Chevre, as you might have noticed, tomorrow is ראֹשׁ הַשָּנָּה (Rosh Hashanah). As we have talked about in the past, Rosh Hashanah is complicated and often has concepts that clash. It’s a holiday with lots of food and feasting, but on the other hand it’s Yom HaDin (Day of Judgement). We dress in white for purity and offer selichot, but there is no Tachanun (the standard prayer for forgiveness) because it’s a holiday. It’s Rosh Chodesh, the first of the month, but that is never mentioned once. One of the core prayers in the Machzor (High Holiday Prayer Book) is ונתנה תוקף (Unetanah Tokef)
וּנְתַנֶּה תֹּקֶף קְדֻשַּׁת הַיּוֹם כִּי הוּא נוֹרָא וְאָיוֹם וּבו תִנָּשֵׂא מַלְכוּתֶךָ וְיִכּון בְּחֶסֶד כִּסְאֶךָ וְתֵשֵׁב עָלָיו בֶּאֱמֶת. אֱמֶת כִּי אַתָּה הוּא דַיָּן וּמוֹכִיחַ וְיוֹדֵעַ וָעֵד וְכוֹתֵב וְחוֹתֵם וְסוֹפֵר וּמוֹנֶה. וְתִזְכֹּר כָּל הַנִּשְׁכָּחות, וְתִפְתַּח אֶת סֵפֶר הַזִּכְרוֹנוֹת. וּמֵאֵלָיו יִקָּרֵא. וְחוֹתָם יַד כָּל אָדָם בּו. וּבְשׁוֹפָר גָּדוֹל יִתָּקַע. וְקוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה יִשָּׁמַע. וּמַלְאָכִים יֵחָפֵזוּן. וְחִיל וּרְעָדָה יֹאחֵזוּן. וְיֹאמְרוּ הִנֵּה יוֹם הַדִּין. לִפְקד עַל צְבָא מָרוֹם בַּדִּין. כִּי לֹא יִזְכּוּ בְעֵינֶיךָ בַּדִּין
Let us now relate the power of this day’s holiness, for it is awesome and frightening. On it Your Kingship will be exalted; Your throne will be firmed with kindness and You will sit upon it in truth. It is true that You alone are the One Who judges, proves, knows, and bears witness; Who writes and seals, Who counts and Who calculates. You will remember all that was forgotten. You will open the Book of Remembrances — it will read itself – and each person’s signature is there. And the great shofar will be sounded and a still, thin voice will be heard. Angels will be frenzied, a trembling and terror will seize them — and they will say, ‘Behold, it is the Day of Judgment, to muster the heavenly host for judgment!’ — for even they are not guiltless in Your eyes in judgment
I can still hear our Rabbi from when I was a kid reciting this. We are coronating HaShem the King of all Kings and then he turns around and decides what will happen to us this year. It’s written on Rosh Hashanah - 2021 and sealed on Yom Kippur. This is our chance to change that decree before it’s sealed.
In Jewish Law (Halacha) there are 2 conflicting concepts, that of לכתחילה (Lehatchila) and that of בדיעבד (Bediavad). Lehatchila is the way it should be in a perfect world. Bediavad is the way it’ll be after the fact or in the current circumstance. Halacha spends time talking about Lehatchila, but much more time what happens after the OOOPS in Bediavad. Rosh Hashanah - 2021 is the start of the core time for תשובה (Teshuva) or returning. We don’t live in a perfect world and we are all human and mess up. This is our time to identify what we’ve done wrong and work to improve them.
I know you’ve all been waiting for me to get to how this relates to the tech world, so Lehatchila is the architecture on the White Board, perfect and prisitine, working perfectly. Bediavad is the architecture after it’s been built. It works, but it’s not perfect. That is when we can go back in and look for areas to improve.
I bless you all to have a Shanah Tovah, Healthy! and Sweet and full of only good things for you, your family, and all Am Yisrael.
Rosh Hashanah - 2021