Boulder Aish Kodesh

Rosh Hashanah does not serve as the re-living of the creation of the world, but of the day of the creation of man and woman.  In that sense, the entire first day of creation is relived every year on Rosh Hashanah, and we hope every year to access the possibilities of re-creation while avoiding and fixing the falls that happened on that auspicious day. 

'And He formed the man...' åééöø

 

The Rabbis noticed the strange conjugation of the Hebrew word, with its extra letter 'yud', and noticed its proximity to the word 'yetzer', usually translated as '[good or bad] inclination or tendency'.  They thus wrote '[man was made with] two yetzers - one for this world and one for the next'.  On this day we acknowledge that, despite our intentions, we have a self-sabotaging part of ourselves that prevents us from fully manifesting our truest potential in the world  This is because we turn our focus away from what is truly important and use our valuable and limited energy and resources to pursue worldly and ephemeral goals.  This will be important information to keep in mind when the urge comes to 'eat from the tree'.

 

The Four Rivers

 

Rebbe Nachman writes that the four rivers correspond to the four elements of the world, and the four letters of Hashem's name.  Each element - earth, wind, fire, and water - has a positive and negative element.  For example, fire can be either passion or anger, depending on how it is related to.  When it is properly handled and respected (don't play with fire!) it serves as a channel for the flow of Divine energy from the Sacred Letter at its root.  And, of course, the opposite.  When we submit ourselves to the process of re-creation, we want that to happen on an elemental, or sub-integrous level.  Meaning, we want each aspect of ourselves to be renewed.  This is similar to taking a car apart, repairing or replacing each part, and then putting it back together. 

 

And G-d put the man in Eden to work it and to guard it

 

Why are we here?  To hang out?  To indulge?  To make money or get respect or to amass a bunch of stuff?  We are here to serve and protect.  The Ohr Hachayim writes that The Garden of Eden corresponds to the Garden of Souls (see Rebbe Nachman Likutei Moharan I:65) which must be nourished, or watered, with Torah, and which must be protected from elements that would harm it.  Our work here is to serve and protect the world of spirit.  Today is the day to recommit ourselves to that ideal. 

 

It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make him a helper against him...

 

We simply cannot accomplish our goals alone.  Think of the people that are in your life who can ostensibly help you.  Are you letting them help you, or are you keeping them at a distance?  The Gemarra writes on the concept 'helper against him 'he brings home wheat berries; she turns it into flour.'  Everybody needs somebody to help them turn their raw material into nourishment.  Today, make a decision to work with the companions G-d has given you, and to see them as helpers, not as antagonists worthy of jealousy.

 

And G-d brought all the animals to the man, to see what he would all them.

 

The giving of names is one of humankind's deepest abilities and responsibilities.  In a sense, the names we give things on Rosh Hashanah will be with us throughout the year.  So let's be careful in calling things 'good' or 'bad', healthy or not, useful or not.  Let us name everything according to its deepest essence, close to G-d, available to help us on our journey toward perfecting the world.

 

And for the man, he did not find a helper against him...

 

And we need to know if we have not found the path that can help us most.  the 'helper against him' is the way that guides us in all the ways we need - sometimes with adoring

love, and sometimes with healthy resistance.  If we have not found that path, we must maintain focus on finding that person or situation that can help us maximize our potential.

 

And He put the man into a deep sleep

 

We cannot find, or even appreciate, the one who can help us most fully from a conscious state.  There are too many defenses against letting that person in.  For this, we must let go and trust G-d to create the way for us to become fully realized, and we must accept that it will reach far deeper than anything we are capable of creating consciously.  After all, 'A person cannot free himself from his own prison.' 

 

According to the Ari Z"L, the coma-like state is the central moment of Rosh Hashanah.  It is absolutely key in becoming new creatures for the new year.

