Q&A: Rosh Hashanah According to Your View
Rosh Hashanah According to Your View
Question
Greetings to Rabbi Michi, and a good year.
In the wonderful liturgical poem about the fate of the nations that is recited on Rosh Hashanah, I wondered what Rosh Hashanah actually is according to your view of providence. After all, you hold that the fate of nations is determined by the laws of nature and human choices. So I was thinking: what, then, is the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and judgment?
And I answered myself that just as there is a moment in the day when the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry, and one who knows how to time it can cause harm to another, so too Rosh Hashanah is a day (or days) on which humanity's remembrance rises before the Holy One, blessed be He, for all their deeds. It is not the writing of the judgment, but remembrance. Of course, it is an especially opportune day, just like that moment of wrath, but you probably would not agree with that either.
What do you say?
Answer
Indeed, that is correct. This applies not only to nations but also to individuals. In my view, it is mainly about the soul-searching that each person or nation does for themselves, and not about determining fate.
However, I keep saying that sporadic intervention by the Holy One, blessed be He, is possible, and my claim that there is no divine intervention in the world applies only to the ongoing, ordinary course of events. In that context, the usual meaning is also possible. In that picture, at least, it would have an effect, even if not everything is determined there.
I wrote about this in a post in previous Rosh Hashanah seasons.