Accountability And Hischadshus The Essence Of Man And Of Teshuva

רבי אליעזר אומר בתשרי נברא העולם ורבי יהושע אומר בניסן נברא העולם.

Tishrei nivrah ha'olam means the sixth day of Sheishes Yimei Bereishis was Rosh Hashanah, beginning on Chaf Heh Elul. The machlokes Rebbi Eliezer and Rebbi Yehoshua, what's the essence of man? Rebbi Eliezer says b'Tishrei nivrah ha'olam, Adam was created on Rosh Hashanah because the essence of Adam, the essence of man, is that he's a creature of accountability. Rebbi Yehoshua says that b'Nissan nivrah ha'olam, the world and specifically Adam was created in Nissan, a time of hischadshus, olas chodesh b'chodsho, spring, the new trumas halishkah fund began to operate because the essence of Adam, the essence of man, is the koach hahischadshus that he has. How do we pasken? Tosfos comments later that אלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים, we really accept both opinions. On the one hand, when it comes to calculating, for instance, l'halachah when we say birkas hachamah, so that reflects the opinion of Rebbi Yehoshua that b'Nissan nivrah ha'olam. On the other hand, in the machzor Rosh Hashanah, we talk about זה היום תחלת מעשיך zikaron l'yom rishon, clearly reflecting the opinion of Rebbi Eliezer. אלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים. And b'emes, Rebbi Eliezer obviously acknowledges Rebbi Yehoshua, Rebbi Yehoshua acknowledges Rebbi Eliezer. B'Tishrei nivrah ha'olam again teaches that the tzurah, tzuras ha'adam, the defining quality of man is his sense of accountability. This idea is dramatized by the opinions in the tanna'im of Rebbi Yosi and Rebbi Nassan who respectively say, רבי יוסי אומר אדם נידון בכל יום shene'emar vatikdenu livkarim, livkarim. רבי נתן אומר אדם נידון בכל שעה shene'emar l'rega'im tivchanenu. So either daily or even every moment, a person is nidon, very dramatically underscoring that idea that the tzuras ha'adam, the essential quality of a person is that he's a person who lives with a cheshbon because he's one who's subject to din. Cheit rachmana litzlan occurs when we live without a cheshbon. Rabbeinu Yonah, the beginning of Sha'arei Teshuvah in the very first ikkar of the essrim ikkarei hateshuvah when he talks about the charatah that a person feels in contemplating cheit,

ויאמר בלבבו מה עשיתי איך לא היה פחד אלהים לנגד עיני ולא אגורתי מתוכחות עון

V'nimshalti l'ish. The essence of chet is to live without cheshbon. So thus chet rachmana litzlan not only constitutes a violation of dvar Hashem, it certainly does. It's not only something which is metamei, but it contradicts the very tzuras ha'adam. The other defining quality of adam represented in Rabbi Yehoshua's teaching that beNisan nivra olam, the koach hitchadshus expresses itself in at least two ways. First of all, that the ultimate hitchadshus comes about through teshuva. The ultimate hitchadshus is when a person renews himself through teshuva. It's a rebirth of sorts. אמש היה זה שנוי ומשוקץ היום הוא אהוב ונחמד and rachmana litzlan chet notwithstanding, that koach hitchadshus remains with a person. No matter how much negative momentum there is and the longer we procrastinate, the longer chet festers, so the more formidable the challenge. But no matter how formidable the challenge, this remarkable koach hitchadshus imbued within man, infused within man, beNisan nivra olam is potentially equal to that challenge. The koach hitchadshus expresses itself in at least another way as well. Life never becomes stale, al kol panim a life of Torah u'mitzvos never becomes stale because of that koach hitchadshus a person has. koach hitchadshus is not only rachmana litzlan in response to chet, but it's even without chet. The fact that a person can come to the beis medrash day in day out with that same fire, that same hislahavus, the same passion, the same thirst for Torah, can return to the same sugya a second time, a third time, a fifth time, a twentieth time, not only with the same but with an enhanced and deepened and intensified love is also an expression of that koach hitchadshus. More than anything, a person is able to tap into that koach. Torah is lemala min hazman. Reb Moshe Shapiro comments that that's why the Yom Tov of Shavuos is not associated with a fixed day on the calendar, reflecting that idea that Torah is lemala min hazman. And what's lemala min hazman doesn't age, remains forever fresh and vibrant and new. And thus the way a person is able to exercise and draw from the reservoir of that koach hitchadshus is through his immersion in Talmud Torah. In Elul, these various motifs, these various strands converge. The din vecheshbon which each of us makes true to the tzuras ha'adam of the Tishrei nivrah ha'olam accountability. And the avodas hateshuva, and not only the avodas hateshuva, but the commitment to the daily routine. I think we discussed once that the reason unlike Aseres Yemei Teshuva, we don't really have special hanhagos during Chodesh Elul, Ashkenazim are not even saying Selichos yet. Shofar is just to remind us there's a call to teshuva. We have no special hanhagos, special zehiros in the way we have during Aseres Yemei Teshuva is because Chodesh Elul is a time to not just temporarily intensify, but to introduce, to upgrade our routine in a way that we look be'ezras Hashem to maintain and sustain year-round. It's a time therefore not only to work on the hitchadshus of teshuva, but also the hitchadshus to come every day and every seder with that same drive and the same commitment, the same hislahavus, the same sense of bikush.