Pre-Selichos 5771: Yiras Haonesh

אמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשו לו כשגגות. Great is the power of teshuvah that even willful transgressions, even zedonot, na'asu lo kishgaghot, that are downgraded to unintentional transgressions shene'emar שובה ישראל עד ה' אלקיך כי כשלת בעונך. He-avon meizid hu, avon, the connotation of avon is that it's something willful, intentional, rachmana litzlan, וכקרי ליה מכשול. Says the Gemara: eini? ve-ha-amar Reish Lakish גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשו לו כזכיות. But Reish Lakish, the same Reish Lakish, says that great is the power of teshuvah that rachmana litzlan a willful aveira through the transformative effect of teshuvah can become a source of merit shene'emar

ובשוב רשע מרשעתו ועשה משפט וצדקה עליהם הוא יחיה. לא קשיא כאן מאהבה כאן מיראה.

One statement of Reish Lakish is referring to when the teshuvah is undertaken, the motivation, the impetus for teshuvah is ahavas Hashem, and in the other, the motivation, the impetus for teshuvah is yira. Simply yiras ha-onesh. A person is afraid, rachmana litzlan, of the punishment which could be forthcoming. That Hakadosh Baruch Hu accepts a teshuvah mi-yira is something remarkable. משל למה הדבר דומה: You have someone robs a bank. In the course of the robbery, to make sure that he doesn't have any opposition which will prevent him from carrying out his scheme, he pistol whips the bank guard. But he's caught on the security camera and ultimately he's tried and convicted. He's given a couple of minutes to address the judge before sentencing and he's crying. Why is he crying? He takeh does have a charata now, he takeh is filled with a sense of remorse and regret, but it's only because he's about to feel what the wages of sin are. Doesn't seem to be anything noble about his teshuvah. It is a teshuvah. There is a charata, there is a sense of regret and remorse that he ever went down this path. He realizes now that the path was wrong, but the only reason he realizes it is because the judge is about to throw the book at him. That's exactly what our teshuvah mi-yira is and the Ribbono Shel Olam accepts it. The Ribbono Shel Olam accepts such a teshuvah. No questions, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's Keil Rachum ve-Chanun. There's no question as to why Hakadosh Baruch Hu accepts such a teshuvah. It's not a question and nonetheless, perhaps it would be instructive to understand a little bit, if we can, this middah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that he accepts a teshuvah mi-yira. The Rambam in the beginning of Perek Beis of Yesodei HaTorah writes as follows: הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה מצוה לאהבו וליראה ממנו shene'emar ואהבת את ה' אלקיך vene'emar את ה' אלקיך תירא. Again, Hakel... הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה מצוה לאהבו וליראה ממנו as the mitzvah to love and fear Hakadosh Baruch Hu, shenemar, the two pesukim ואהבת את ה' אלהיך ונאמר את ה' אלהיך תירא. There's something very conspicuous about the Rambam's formulation that the Rambam changes the idiom of the pasuk. The pasuk speaks of את ה' אלהיך תירא in the accusative. There's no preposition there. It's את ה' אלהיך תירא. The Rambam changes it to leyira mimeno. And he doesn't only do that once. He does it consistently. I'm reading in the Frankel Rambam in the beginning of Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah where he lists the mitzvos that will be discussed in these halachos. Mitzvah daled is le'ahavo, to love him. Mitzvah hey is leyira mimeno. Again with that, with a preposition, to have fear from him, not to fear him as the pasuk reads, but rather leyira mimeno. And so in the, in each of the Rambam's Minyan HaMitzvos. Mitzvah gimmel le'ahavo, מצוה ד' לירא ממנו. And it's especially striking because the Rambam's quoting the pasuk that doesn't formulate it that way. The Rambam continues in halacha bais, והיכי הדרך לאהבתו ויראתו, how is a person inspired to ahavas Hashem, to yiras Hashem?

בשעה שיתבונן האדם במעשיו וברואיו הנפלאים הגדולים ויראה מהם חכמתו שאין לה ערך ולא קץ

when a person reflects upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu's great and wondrous creation and sees the infinite, inestimable wisdom which is reflected therein, מיד הוא אוהב ומשבח ומפאר and has this tremendous desire lada'as Hashem hagadol to know Hakadosh Baruch Hu כמו שאמר דוד צמאה נפשי לאלהים לאל חי. Dovid Hamelech says, my soul thirsts for Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

וכשמחשב בדברים האלו עצמן מיד הוא נרתע לאחוריו וירא ויפחד ויודע שהוא בריה קטנה שפלה אפלה עומד בדעת קלה מעוטה לפני תמים דעות.

