Machshava:

Ahavat Hashem,  Chassidut,  Kabbalah,  Rosh Hashana,  Yom Kippur 

Collections: R' Rubenstein Parsha Series

Description

When ראש השנה falls out on שבת — when שופר is forbidden — שבת is able to accomplish what the שופר was always really doing: per the זוהר, the courtroom of ראש השנה resolves not through strict דין but because השם's love for כלל ישראל exceeds His love for משפט itself, and the שופר's job is simply to awaken that hidden love (as does, in years like this one, our own חביבות for שבת). This same principle — חביב trumping חשוב — explains the תפוח over the תמר, the 100 blasts beyond the required nine, and the shift from "מלך אוהב צדקה ומשפט" to "המלך המשפט" during these days. Esther's rescue from אחשורוש's rage becomes the paradigm for this הנהגה, and the same אהבה that covers פשעים (על כל פשעים תכסה אהבה) surfaces again in כיסוי הדם, tying the whole progression from ראש השנה through יום כיפור into one continuous revelation of an ancient, concealed love.