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Holy Days -
Rosh Hashana
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Written by Searle Silverman
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בסייד
ח אלול תשסט
last edited: ט תשרי תשעב
Cheshbon Hanefesh
Below are some of my notes on cheshbon hanefesh from shiurim I have heard by Rav Berkovits shilta. I found the shiurim very inspiring and practical and thought it may be worthwhile sharing. I hope you find this beneficial. (I apologise for any inaccuracies that may have crept in, and also for the brevity for some points.)
How to go about doing a cheshbon hanefesh - some guidelines:
1. Recognise how special you are (chelek Elokai mimal) - if you don't think so it’s your yeitza hora telling you that;
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Holy Days -
Rosh Hashana
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Written by d fine
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When Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, Chazal forbade the blowing of the shofar, lest we desecrate Shabbos by carrying the Shofar to Shul. However, the gemarra tells us that any year which does not witness the blowing of a shofar at its beginning (I.e. on Rosh Hashanah) has an element of danger to it. Why would Chazal ban the shofar if it’s dangerous for us? Reb Tzvi Kushulevski answers that the key to shofar is yiras shamayim - the deafening voiceless call of the shofar imbues the listener with an all-important sense and sensitivity of fear of Heaven. Similarly, as Rabeinu Yonah writes, following Rabbinic laws (their being enacted as a fence around the Torah) also causes a sense of yiras shamayim, for the very fact that Rabbinic laws make biblical transgression less likely shows that one is worried about transgressing a Torah law. The additional Rabbinic decrees thus emanate yiras shamayim. Therefore, when we heed Chazal’s words by not blowing shofar on Shabbos, we get the yiras shamayim that the shofar would have provided anyway, and thus there’s no danger.
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Holy Days -
Rosh Hashana
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Written by d fine
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Rosh Hashanah is the day of judgment, and as such one would expect it to be the final day of the year - this way we can be judged for what we have done over the past year. However, as its name suggests, this is not so. Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the new year. Howzat? As Rav Wolbe highlights, the idea is that on Rosh Hashanah we are not judged for what we have done over the previous year - we are judged by who we are at the present moment. We are judged according to how much we can presently commit to reflecting HaShem’s glory in this world and how prepared we are to live spiritual lives. Rosh Hashanah is not about the past. It’s about the present.
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Holy Days -
Rosh Hashana
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Written by d fine
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On Rosh Hashanah we start the meal with various simanim and their accompanying brachos and texts. For example, we eat a pomegranate and ask that our merits should be as numerous as pomegranate seeds, and we eat apply with honey so that we should have a sweet new year, etc. What is the idea of these simanim - are they just games or examples of clever play on words? Rav Neventzal explained that the main idea of these simanim are to inspire us to repent. When we look at the apple and honey and ask for a sweet new year, we are reminded that we need to mend our ways to merit such sweetness. And so it goes for all the simanim - they are mental reminders and motivators for us to repent. The Shem Mishmuel offers a different approach, arguing that each thing we eat on Rosh Hashanah has certain effects in the spiritual realms. It is these spiritual effects that we are tapping into when we eat these select foods on the Day of Judgment
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Holy Days -
Rosh Hashana
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Written by Rafi Jager
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On Rosh Hashanah, the Jews spread throughout the four corners of the earth and entered their houses of prayer. They beseeched G-d, "and inscribe us for a good year," and listened intently as the shofar was being blown. The heavenly court looked at their actions, but they were not enough to tip the scales for good and their judgment hung in balance.
During the ten days of repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, many Jews gave extra charity, asked
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