Judaism, Jewish New Year & Torah: From Rosh Hashana To Yom Kippur – Who Are You Going To Create?

0:00 A man turns 50 and decides he's going to completely reinvent himself. He loses a lot of weight, joins a gym and gets incredibly fit. New haircut, new wardrobe, teeth whitened, laser eye surgery. Six months later he looks twenty years younger. He walks out the clinic after his final treatment, feeling fantastic. He sees an elderly woman at the bus stop and says, Excuse me, I wonder if you could help me. How old do you think I am? She looks him up and down. Hmm thirty eight? He beams I'm fifty. He carries on walking, goes into a cafe.

0:41 How old do you think I am? The waitress says about thirty five? Fifty. He's having the greatest day of his life. He goes into the post office. How old do you think I am? The man says maybe forty, fifty. He gets to the supermarket checkout and asks the woman there. She says I'm actually very good at guessing ages. But I can't do it by looking at someone. I have to close my eyes and tune into your energy, and then I'll know. It takes a little while. He's not sure about this, but he spent thousands on this transformation, and he wants to know, so he agrees.

1:18 She closes her eyes, she takes deep breaths, she tunes into his energy. It seems to be taking ages and he's getting very impatient. Eventually she steps back, she looks at him and she says, You're fifty. He's absolutely astonished. That's unbelievable. How could you possibly know that? She says, I was behind you in the post office. Rosh Hashanah is a time of recreation, when Hashem is recreating the world. At this time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are challenged to recreate ourselves.

1:57 Let's explore this idea. The Torah starts Barashit Bara Elohim. In the beginning Hashem created. You would think that if Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of creation, when Hashem recreates the world, then it will be that day in the Torah, the day of Barashit Bara Elohim, the first day of creation. But of course this is not the case. Rosh Hashanah is actually the sixth day of creation, the day that Adam and Hava were created. Before mankind was created, creation could only be in one direction. Hashem spoke, and the world came to be.

2:39 But the world was not complete when the heavens and earth, land and sea, sun and moon and plants and animals were created. Creation only reached its purpose when mankind was created. Hashem didn't merely create the world. Hashem created a being who can continue creating. And so Hashem created a partnership between us and humanity, because humanity itself was given the gift of creating by Hashem. And so Hashem said, Na Dam, let us make man in our image after our likeness. But who is the us? Let us make man in our image.

3:24 Who is the us? And what exactly does it mean to be created in Hashem's image? This idea of tselem. And after our likeness, Dimut? What is the difference between being created in Hashem's image, the Tselem, and after our likeness the Dimut? The answer that the Malbim gives is astounding. The Malbim explains that every human being is an Olam Katan, a miniature world. When Hashem says Na'ase Adam, let us make man, Hashem is addressing all of creation. Every part of creation contributes, and mankind therefore contains the entire universe within him.

4:08 That's why mankind is created last. Man has a physical body from the dust of the earth, the material world. He has life and biological drives like the animals. His nashama and intellect comes from the spiritual world. There's a theological purpose. The physical and spiritual worlds are so radically different, one might think they're from different creators. Mankind demonstrate that this is false. Within man, both physical and spiritual dimensions coexist as testimony of the oneness of Hashem. They originate from one creator.

4:50 So when Hashem says, let us make man, the us is the whole of creation. Mankind contains everything in creation made before him. But what about this idea that we are made in Hashem's image? The Tselem. The Malbim says that being made Betselem Elokim means Bakhirah, choice, free will. But he is more explicit. The Malbim uses the word memshala, which means authority. Mankind alone was given the power or authority to rule over himself. A stone makes no choices to what happens to it. If I kick it it moves.

5:30 If I throw it up in the air, gravity pulls it down. It has no choices. An animal operates according to its instinct and nature. If an animal's hungry, it will go look for food. If an animal's tired, it will look for somewhere safe to sleep. Even an angel has no freedom but performs the task Hashem assigns to it. Only mankind can choose to go against its instinct. I want the cake, but I won't have it. Hashem governs the world, but mankind can govern himself. Hashem can override nature. Mankind can override his nature.

6:10 Hashem has Bahira. Man also has Bahira. Choice, free will. This is Selem Elokim. On Rosh Hashanah we crown Hashem king of the universe, but Hashem has given each of us a kingdom too. The question is, who governs my Olam Katan? The Malbim asks a question. If we are in the image of Hashem, how can we choose evil? Hashem's Bahira only produces good, whereas our Bahra can produce terrible things. So how can it be but Selem Elokim? The Malbim answers that the essential nature of the Nishamah is good.

