We and God Together Seek Atonement on Rosh Hashanah

by R. Nachman of Breslov

When a person sits down to talk with someone else, that can be said to correspond to Rosh Hashanah.

This is because Rosh Hashanah is a day of judgment; and when a person sits down to talk with someone else, he has a tendency to judge him.

A person must be very careful in this regard and look at himself well, to see if he is competent to judge someone else.

The verse states that “judgment belongs to God” (Deuteronomy 1:7)—meaning that only God is competent to judge someone.

Also, our Sages state, “Do not judge someone until you come to his place” (Pirkei Avot 2). But who can know and come to someone else’s place except for God? “He is the Place of the world, and the world is not His place” (Bereishit Rabbah, Veyeitzei 68, cited by Rashi on the verse hinei makom iti—Tisa). Each individual has a place with God. And so, only God can judge someone.

**

He is the Master of compassion, Who certainly “judges every individual favorably” (Avot 1).
We can see His compassion in the fact that He set the date for Rosh Hashanah, which is a day of judgment, on rosh chodesh—the new month. That is a great kindness—for how else would we dare lift up our faces to seek atonement from God? He did us the great kindness of setting the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah, on rosh chodesh, for at that time God Himself (as it were) seeks atonement. We learn that God says in regard to rosh chodesh, “Bring an atonement on My behalf” (Shavuot 9a, Chullin 60b).

We learn that from the following Talmudic passage.

R. Shimon ben Pazi contrasted two verses. One states that “God made the two great lights”—the sun and moon—implying that they were of equal size (Genesis 1); and the other describes the sun and moon as “the large light and the small light.”

The solution to this contradiction is as follows.

Originally, the sun and moon were of equal size, but the moon complained to the Holy One, blessed be He, “Master of the universe, is it possible for two kings to make use of the same crown?”

God replied to the moon, “Then make yourself smaller.”

She said to Him, “Master of the universe, because I raised a reasonable point to You, should I then make myself smaller?”

God attempted to appease the moon in various ways, but she refused to be reconciled. Seeing this, He said, “Bring an atonement on My behalf for having made the moon smaller.”

And so on the Day of Judgment we are not ashamed to seek atonement, since God Himself seeks atonement at that time.

Also, when God Himself must, as it were, state, “Bring an atonement on My behalf”—i.e., because He did something that He must regret—we are not ashamed to come before Him with our sins in order to seek atonement for them and regret them, since He Himself has done something that He needs to regret.

And so we see the greatness of God’s compassion—i.e., that He set the date for Rosh Hashanah on rosh chodesh.

Only He is fit to judge the world, for only He knows the place of each individual. This is because all places are with Him, since “He is the Place of the world, and the world is not His place.”

**

We find that God’s Presence rested in certain sites, such as the Temple. But that is not to say (heaven forbid) that God constricted His Divinity (heaven forbid). As Solomon stated, “Behold, the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain You—certainly not this house” (Kings I 8:26).

But there were felicitous matters there—e.g., we learn that the Temple was in the form of the Work of Creation and in the form of the Garden of Eden (see Introduction to the Tikunim). Therefore, God drew His holiness into it.

But as for God Himself, the world is not His place—rather, He is the Place of the world.
God can make Rosh Hashanah, which is the Day of Judgment, because He represents the concept, “Do not judge someone else until you come to his place,” because God is the Place of the world.

The verse states that “holiness is felicitous in Your House, Hashem, for length of days” (Psalms 93:5).

That is to say, God drew His holiness into the Temple, since it had felicitous things there. But as for God Himself, the world is not His place—rather, He is the Place of the world.

And so the verse ends, “Hashem, for length of days.” That is to say, since God is the Place of the world, He can make Rosh Hashanah, the day of judgment, which is called for halachic reasons a “lengthy day” (Beitzah 4 and 6; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 393).

**

A person who grasps the level of the Throne of Glory—which is the level of the roots of souls—corresponds to the Place of the world. That corresponds to the verse, “He endows [such people] with a seat of honor as an inheritance, for Hashem’s are the pillars of the earth, upon which He set up the world” (Samuel I 2:8).

That is to say, by coming to the level of the Throne of Glory, the roots of souls, such people function as the place of the world, the level of “upon them He set up the world.”

And thus such a person can make Rosh Hashanah.

Likutei Moharan Tinyana 1:14