“Today is the birthday of the world” Jews sing toward the end of the series of soundings of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, the day that commemorates the creation of humankind, Adam and Eve “in the shadow [b’tzeil] of G-d.” The primary purpose of the shofar blasts crying out to G-d is to proclaim His sovereignty, — the remembrance of His purposes, Promise and mercy.

The centrality and nature of mercy to and in Judaism is often unappreciated. The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are perfectly timed to highlight some of its features.

The sovereignty of the Eternal One is intrinsic to our understanding of His mercy as His primary trait. For the Jewish understanding of G-d is that He loves life so much that He created worlds without number, each a vector of miraculous complexities and order, an order that includes a world where our thoughts, words, and efforts have consequences that can lead to every kind of abundance; a world where the results of our deeds can teach and clarify our sense of who, where and why we exist.

The orderly creation that G-d gave and gives us rewards thoughtful labor and above all teaches habits of attentiveness, self-scrutiny and wondrous appreciation of the Creator.

To fully acknowledge Him is to glimpse this magnificent power, its orderliness and its love. The justice that infuses this order and providence is essential to our ability to gain forms of mastery over our surroundings and our passions, mastery that lasts so long and to the extent that we recognize that we are not gods. The breadth of the Judaic sense of His mercy is revelatory, humbling, thrilling and redemptive: He wants us to remember Him and take shelter in the knowledge of His providence; and He provides for particular days when His chosen people focus on these facts of life so that they can infuse their days as much as possible and be diffused throughout the world.

“Today is the birthday of the world; on this day He calls all the created beings of the worlds [plural] to stand in judgment,” all of us. On this day, Judaism teaches, the ways in which all human beings are family are emphasized as is the sense that G-d cares for us (psalm 104) and about us. Thus the following verses ask does He regard us “as children or as servants? If as children, have mercy upon us as a father has mercy on children.” If only these saving, culture and world-sustaining truths of Jewish loving kindness would pervade the world. “If [we are regarded] as servants, our eyes are turned to You until You will be gracious to us and bring forth our judgment as the light, O Awesome and Holy One…”

So central is the import of this passage to the purpose of Rosh Hashanah and to the mission of the Jewish people that it is recited during the Amidah (daily liturgy, recited morning, afternoon and evening, expanded on holy days) even on Sabbaths when the shofar is not sounded. The greatest light the earth can bear, the light of Shabbat includes this affirmation of the human family’s kinship, their need and hope to be worthy of their loving Father Who fashioned all that there is for their wonder and use.

We are His children and servants; we are loved and need to understand our degrees and times of service to be fully free and to have our ways reveal and brim with that love.

Judge us with the goodness of the light, the good light at the beginnings of creation; bring us forth like the creation itself, the ultimate and foundational mercy and goodness that we may return Your light to you, “O Awesome and Holy One.”

The entire universe were created for human beings (modern science calls this purposeful design “the Anthropon principle”) to be vessels of the compassion that is light. “The lamp of the Compassionate One is the immortal soul [neshama] of man, which searches the inner chambers” (our organs, to direct their respective appetites toward magnifying the light; Proverbs 20:23).

One of the most deeply buried truths of history is that Judaism is a faith of mercy, of the most profound mercy and freedom based on gratitude to the creator and redeemer. The blasts of the shofar that proclaim this have their historical origin at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19-20) in verses recited repeatedly on Rosh Hashanah, and as remembered and celebrated in psalms 47, 81, 98 and 150 as well as many verses of the prophets. In recognizing His sovereignty (malkhuyot, one of the terms for the blasts of the shofar) Jews remember His remembrance of them, the mercies and loving kindness of His redemption from the centuries of torment in Egypt and the eternal covenant He gave them. Thus the other main term for the shofar blasts of Rosh Hashanah is zichronot, “remembrances.”  