And when a person reflects upon these same things, so he recoils and he's filled with a sense of awe and dread and he knows what a lowly creature he is, totally unenlightened, standing with such meager understanding and intelligence before Hakadosh Baruch Hu of perfect knowledge. The Rambam here is describing yiras haromemus. The Rambam's describing the sense of awe because of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's greatness, because of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's majesty, because of his exaltedness. He doesn't mention yiras ha'onesh, the sense of fear that a person is supposed to have because of the eleventh of the thirteen ikarim that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is גומל טוב לשומרי מצותיו ומעניש לעוברי מצותיו. The Rambam doesn't mention that. Conversely, in Sefer HaMitzvos it's the only thing he mentions, שנירא ביאת ענשו בכל עת that we should constantly be afraid of punishment for sin, שנירא ביאת ענשו בכל עת. There's no mention of yiras haromemus, only yiras ha'onesh. Here in halacha bais, the Rambam is describing only yiras haromemus, only that sense of awe because of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's greatness, his majesty, not a sense of yiras ha'onesh. The Rambam gives as one of his rules in Sefer HaMitzvos for mitzvos which are, which types of mitzvos are included in the list of Taryag and which not, so the Rambam says that anything which is all-encompassing is not included in the minyan Taryag. all mitzvos. So Kedusha isn't the isn't a single discrete mitzvah but rather it's an overarching goal for all of Torah. For that reason it would appear that in Sefer Hamitzvos the Rambam only speaks of Yiras Haonesh because Yiras Haromemus to have a sense of fear because of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's greatness, his exaltedness, that's also a goal of all of Torah and mitzvos. It's not an independent discrete mitzvah, it's a goal of everything. If the mitzvah of Yiras Hashem appears in Minyan Hamitzvos, it's because of Yiras Haonesh. Yiras Haonesh is something discrete and self-contained. The fact that a person should have again a sense of accountability, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu holds us accountable, so that's something discrete and self-contained. That warrants inclusion in the Minyan Hamitzvos. When the Rambam says

הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה מצוה לאהבו וליראה ממנו שנאמר ואהבת את ה' אלהיך ונאמר את ה' אלהיך תירא

so the Rambam says when the Torah speaks of את ה' אלהיך תירא the Torah is including as well and perhaps even primarily Yiras Haromemus. That's the ultimate goal, that's where Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to get, that's the level that he wants us to attain. את ה' אלהיך תירא the fear is for Hakadosh Baruch Hu because of who he is, because of what he is. That's what the pasuk primarily wants us to achieve, to attain. But the Rambam says when I tell you it's a mitzvas asei, when it's a discrete mitzvas asei in the list of 613, that's not because of the element of Yiras Haromemus. That's rather because of the element of Yiras Haonesh, Liyarei mimenu. The mem has that sense of being afraid from, from what Hakadosh Baruch Hu can do. That's the sense Liyarei mimenu so hence the pasuk is את ה' אלהיך תירא because Yiras Haromemus is what is a person afraid he's afraid Hakadosh Baruch Hu because of his greatness, because of his awesomeness. את ה' אלהיך תירא the accusative, there's no room for any preposition. But in Minyan Hamitzvos, when I tell you it's a mitzvas asei in Sefer Hamitzvos, when I tell you in Halacha Aleph here that it's a mitzvas asei one of the 613, so there the emphasis, there the focus has to be on the Yiras Haonesh Liyarei mimenu and thus the Rambam actually does have Yiras Haonesh here in the Yad as well. Let's turn for a moment to what Yiras Haonesh entails. לירא ביאת ענשו בכל עת Rav Kapach's translation reads

