SPECIAL
COMMENTARY

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CRY WITHIN FROM PAGE 49

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that the angels tried to convince God
not to spare Ishmael, for in the future
his descendants would cause Jews to
die of thirst. But God replied, "At
this moment he is righteous," and
judged him accordingly.
Similarly, our judgment on Rosh
HaShana is determined by who we
are at precisely this moment. Deter-
mining who that is requires a search-
ing look at ourselves.
Man is judged on Rosh HaShana.
But what sacrifice does he bring?
Himself. And just as a sacrifice
must be examined for blemishes four
days prior to being offered, so there
must be at least four days of peniten-
tial prayers prior to Rosh HaShana in
which we examine ourselves.
All the metaphors used in the
Mishnah to describe the judgment set
on this holy day is on the individual
in absolute isolation, stripped of all
social context. In that respect, judg-
ment resembles the day of death.
When we seek out the core that
constitutes our irreducible self, we
find ourselves in the situation so
poignantly described in a traditional
confessional prayer traditionally of
erev Rosh HaShana: "If You seek to
clean me, as one who refines and
purifies silver [in the fire], nothing
will remain of me."
But for a Jew something always
remains. "I slumber, but my heart is
awake "(Song of Songs 5:2). Our Sages
tell us that "my heart" refers to God,
the heart of Klal Yisrael. In every Jew
there always remains a point inca-
pable of being untainted.
Our task on Rosh HaShana is to
attach our entire existence to that
which is eternal within us. It is to rec-
ognize that the Life and Death to
which we refer on Rosh HaShana
have nothing to do with whether we
are breathing or not. In the words of
the Sages, "the wicked are called dead
even while they live, and the right-
eous are called living even in death."
To experience real Life is to experi-
ence a connection to the source of Life,
to God, who is called a God of Life.
Thus, the ultimate question we
address to ourselves on Rosh
HaShana is: Do I seek to be joined to
the wellspring of existence or is my
desire for that which passes like a
cloud? Do I seek Life or its opposite?

E C T....0 . .R Y

lassifif0.5e0ion,