6:53 Evil does not originate in the essential character of the Nishama. Evil arises because the Nishama has been joined by the body and its material powers and drives. In its pure state, human bakhira resembles divine bakhirah. It naturally seeks the good. So the Malbum explains the Pasuk. Let us make man in our image after our likeness. The us is creation. The whole of creation goes into mankind on the sixth day. In our image, the Tselem, the Batselem Elokim, that is the Bakhirah, the free will, the choice that we're given.

7:33 But according to our likeness, Demut, that's what we can become if we use our Bakhirah in the right way. If we make the right choices, then we walk in Hashem's ways. We become like Hashem in his image. But if we don't make the right choices, then we won't be Demut. We won't be in Hashem's likeness. And so therefore the Malbim is explaining that to be made Bid Selem Elokim in the image of Hashem, that is a gift. But to be in his likeness Demut, that is for us to achieve. Every morning when we wake up we say Elakina Shamash Natabid Tahora, My God, the soul which you have given me is pure.

8:24 But how can we say it's pure? What about all the Averot we committed yesterday? Your failures may be real, but as the Malban explains, they're not the deepest definition of you. Rav Solovichik in Echoes of the Malban explains that Teshuva is possible because there is an element of you untouched by sin. That's the Nishama. The Nishama always remains pure, which is why we can say Elokai Nishamah every morning. Teshuva means return, because it's a return to the essential you, a person's essence. As the Malbam explains, our Nishama is good.

9:05 Teshuva doesn't say invent a new self, it says return to your essential self. Allow the Olamka tongue to be governed by its rightful ruler. Teshuva is therefore an act of recreation, not creating somebody new, but recreating the person you were always capable of becoming. In a famous Midrash, the Roman governor Turnus Rufus asked Rabbi Kiva, whose works are more beautiful, Hashems or Mankind's? Rabbi Kiva gives the most unbelievable answer. You'd expect him to say whose works are the most beautiful?

9:46 Of course Hashems. But Rabbi Kiva doesn't say that. Rabbi Kiva says mankind's. Rabbi Kiva then demonstrates showing Turnus Rufus, wheat provided by Hashem and bread bar provided by mankind. And Rabbi Kiva says to Turnus Rufus, which is more beautiful, the wheat or the bread? Brit Milar then makes the point even more emphatically. Hashem creates man unfinished because it creates space for partnership. Hashem, it's such a hesed. Hashem gives us the dignity of having purpose because Hashem creates beginnings, but he allows humanity the dignity of creating endings.

10:34 So Hashem could make bread, but Hashem makes wheat and allows us to make the bread. Hashem allows a male to be born and then we finish it off by Britmila. It's true of the world and it's true of ourselves. Hashem does not give us a finished human being. He gives us strengths and weaknesses, positive attributes, negative characteristics, experiences and choices, a body and an ashama, and then says, Let us make you. Rosh Hashanah is the annual renewal of the world, the anniversary of the creation of mankind, the purpose of creation.

11:19 And Rosh Hashanah explains the Ari, all things return to their prehistory. The world returns to its root. We pray to Hashem to renew creation for another year. At the same time Hashem is recreating the world, we are challenged over Alamha Katan, our small world. The question is, who are you going to create? This is why we don't do Vidui on Rosh Hashanah. We don't spend the day on individual sins. Rosh Hashanah deals with something more fundamental than individual mistakes. It asks who you are, your essential I, your essential self.

11:58 On Rosh Hashanah, we recognize Hashem's sovereignty over the universe. We also recognize the responsibility he has given us for sovereignty over ourselves. Hashem is Melech, the king, over the Olam Kadol, the big universe, the big world. He has given man Memshallah the authority to rule over his Olam Katan, the small world. Meanwhile, for the rest of the Aseraya May Teshuva, the ten days of repentance, although we start to think about individual sins and how we can improve, it still starts with the essential self, the essential I. Who do I want to be?

12:42 We blow the shofar during the month of Ell, and then of course it's the central part of Rosh Hashanah. The Rambam in Hilchot Teshuva says that one of the messages of the shofar is wake up you sleepy ones from your sleep, and you who slumber arise. The shofar is saying, Wake up, you're not finished. Last year's version of you is not the final version. Your habits are not your destiny. Your temperament is not your destiny. Your mistakes are not your destiny. Even your past is not your destiny. You were created But Selem Elakim in the image of Hashem.

13:21 You have Bachira, free will, and therefore Memshelah, authority over the Alom Katan called you. On Rosh Hashanah Hashem recreates his world. And the shofar says, Wake up, you're not finished. Last year's version of you does not have to be this version this year's version of you. Hashem once said, Na Asem Adam, Naasem Adam, let us make man. Perhaps that sentence was never meant to end. On Rosh Hashanah, Hashem recreates the world. We crown Hashem king and plead, please give us another year and create your world again.

14:02 The question Hashem leaves for each of us during this time, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, is who are you going to be? Who are you going to create?