שנירא ביאת ענשו ולא יהיה לבבנו בלי מורא אליו כל היום

to constantly fear Hakadosh Baruch Hu's punishment, to fear his punishment that our hearts should not be without that sense of fear at any point during the day. Be'ezras Hashem elaborate on this shortly, but Yiras Haonesh means having a sense of accountability. When one goes to the bank, to the teller and the The teller is giving bills, so they count the bills once, they count the bills twice, maybe a third time because there's a sense of accountability. If there's anything amiss when their drawer gets checked at the end of the day, they're going to be held accountable. That awareness of accountability is something that's supposed to be omnipresent. Sefer Hachinuch says and specifically when a person is confronted with a situation of potential cheit, that's when he is especially obligated to awaken himself. That feeling of Yiras Haonesh should inhibit one from cheit. And if it doesn't, so then one is guilty of having been mevattel this mitzvas asei of Yiras Hashem, of Yiras Haonesh. Lehair es rucho. Person is supposed to arouse himself when confronted with a situation of cheit. If we reflect for a moment, so lichora it should be a kal vachomer that if Yiras Haonesh should inhibit us from cheit in the first time, so על אחת כמה וכמה how much more so that the mitzvah of Yiras Haonesh, the mitzvah of את ה' אלהיך תירא should also serve as impetus for teshuvah. If I know rachmana litzlan of chatoim, so if את ה' אלהיך תירא שנורא ביאת עונשו בכל עת should inhibit me from the cheit in the first place, so how much more so that with a sense of urgency it should impel me to do teshuvah. So in addition to mitzvas teshuvah itself, the mitzvah of Yiras Hashem, mitzvah of את ה' אלהיך תירא of Yiras Haonesh obligates us in teshuvah. Teshuvah acts as a tris bifnei hapur'anus. Teshuvah shields us from punishment because Hakadosh Baruch Hu accepts teshuvah and Hakadosh Baruch Hu atones for our chatoim. And thus את ה' אלהיך תירא is mechayev in teshuvah. Yiras Haonesh obligates us to do teshuvah. That's the point, Rabbeinu Yonah's mashal, the very beginning of Shaarei Teshuvah about these prisoners. Several of them tunnel out and they break out and one of them doesn't go. And when the melech hears about it, he's enraged with the one who didn't break out, with the one who didn't leave. Because the one who didn't leave, what Rabbeinu Yonah is, the mashal can be distracting, but what Rabbeinu Yonah intends with the mashal is it shows a sense of apathy or contemptuousness to what the king can do to him if he stays in jail. So Yiras Haonesh is mechayev in teshuvah. If the Ribbono Shel Olam gives us a mitzvah of Yiras Haonesh which obligates us to do teshuvah, then certainly he's going to be willing to accept the teshuvah which comes mitoch yirah. But it goes beyond that. ראשית חכמה יראת ה'. However many degrees a person accumulates. Chochma is a defining human quality, a defining human trait. Pasuk says in Tehillim, איש בער לא ידע וכסיל לא יבין את זאת. So what does ish bar mean? Ish bar means an ignorant person. The word bar, beeiro, beeiram means animal. So the Metzudos explains that a person without chochma doesn't have the defining human quality. A person who's mired in ignorance, איש בער לא ידע וכסיל לא יבין את זאת, so the word for ignorant comes from the word for an animal. So that means that the very tzuras ha'adam, the defining human quality is that a person has yiras Hashem. Without chochma, a person is reduced to being an ish bar, ראשית חכמה יראת השם, so the tzuras ha'adam, the defining essential human characteristic is to have yiras Hashem, at the very least on the level of yiras ha'onesh. Maharal and others explain that teshuva means not only teshuva to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but also teshuva to oneself. Teshuva to the real person. The real person is אלהי נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא. A person does teshuva he's going to Hashem, but he's also returning to himself. So it's true that a teshuva miyira is only miyira, but a teshuva miyira is a teshuva miyira. A person is redeeming himself. A person goes from איש בער לא ידע to ראשית חכמה יראת השם, he regains his essential human quality, his essential humanity. True, it's only a teshuva miyira, but it's a teshuva miyira. So many of the sefarim explain that Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippurim are a time for teshuva miyira, Sukkos be'ezras Hashem a time for teshuva mei'ahava. When thinking about the relationship between the mitzvah of את השם אלהיך תירא of yiras ha'onesh and teshuva, we begin to understand a phenomenon that so many comment on. We're all aware of it, a very, very painful reality, which is the lack of reaction that we don't feel Chodesh Elul. Four days away from the Yom Hadin and we don't feel it. It's an observation that we've all heard countless times. But the answer is, if the whole notion of yiras ha'onesh is so alien to us, so what hisorerus is there going to be in Chodesh Elul or aseres yemei teshuva? Lanusa mipach pesheihem, the sense of urgency that Rabbeinu Yona talks about in Sha'arei Teshuva to flee, to save ourselves, all of that ultimately, ultimately has to emanate from a sense of yiras ha'onesh. We don't have an adequate sense of yiras onsh. In the presentation of the Rambam's yud gimmel ikkarim in the Siddur, each of them is introduced with אני מאמין באמונה שלמה. Apparently, a person can believe, but not necessarily with emuna sheleima. A person can believe, a person can subscribe to a belief, a person can affirm a belief, a person can feel a belief, a person can internalize a belief, a person can live based upon that belief. The sense of sluggishness that we have during chodesh Elul would seem to point to the fact that we don't feel it.

