The major theme of the month of Elul and the High Holidays is teshuva - repentance and return to God. Yet, during Rosh Hashanah itself, there is no mention of sin. We say no confessionals, nor make any promises for improvement. The prayers of Rosh Hashanah deal with a totally different theme: world acceptance of God's sovereignty. How does this holiday fit in with the overall seasonal theme of penitence?
Before blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, we say: "From my straits I called out to God. He answered me, and set me in a wide expanse." (Psalms 118:5)
Note the contrast between the beginning of the verse ("from my straits") and its conclusion ("wide expanse"). What are these straits? This refers to our troubled feelings of oppression and conflict. With God's help, we are placed in a "wide expanse". Our emotional stress and anxieties are eased; our physical constrictions are broken.
This progression from the narrow to the wide is also a good physical description of the principle mitzvah-object of Rosh Hashanah: the shofar.
Rabbi A. I. Kook, however, does not explain this narrow/wide contrast on a psychological level. Rather, he compares it to the distinction between the individual and the community (the klal). There are narrow, private concerns of the individual; and there are broad, general concerns of the community and the nation.
Teshuva occurs on many levels. The individual corrects his personal failings; the nation restores itself to its native land, language, culture and beliefs; and the world as a whole advances as it recognizes divine morality and rule.
The gradual widening of the shofar is a metaphor for these ever-expanding circles of repentance and spiritual progress. The order is crucial: our individual teshuva must precede the universal teshuva of the klal.
During the month of Elul, we are engaged in rectifying our own personal faults and mistakes. On Rosh Hashanah, our outlook expands. We pray for the repentance of the entire nation that recognizes God's sovereignty, and we yearn for the healing of the entire world.
[Based on Celebrations of the Soul, p. 36]
Before blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, we say: "From my straits I called out to God. He answered me, and set me in a wide expanse." (Psalms 118:5)
Note the contrast between the beginning of the verse ("from my straits") and its conclusion ("wide expanse"). What are these straits? This refers to our troubled feelings of oppression and conflict. With God's help, we are placed in a "wide expanse". Our emotional stress and anxieties are eased; our physical constrictions are broken.
This progression from the narrow to the wide is also a good physical description of the principle mitzvah-object of Rosh Hashanah: the shofar.
Rabbi A. I. Kook, however, does not explain this narrow/wide contrast on a psychological level. Rather, he compares it to the distinction between the individual and the community (the klal). There are narrow, private concerns of the individual; and there are broad, general concerns of the community and the nation.
Teshuva occurs on many levels. The individual corrects his personal failings; the nation restores itself to its native land, language, culture and beliefs; and the world as a whole advances as it recognizes divine morality and rule.
The gradual widening of the shofar is a metaphor for these ever-expanding circles of repentance and spiritual progress. The order is crucial: our individual teshuva must precede the universal teshuva of the klal.
During the month of Elul, we are engaged in rectifying our own personal faults and mistakes. On Rosh Hashanah, our outlook expands. We pray for the repentance of the entire nation that recognizes God's sovereignty, and we yearn for the healing of the entire world.
[Based on Celebrations of the Soul, p. 36]