A providence of mercy and remembrance are keynotes of Judaism sounded repeatedly on Rosh Hashanah. “He sustains the living with loving kindness; He resurrects the dead with great mercy. He supports the falling, heals the sick, and liberates the bound…” These are key verses from the second prayer of Judaism’s liturgy, the Amidah (“standing”). The sixth prayer also emphasizes these qualities: “Forgive us our Father for we have sinned; pardon us, our King for we have transgressed. For You are a good and forgiving G-d. Blessed art thou, Eternal One, Gracious One Who forgives abundantly.” This is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and on Rosh Hashanah, these verses regarding His loving mercy are emphasized at length. To know and remember Him and His sovereignty is to know these qualities:

“Who is like you, All-Merciful-Father, Who in compassion remembers His creatures for life,” we ask. And the congregation, mindful that it is praying for the entire world (which need not be Jewish, unlike the imperial or threatening claims of other creeds) says with the prayer leader (who is called a visionary, chazzan, a word cognate with “bridegroom” a beautiful and profound insight that sanctifies society and marital love) “thus shall we crown You as King…

“To Him Who arranges judgment;

“To Him Who probes hearts on the day of judgment; to Him Who reveals hidden things in judgment;

“To Him who speaks justly on the day of judgment; to Him Who analyzes attitudes in judgment;

“To Him Who is benevolent and acts kindly on the day of judgment; to Him who remembers His covenant in judgment;

“To Him Who has pity on His creatures on the day of judgment; Who hearkens to cries of prayer: He will reign forever and ever…

“To Him Who purifies those who trust in Him in judgment;

“To Him Who suppresses wrath in judgment;

“To Him Who garbs Himself in righteousness on the day of judgment; to Him Who forgives iniquities in judgment.

“To Him Who is awesome yet accepts praises on the day of judgment; to Him Who pardons those borne by Him, in judgment.

“To Him Who answers those who call upon Him on the day of judgment; to Him Who performs His acts of mercy in judgment…”

The Eternal One Who made us all family “probes hearts to reveal hidden things” because His judgment is a teaching, and the awareness that He is a loving Judge and of His times for particular judgment (our birthday, for instance) is an opportunity to honestly know ourselves as fully as possible in realizing that He knows us even more fully than the most loving Father knows His children who are always before his countenance… On Rosh Hashanah we have a chance to approach truth, especially the truth about ourselves with particular clarity, especially if we hearken to the shofar blasts, recall their history, and turn to Him in the knowledge of our freedom, failings, striving and resulting dignity.

True and full mercy includes judgment because we must distinguish, as G-d distinguishes wrong from right, evil from good, error from truth, so we can learn, improve, strengthen and nurture what is right, good and true, life-sustaining rather than impairing. Creativity, productivity, generosity and abundance are the keynotes.

Several prayers in the Amidah address G-d specifically as “Merciful Father” and thank Him for His gracious teachings. These prayers draw directly from the pattern of creation and from the moment when He summoned Moshe to return to the dense cloud above Mt. Sinai for the second set of Tablets, themselves embodying His mercy and forgiveness. It was then that He taught Moshe His “thirteen names of mercy” (Exodus 34:5-7) that secure His forgiveness with sincere repentance for all transgressions.

He also teaches that mercy requires restitution to those who have been wronged; it cannot be only lip service. Thus at Mt. Sinai, “doing” took precedence over speaking and even understanding.

Other creeds denounce hellfire and the sword on people who do not totally adopt their path. This is not the Jewish way, only that Jews be sovereign in the Promised Land so that they can follow the ways marked out for them to indicate His sovereignty to others. Other creeds appropriate Jewish terms for the Eternal One, — Merciful, Compassionate, Gracious – but their behavior toward others does not reflect these qualities. In the Jewish way, and regarding the Eternal One of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, “He has pity on His creatures on the Day of Judgment.” He does not demand that they “convert or die” or go to hell… “He is mindful that we are dust” and requires only Jewish sovereignty over its entire land and that it be an example to which other nations can turn for the light of mercy that is goodness and right living, for the generosity and faith He counts as righteousness.

For He, the Compassionate Father hears the prayers of every mouth, when they are directed to Him “by those who turn to Him sincerely…”

Today is the birthday of the world… What a wonderful gift it would be, it will be when all the nations sound the shofar with a cry of joy and encouraged Torah to go forth from Zion; when they will help rather than prevent His people and His land from being intact, as He is One. 

Happy birthday, son of Adam; happy birthday, daughter of Eve…

© Professor Eugene Narrett,  All Rights Reserved.

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