הקדוש ברוך הוא גומל טוב לשומרי מצוותיו ומעניש לעוברי מצוותיו

is something we know, Ani Maamin, but it's not something we feel be'emuna sheleima. So given that this is the key to the season of Elul and Yomim Noraim, let's try to understand a little bit more just what yiras ha-onesh entails. We'll read just a few, we could go back to rishonim, Chazal, but just read a few classic sources from the gedolei acharonim. Mesillas Yesharim: לא ישכח החמורות את הקלות. More serious offenses don't overshadow less serious offenses.

ולא יעלים הדיין עינו מהם כלל כאשר לא יעלים מהחמורות.

And the judge won't turn his eye away from them, won't close his eye to lesser offenses the same way he won't disregard more serious offenses. אלא על כולם ישגיח ויפקח. He'll be mindful of all of them,

לדון כל אחד מהם ולהעניש אחר כך על כל אחד כפי מה שהוא.

And it's what Shlomo Ha-Melech alav ha-shalom omer,

כי את כל מעשה האלקים יביא במשפט. כי כאשר אין הקדוש ברוך הוא מניח מלשקול כל מעשה טוב קטן כמו שהוא,

the smallest good deed is rewarded,

כן לא יניח מלשפוט ולהוכיח כל מעשה רע קטן כמו שהוא.

The seemingly minor offenses.

ולהוציא מלב הרוצים להתפתות ולחשוב שלא יעלה הקדוש ברוך הוא בדינו הדברים הקלים ולא יקח חשבון עליהם.

That Hakadosh Baruch Hu will disregard those. It's what Moshe Rabbeinu alav ha-shalom amar,

הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט קל אמונה ואין עול. כך היא המידה ועל הכל הוא דן ועל כל חטא הוא מעניש ואין להמלט.

And without the benefit of teshuva, there is no refuge from cheit. Rabbi Yisroel Salanter in Iggeres HaMusar: יום המות מכל מכוסה. The timing of the day of death is hidden from all. Pitom yavo, it can come suddenly and when it comes ואלוהים יפקוד את כל מעשה שעשה. Hakadosh Baruch Hu will then reckon every action a person did. אחת מהן לא נעדרה. Nothing will be missing, nothing will be omitted from Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s scrutiny. And at that point אין מנוס ומפלט להינצל. At that point a person has no refuge. The refuge of Teshuva is available now, it’s not available at that point. Ella zos, we were talking again about how Yiras HaOnesh is mechayiv in Teshuva כל עוד נשמתינו בקרבנו נמהר נחישה לפלס דרכינו לטוב. So long as our soul is within us, we should quickly with a sense of urgency do Teshuva. And maybe the most remarkable source is a letter written by Rav Chaim Berlin. Rav Chaim Berlin was the oldest son of the Netziv. He was the Rav in Moscow and then later came to Eretz Yisroel. He was very friendly with one of the leading talmidim of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, Rav Itzel Blazer. He writes the following letter: וזה היה ביום י"א מנחם אב. Rav Itzel Blazer predeceased Rav Chaim Berlin. They had been very, very close. Rav Itzel Blazer was Rav in Petersburg, Rav Chaim Berlin was in Moscow and then later they both came to Eretz Yisroel to Yerushalayim. ויהי בליל שבת קודש שלאחריו. Friday night, Leil Shabbos of the Shiva for Rav Itzel Blazer. סמוך לאור הבוקר. It was coming close to daybreak. בא המנוח אצלי בחלום. The departed, Rav Itzel Blazer, appeared to me, says Rav Chaim Berlin, in a dream. V’amar li, Yasher koach על שלא הספדת עלי שבח. Rav Itzel Blazer had left a tzava’ah that he didn’t want any hespedim and Rav Chaim Berlin and all others had followed that tzava’ah, even though Rav Chaim Berlin spoke, it was just divrei hisorerus, he didn’t eulogize Rav Itzel. So he gives him a Yasher koach. V’sha’alti mimenu, Rav Chaim Berlin in his dream asks Rav Itzel Blazer מה נעשה בדינו בעולם ההוא. What's happening? What's happening in the Olam HaEmes? V’amar li,

ויאמר לי שדין של מעלה חמור מאוד שאי אפשר לשום אדם בעולם הזה לשער כלל.

