Observances & Rituals:
There is an order to the season
By Rabbi Yossi Kenigsberg
We are currently seriously entrenched in this hallowed Jewish holiday season. We begin with Rosh Hashanah, when God judges us for the past year and decides our fate for the upcoming year.
From this point, we continue on to Yom Kippur, when we remain almost the entire day in the synagogue fervently immersed in prayer beseeching God for forgiveness for our religious and interpersonal transgressions, desperately hoping for atonement and rehabilitation. Finally, after we emerge from this journey we celebrate the holiday of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah in a mood of joy, exuberance and frivolity.
If one contemplates the chronology of these calendar events it would seem to make more sense to have a reverse order. Perhaps we should begin the holiday season with Sukkot. After all, this holiday involves more mitzvot than any other holiday. The sukkah, the lulav and etrog, and hallel provide us with an opportunity to embrace a multitude of merits that one would assume would help us find a favorable judgment from God. After we increase our meritorious standing, it would be logical to progress to Yom Kippur when we would ask God for atonement for our deficiencies and violations of Jewish law.
Finally, after assembling the merits of Sukkot and requesting atonement on Yom Kippur we should be adequately prepared to face the Heavenly Tribunal on Rosh Hashanah. Why is it that we begin with judgment, proceed to forgiveness, and conclude with an extravaganza of mitzvot?
The answer is that the primary function of Rosh Hashanah is for us to declare and profess that God is the king of the universe as well as our personal monarch. On Rosh Hashanah we establish the parameters of our relationship with Him and invite Him into our lives. The liturgy and themes of the day continuously reflect the concepts of God's majesty over us and His dominion over the global frontier.
All of history is dictated by His will and we are like "clay in the hands of the potter" in terms of His involvement in our lives. As a result, Rosh Hashanah must come first, because on that day we define our relationship with God and announce that only He, who has the power of life and death, can judge us appropriately. Once we have accepted that relationship we can proceed to Yom Kippur.
Only then can our supplications for forgiveness make sense. Once we accept the sovereignty of God on Rosh Hashanah we can truly comprehend the gravity of our sins against Him and we can commence the process of repentance and atonement with the appropriate humility and seriousness.
Finally, after we achieve an understanding of God's majesty on Rosh Hashanah and exit from Yom Kippur in a state of purity and sanctity we can approach the holiday of Sukkot in the correct manner. The purpose of mitzvot is not to acquire bonus points with God but to reaffirm and intensify our relationship with Him. After Yom Kippur we are given the multitude of mitzvot of Sukkot to allow us to maintain that lofty level of intimacy with God that we were able to achieve on Yom Kippur.
This is the true progression of this holy season. We begin by embracing the role of God in our lives as our king. Once we are comfortable with that concept, we begin to understand the gravity of sin and can ask Him for forgiveness. Finally, we can utilize the mitzvot of Sukkot to prolong our closeness with Him.
May we all take advantage of this most auspicious season to grow and develop spiritually and may we all experience a happy, meaningful, and successful year.
Rabbi Kenigsberg is an educator who lives in