 

And He took one of his sides, and built it into a woman

 

 

The removal of the side is the next step.  In the Gemarra Eruvin 18a, the possibility is raised that the man and woman were created back to back.  She was then removed from him so they could relate face to face.

 

Back to back is the stance of battle.  We are each defending the other's back.  We do not relate to each other except out of fear of the common enemy.  If I am adhering to my path out of fear - fear of change, fear of loss of identity, fear of being challenged more than I can handle - then I can never hope to realize my fullest potential.  And my path knows not to rock the boat either, because if it does, I might abandon it as well, and it will lose its life-force.

 

But if I can gain the courage to do so, I can hope to co-create a new way toward bringing full healing to myself and the world. 

 

Maybe G-d doesn't trust us to do this work ourselves.  It is too painful.  So, He puts us in a coma and does it for us.  Detachment on Rosh Hashanah is inevitable.  Immediate re-attachment is, unfortunately, an option.  But the possibility of newness beckons.

 

G-d said not to eat of it, and not to touch it

 

We know that G-d told Adam only not to touch it.  But he told Eve also not to touch it as well, because he was afraid that if she touched it, she would eat it.  He was right!  And boy was he wrong.  The Midrash tells us that, when the snake heard the 'don't touch' part, he said, 'Oh!  OK!'.  And as he was walking away (he had legs in those days) he 'accidentally' bumped her into the tree.  When he saw that she touched it, he said, 'did you die?'  Since she had obviously not died, he told her that, since the touching part wasn't true, the eating part probably wasn't true either.  And she ate...

 

The lesson from this is an essential one: There is a tendency in us to take on more than we can, to definite our self-worth or state of affairs by the ornateness of our aspirations and not by our ability to bring what is on our plate to fruition.  Don't take on too much on this day. Don't make resolutions you cannot keep, because you think G-d wants you to.  Say little, and do much.

 

For on the day you eat of it, you will be like gods

 

And herein lies the essential focus of Rosh Hashanah: we shouldn't need or want to be like gods.  We spend the whole making G-d our King, taking our proper place as one among many creatures in the world, all serving the Source - no more and no less.  Today is the day: DON'T DO IT!  DON'T EAT!  We have the choice to day not to make ourselves the center of the universe, not to believe our opinions are truth, not to see ourselves as G-d incarnate.  DON'T DO IT!  RESIST!  Let the urge pass.  Just be humble and simple and joyful.

 

And he hid in the tree, the man and his wife...

 

Well, maybe it is inevitable.  But hold out as long as you can.  And whatever you do, after you eat it, don't hide!  As G-d moves through the garden and calls 'where are you?' Rashi tells us that G-d was really saying, 'let's talk.  We can still connect.'  At least we can commit to staying in relationship with the source as we go through the ups and downs of normal life, rather hiding in explanations, denials, other sundry avoidances.

 

Did you eat from the tree..?

 

The Gemarra in Hulin asks 'where do we find Haman in the Torah?  And answers from this verse 'HaMiN ha'etz' - [did you eat] from the tree? 

 

Who invited Haman to Rosh Hashanah?  That bum's got to wait until Purim!  But this, really, is his birthday, and he is celebrating in grand fashion!  His birthday cake is our doubts, our unhealthy sense of insignificance (seeing as there is a place for a healthy sense of insignificance), our cool-ness about the whole situation.  Amalek - public enemy number one.  We have to be prepared, for forewarned is forearmed. 

 

The woman You gave me, she gave it to me and I ate

 

Unfortunately, it is no one's fault.  There is just no one to blame.  We must take full responsibility for what befalls us and how we deal with it.  We must take full responsibility for our decisions. 

 

I will increase the pain of your childbearing, pregnancy, and childbirth

 

Punishment or consequence?  The difference between the two depends on our perception.  If we see the consequences of our actions as clean karmic reflection, then we can work on making it positive through teshuva.  But if we spend all of our time resenting that it is happening, and not taking responsibility as the cause of our own karma, then we will never find the fruits hidden within it.