It’s impossible for anyone in this world to have an accurate sense for the din which happens in Shamayim. U-beyichud and especially makpidim m’od על דברים האסורים שנדברו שלא כהוגן. And in the בית דין של מעלה, what they are especially strict about is improper speech. So Yiras HaOnesh has two components. There’s a component of recognizing the comprehensiveness of our accountability, that everything we do, everything we say, we’re accountable for. And that that accountability without teshuvah translates into onesh rachmana litzlan. So what does all this mean halacha l'ma'aseh? So we know intellectually that a Yom HaDin is impending. We know that the key to being able to react and to respond and to prepare is to have some modicum of yiras ha-onesh. So first of all, we need to spend time just reflecting on this idea of our accountability on some of these sources. Time in hisbodedus to reflect. Reflection leads to internalization. The more we reflect, the more we review, the more we reinforce, the more it penetrates and the more it seeps in. To sit with that, with those few lines, be it in the Mesillas Yesharim, be it in Rav Yisrael's Igeres HaMussar, the letter from Rav Chaim Volozhin, the Igeres HaGra, the Ramban's Toras HaAdam, whatever the source will be, to reflect and to review and to reinforce the reality of what we believe. It's not just Ani Ma'amin, it's not just something to which we subscribe, but there's a reality to it. אני מאמין באמונה שלמה. Second of all, to try, think on the radio when they have call-in shows, so they have this three-second rule that they can, there's a three-second delay so if they don't want something to get on the air so they can pull the plug on it. L'havdil, if we had a three-second rule before acting, before speaking, to try to train ourselves that there should be a hesitation, a hesitation of: Am I ready to give an accounting? Am I ready to defend what I'm about to say? Am I ready to defend, am I ready to account for what I'm about to do? If we could develop that habit, again, hesitation, to hesitate, to weigh. Now, the truth is that what we've been talking about is very heavy. It's very sobering and very, very heavy. We are supposed to reflect on these realities. They are realities. There's no refuge by living in a fool's paradise. But reflecting on these realities is supposed to humble us, supposed to energize us to do teshuvah, not chas v'shalom to become depressed. Coming back to the Rambam in Perek Bais of Yesodei HaTorah that we read a little while ago, האל הנכבד והנורא הזה מצוה לאהבו וליראה ממנו שנאמר. The Rambam here is very noteworthy for the following reason. I don't know how many other examples there are, perhaps there are other examples I don't know, but there aren't too many where the Rambam compresses two mitzvos into the same halacha. Generally, each mitzvah gets its own due. The Rambam will introduce one mitzvah in one halacha, finish dealing with that halacha, that mitzvah, then he'll move on to the next. Here the Rambam in one breath, b'neshima achas,

מצוה לאהבו וליראה ממנו שנאמר ואהבת את ה' אלהיך ונאמר את ה' אלהיך תירא.

And then even in halacha bais he says and HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the world in such a way that the impetus for both is one and the same. The two mitzvos of ahava and yirah are conjoined here. So there's more than one explanation for this. The one that pertains to us now is a person can't live with one without the other. Ahava without yirah is not real because it distorts what our real relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu is. Imagine a son who's so close with his father, which should be the case. They've learned together for so many years, they've shared so much and there's a wonderful sense of intimacy, such a wonderful sense of intimacy that the son calls the father by his first name. So the intimacy should be there, the closeness should be there, but that already becomes a caricature, that already distorts the relationship. At the end of the day, the intimacy and the love is between father and son. It's not between two friends. A person can't love HaKadosh Baruch Hu without fearing HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But on the other hand, a person can't only fear HaKadosh Baruch Hu because then it's not only sobering and humbling, but it can become depressing and overwhelming. And so hence the Rambam presents the two together, because the mitzvah of ahavas Hashem, the ahava is reciprocal. Ahava rabba ahavtanu, אהבת עולם בית ישראל עמך אהבת. There's a mitzvah to love HaKadosh Baruch Hu, but that love is reciprocal, it's reciprocated. So we owe it to ourselves to reflect on yiras ha'onesh. We owe it to ourselves to try to develop a sense of yiras ha'onesh, but at the same time to keep that from being crippling, depressing, paralyzing. We also have to reflect on the other component of our relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The Netziv has a comment on this morning's krias HaTorah:

כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום לא נפלאת היא ממך ולא רחוקה היא.

So like the Ramban and the Sforno, the Netziv says that the mitzvah here is the mitzvah of tshuva. It's not hidden, it's not distant from us. כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד, it's very, very close to us, says the Netziv, specifically that the Torah here is referring to tshuva me'ahava. That that which is לא נפלאת ולא רחוקה is not just a tshuva mi'yirah, but even a tshuva me'ahava is

לא נפלאת ולא רחוקה. כדאיתא בזהר הקדוש דישראל ואורייתא חד רצונו לומר דשורש נשמת ישראל אחוזה בשורש נשמת התורה.

The source for the neshama of every Jew is in the Torah. There's a natural affinity that a Jew has for the Torah, that a Jew has for the Ribono Shel Olam.

אתה ישראל ונוצרת לך כי קרוב אליך שאתה ישראל ונוצרת לך. אתה ישראל ונוצרת לך כי קרוב אליך שאתה ישראל ונוצרת לך.

Teshuvah, even a teshuvah me-ahavah, says the Netziv, is close because you're a Jew and you were created for this. You're oriented towards this, there is a natural affinity. The Beis Simcha in Meshech Chochmah has a very similar comment on כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאוד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו, he says naturally the Jewish soul is naturally inclined to darkei haTorah and ahavas Hashem. Yiras ha'onesh is not an end unto itself but it's an indispensable sense of discipline which is necessary to allow us to realize the potential of the great great neshamah which Hakadosh Baruch Hu has infused within us. And hence the Rosh famously at the end of Rosh Hashanah quotes a Yerushalmi:

אמר רבי סימאי כתיב כי מי גוי גדול. רבי חנניה ורבי יהושע. איזו אומה כאומה זאת

what nation is there like this nation שיודעת אופיו של אלוהיה? It knows the character of its God.

בנוהג שבעולם אדם שיש לו דין לובש שחורים ומתכסה שחורים ומגדל זקנו ואינו חותך צפורניו לפי שאינו יודע איך דינו יוצא.

Generally when a person is standing trial on a capital charge there's a sense of mourning. He clothes himself in black, doesn't trim his beard, doesn't cut the fingernails, because he doesn't know how his din will emerge. אבל ישראל אינן כן. But that's not how we approach the Yom Hadin. לובשים לבנים ומתעטפים לבנים ומגלחים זקנם וחותכים צפורניהם. We dress up, Shabbos clothing,

ואוכלים ושותים ושמחים בראש השנה לפי שיודעין שהקדוש ברוך הוא עושה להם נסים ומטה את דינם לכף זכות וקורע להם גזר דינם.

The ideal hachanah for Rosh Hashanah, the ideal hachanah in these yemei yirah vafachad, we should hear a loud, loud voice proclaiming the words of David Hamelech: סמר מפחדך בשרי וממשפטיך יראתי. I tremble out of fear for You and I'm terrified of Your judgment. And yet in the background there's a soft yet unmistakable voice where we hear Hakadosh Baruch Hu, who's רוצה בתשובה ומרבה לסלוח saying

כי לא אחפוץ במות המת נאם ה' אלהים והשיבו וחיו.

The louder tone, the louder voice is one that should instill fear, mortal fear, and there should be a sense of anguish in thinking about cheit. And yet amidst that anguish there's also a sense of optimism. סמר מפחדך בשרי וממשפטיך יראתי and yet simultaneously we hear in a softer voice which is what gives us the impetus and the energy to undertake the teshuvah Hakadosh Baruch Hu who's rotzeh bitshuvah marbeh lisloach כי לא אחפוץ במות המת נאם ה׳ אלקים vehashivu just to do teshuvah כי קרוב אליך הדבר vechayu and to live.