to “serve,” that is, to add something to the “palace” with all its requirements, notwithstanding the fact that these were created by G‑d, with Divine wisdom. Thus, however good the state of things is around a person and with the person, everyone can [hence, must] bring it to a higher degree of perfection, to the extent of—to quote the remarkable expression with which the Torah describes man’s contribution to Creation—becoming a “partner with the Holy One blessed be He in the work of Creation.”17 In other words, he is capable of contributing so much that the Torah, Toras Emes, declares him qualified as a “partner.”

  1. With the above aspects in mind, every Jew and Jewess should find it easier to do what must be done in order to rise ever higher in all matters of Torah and Mitzvos, and Yiddishkeit in general, in full accord with man’s purpose and life’s destiny—I was created to serve my Creator. Let everyone just consider the wonderful powers with which G‑d has endowed every Jew, even to become a partner—not in a small thing, and one thing, but—in the entire universe, created by G‑d’s Wisdom!
  2. The said contribution cannot be achieved in full measure through a limited, sporadic service, rendered on special occasions, or on certain times; but—only through a way of life which expresses itself in every-day service, by consecrating every act, word, and thought to be for the sake of Heaven, and consonant with the principle of know Him in all your ways18— so that G‑dliness clearly pervades all details of even mundane matters, and, as noted above, even while eating and drinking, etc. on an ordinary working day of the week.
  3. In the area of “to serve my Creator” there is the well known directive: Serve G‑d with joy,19 and also with deep, inner elation derived from the realization of being privileged to serve the Holy One, blessed be He.

This, too, is particularly emphasized this Rosh Hashanah20—which occurs on Shabbos, of which it is said, “Call the Shabbos a delight.”21

May G‑d grant everyone, man and woman, Hatzlocho in the efforts to achieve all the above, and in the way of joy and pleasure.

May G‑d eliminate anything that might hinder it, G‑d forbid, by “working salvation in the midst of the earth,”22 in an obvious and revealed manner—including the essential.

To grant every Jew and all Jews a good and sweet year in all respects and in all aspects.

With blessing for a
Kesivo vachasimo toivo
for a good and sweet year,23
/Signed: MENACHEM SCHNEERSON/