Before Tekiyos RH day 1 pei hei 2024

 Adapted from Reb Yessochor Frand

 

We just read the story of Chana in the Haftorah.  Chana was childless. She came to the Mishkan every year to cry her heart out.  Chana suffered the humiliation of her husband having a second wife who was blessed with children, and who taunted Chana over her inability to have children. Chazal tell us that Penina had a noble reason for doing that; she wanted to inspire Chana to pray more. But Chana was miserable.  Chana’s tefillos were finally answered on Rosh Hashana. She eventually gave birth to a son who grew up to become the great navi Shmuel, a man so central to the development of Klal Yisrael that Dovid HaMelech compares him to Moshe and Aharon –

משה ואהרן בכוהניו ושמואל בקוראי שמו.

The story of Chana  is so central to Yiddishkeit that it forms the matrix for Shmoneh Esrei every day;

: 'וחנה מדברת על לבה' –  מכאן למתפלל שצריך שיכוין לבו. 'וקולה לא ישמע' –  מכאן שאסור שיגביה קולו בתפלתו

and specifically the story of Chana contains a lesson that is so vital and central to the message of Rosh Hashana that not only do we read this Haftorah on the first day of Rosh Hashana, but the whole Tefillas Musaf on Rosh Hashana was structured around the nine mentions of G-d’s name in Chana’s prayer.

In Brochos (29a), the Gemara says that on Rosh Hashana, we daven a Shmoneh Esrei  of nine brachos; the standard opening three, the standard closing three, and the middle three special brachos of Malchiyos, Zichronos, & Shofros — the middle portions of the Rosh Hashana Musaf service dealing with the coronation of Hashem over ourselves and over all of creation, commemoration of Hashem’s relationship with the world, and the importance throughout history of the sound of the Shofar. The Gemara says that the source for the number of these blessings, nine, comes from the nine Azkoros — the nine times that G-d’s Name is mentioned in the prayer of Chana [Samuel 2:1-10].

What is so important about this episode that causes us to base the central tefillah of Rosh Hashana on tefillas Chana?

Chana’s Shira, her Tefilla, emphasizes that life is full of changing fortunes. Chana speaks of Hashem’s control of national security, of the economy, and of every individual’s private life and fate: her message is that G-d makes some people poor and he makes some people rich. He makes the haughty low and the humble high. Fortunes keep changing.

קֶ֥שֶׁת גִּבֹּרִ֖ים חַתִּ֑ים וְנִכְשָׁלִ֖ים אָ֥זְרוּ חָֽיִל׃

The bows of the mighty are broken, And the faltering are girded with strength.

שְׂבֵעִ֤ים בַּלֶּ֙חֶם֙ נִשְׂכָּ֔רוּ וּרְעֵבִ֖ים חָדֵ֑לּוּ  

Men once sated must hire out for bread; Men once hungry hunger no more.

עַד־עֲקָרָה֙ יָלְדָ֣ה שִׁבְעָ֔ה וְרַבַּ֥ת בָּנִ֖ים אֻמְלָֽלָה׃

While the barren woman bears seven, The mother of many is forlorn.

Then Chana asks,  Who it is that stands behind all these changes? She explains

יְהֹוָ֖ה מֵמִ֣ית וּמְחַיֶּ֑ה מוֹרִ֥יד שְׁא֖וֹל וַיָּֽעַל׃

Hashem deals death and gives life, Casts down into Sheol and raises up.

יְהֹוָ֖ה מוֹרִ֣ישׁ וּמַעֲשִׁ֑יר מַשְׁפִּ֖יל אַף־מְרוֹמֵֽם׃

The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He casts down, He also lifts high.

And why does Hashem do this?

Because

רַגְלֵ֤י חֲסִידָו֙ יִשְׁמֹ֔ר וּרְשָׁעִ֖ים בַּחֹ֣שֶׁךְ יִדָּ֑מּוּ כִּי־לֹ֥א בְכֹ֖חַ יִגְבַּר־אִֽישׁ׃

He guards the steps of His faithful, But the wicked perish in darkness— For not by strength shall man prevail.

 

This is Chana’s message to the Jewish People on Rosh Hashana: Life is so fickle. Fortunes are so fragile. Rosh Hashana is an unbelievably scary day!

Emotionally, Rosh Hashana is one of the most difficult days of the year. We can deal with Yom Kippur. We do not eat. It is a day of Mercy. We separate ourselves from the rest of the world and we pour our hearts out. But what are we supposed to do on Rosh Hashana? Rosh Hashana is the Yom HaDin (Day of Judgment). Everything is riding on this day. And yet there is an obligation to observe this day as a Festival — looking and acting and eating like a Yom Tov. How do we cope with this dichotomy?

Rav Tzadok HaCohen points out that the Shevarim and Teruahs, which are the broken sounds of the shofar representing the crying out of a broken spirit, must always be sandwiched between two Tekiahs. The firm, unbroken, Tekiah sound represents Simcha. This, Rav Tzadok says, captures the theme of the day.

On the exterior, we must act and feel like it is a Yom Tov. But on the interior — between the Tekios — we must have a terrible, terrible, fear: a fear that anything can happen.

Some years, in tranquil times, we might hear this and think that this is a mussar shmuess, but we’re doing pretty well, and all we need is for the Ribono shel Olam to sign off on extending last year’s contract. Not this year, we’re not. Not one Jew in the world, from the billionaires in Panama to the bnei Torah living off Kollel checks, is thinking that we are doing just fine.

This is what Chana is trying to tell us. For some people this year will be one of “the barren woman turning into a mother of seven”. But hanging over our heads is the terrible fear of fate of Penina.

Chazal say that the 100 Shofar sounds of Rosh Hashana correspond to the 100 cries that Sisra’s mother cried on the day of battle). Rav Schwab asked, what is the significance of associating our holy Shofar sounds to the wailings of that savage? Rav Schwab explained that the wailings of Sisro’s mother represented the uncertainty of the future. If Sisra would come back victorious, this would represent the greatest triumph of his military career. On the other hand, he might come back in a coffin. Sisro’s mother did not know which scenario would occur, so she wailed out of uncertainty and fear.

Life and Death. Success and Failure. On Rosh Hashana, everything lies in the balance of Judgment — nothing less than totally changing out fates. And yet, we as Jews, have to surround these emotions with the Tekiah — the firm blast of confidence.

We cannot wear our emotions on our sleeve. But we must realize that what will be determined on this day is nothing less than the fate of our lives, of our family’s lives, of our community’s lives, and indeed the life of the entire world. Anything can happen. This is the message of Chana. There are no givens, there are no “Chazakas, nothing can be taken for granted. All we can control is how we behave, how we daven, how thoughtfully we lead our lives to be good servants of the RBSO that He can be proud of.

May we be zocheh to what Chana said in the end of her shira:

יְהֹוָ֞ה יֵחַ֣תּוּ מְרִיבָ֗ו עָלָו֙ בַּשָּׁמַ֣יִם יַרְעֵ֔ם יְהֹוָ֖ה יָדִ֣ין אַפְסֵי־אָ֑רֶץ וְיִתֶּן־עֹ֣ז לְמַלְכּ֔וֹ וְיָרֵ֖ם קֶ֥רֶן מְשִׁיחֽוֹ.

The foes of Hashem shall be shattered; He will thunder against them in the heavens. Hashem will judge the ends of the earth. He will give power to His king, And triumph to His anointed one,

We should all be zocheh to see what Chana saw be’ruach hakodesh, the bi’as hamashiach and the geula shleima bimheira b’yameinu .