## Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 1 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/1) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** SECOND DAY While pride of place is given on the first day to the poetry of Rabbi Elazar HaKalir who lived and worked in the land of Israel, much of the poetry said by Ashkenazi communities on the second day was written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yitzḥak, born in Mainz, c. 950. One of the first Ashkenazi liturgical poets, he was known as an outstanding Talmudic scholar, a colleague of the great Rabbeinu Gershom, and was held in high regard as one who “brought light to the exiles.” Sometimes known as Rabbi Shimon HaGadol, it was said of him that in appearance he looked like “an angel of the Lord of hosts.” Rabbi Shimon was familiar with the work of the great poets who preceded him, especially Yannai and HaKalir, and his style was influenced by theirs. What makes his compositions distinctive is the note of tragedy they often strike. This was a period in which the position of Jews in Christian Europe began to worsen significantly. One historian has called it “the formation of a persecuting society.” Jewish life in northern Europe from the tenth century onward had more than its share of persecutions and expulsions, and we hear in the literature they produced, beginning with Rabbi Shimon, the sound of tears and the language of lament. As a young child in my grandfather’s synagogue, I was haunted by the sadness of the melodies and only much later began to understand the centuries of suffering they expressed. Yet never before the modern age did Jews internalize the negative images projected on them by their neighbors, never did they give up hope of ultimate redemption, and despite many blandishments and threats, rarely did they forsake the faith of their ancestors. Theirs is a tale of loyalty and fidelity without parallel, and it is here, in the prayer book, that they expressed their faith. It is the often inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking, record of a people who never stopped speaking to God even when it seemed He had stopped speaking to them. It is the tale of a people who, though they walked more often than most through the valley of the shadow of death, never stopped believing in life and the God of life, and never stopped praying to be written in the book of life. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 7 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/7) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** אָתִֽיתִי לְחַנְּנָךְ *I have come forward in supplication.* A personal meditation said by the leader of prayer, distinguished by its extreme language of self-abasement: “What is my life but worms and putrefaction? I am an ignorant boor lacking all discretion.” Rabbi Shimon, who wrote this prayer, also officiated as leader of prayer in Mainz, hence its deeply personal character. Its premise is that, whatever his inadequacies, the leader of prayer comes before God on behalf of the congregation “like a pauper in the doorway,” begging for charity, or in this case, forgiveness. כְּעָנִי בַפֶּֽתַח Like a pauper in the doorway. One midnight, when Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov was immersed in mystical teachings, a peasant started knocking at his door, demanding to be let in and be given a bed for the night. For a moment the rabbi was filled with anger. How dare the man make such demands in the middle of the night! But then he said to himself, “And what business does he have in God’s world? But if God gets along with him, can I turn him away?” He opened the door immediately and prepared a bed. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 18 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 18](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/18) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** אִמְרָתְךָ צְרוּפָה *Your every word is refined.* A plea to God to remember Abraham’s faith and willingness to sacrifice, and to forgive us in his merit. Just as Abraham is associated with the attribute of *ḥesed*, loving-kindness, may God act toward us with loving-kindness. Recall that this poem is set in the first paragraph of the Amida, which ends with the words “shield of Abraham” – hence the poet’s emphasis on Abraham. Even when Moses prayed, he asked God to forgive the Israelites in the merit of the patriarchs, not his own merit or that of his generation. To be a Jew is to carry with us the merits of all those who stayed loyal to the covenant in good times and bad. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 25 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 25](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/25) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** יְחַלְּצֵֽנוּ בְמָגִנּוֹ מִתַּחֲלוּאֵי תוֹצָאוֹת *Deliver us from all deathly afflictions.* Sometimes translated as “from the 903 various deaths.” The Talmud interprets the phrase in Psalms 68:21, “To the Lord God belong the issues [*totza’ot*] of death” as referring to 903 (the numerical value of *totza’ot*) different ways of dying (*Berakhot* 8a). ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 34 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 34](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/34) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** תָּמִים פָּעָלְךָ *Your works are unblemished.* Also written by Rabbi Shimon, the subject of this poem, set in the second paragraph of the Amida, is Isaac, the second of the patriarchs, who allowed himself to be bound on the altar in an act of supreme sacrifice that we will soon recall in the Torah reading for the second day. There is a midrashic tradition behind this poem. Recall that the first paragraph of the Amida ends with the phrase, “Shield of Abraham.” Some sages accordingly inferred that the second paragraph, in which this poem is set, corresponds to the second of the patriarchs, Isaac. But the theme of the second paragraph is the resurrection of the dead. What is the connection between Isaac and the resurrection of the dead? According to the Midrash (*Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer*, 30), when Isaac saw the knife lifted against him his soul left his body. Then when word came from heaven, “Do not reach out your hand against the boy,” he revived. Sensing that he had been restored from death to life, Isaac then recited the blessing, “Blessed are You, Lord, who revives the dead.” ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 41 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 41](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/41) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי יְקִימֵֽנוּ *Raise us up on the third day.* A reference to the verse from Hosea, “In two days He will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up and we will endure in His presence” (Hosea 6:2). Rashi relates this to the two Temples that were destroyed, and the third that will endure forever. The poet plays on this idea, relating the two days to Rosh HaShana, and the third to Yom Kippur. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 46 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 46](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/46) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** שֻׁלַּֽחְתִּי *I have been sent.* A poem written in four-line stanzas, each line usually consisting of four words whose initial letters spell out the name of the poet, Shimon bar Yitzḥak. The poem opens with a *reshut*: a request to be considered as the emissary of the congregation, in their merits not his own. It looks forward to the sounding of the shofar, and is notable for the way it brings together two distinct ideas uppermost in the minds of the congregation in those times on this day. The Talmud says that we blow the shofar twice, once before Musaf, the other during the Leader’s Repetition, “to confuse the Accuser” (*Rosh HaShana* 16b), the angel (HaSatan) charged with being the prosecuting counsel on this Day of Judgment. Jews in northern Europe in the Middle Ages would also have had in mind a different and human accuser, “those who hate and accuse” the Jews. The poet does not identify these two, the first mentioned toward the beginning of the poem, the second toward the end, but he asks God to protect His people from both. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 70 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 70](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/70) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** שְׁמוֹ מְפָאֲרִים *His name is glorified.* Another poem by Rabbi Shimon bar Yitzḥak, built around the three central themes of the day: *Malkhiyot*, God’s kingship; *Zikhronot*, God’s remembrance; and *Shofarot*, references to the shofar. First the poet sets out these themes in six verses, each of three stichs, ending with the word “Holy,” since this is the theme of the third paragraph of the Amida in which the poem is set. These then serve as refrains for a longer poem, constructed around three three-line verses, again continuing the theme of kingship, remembrance and shofar. The use of threefold structures at this point echoes the threefold “Holy, holy, holy” of the angels in Isaiah’s vision, which we will shortly be reciting in the *Kedusha*. This elaborate structure is best thought of as verbal music, a theme played out in multiple variations interweaving with one another. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 81 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 81](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/81) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** גַּאֲוָתוֹ גָּדְלָה עוֹלָם מֵהָכִיל *His greatness has grown beyond what the world can contain.* A hint at the idea, later adumbrated in Lurianic Kabbala, that the light of God was too intense to be contained by a physical universe, which shattered under the impact. Hence we inhabit a broken world which needs repairing. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 84 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 84](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/84) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** הִצִּיב וְיָרָה אֶֽבֶן פִּנָּתוֹ *He established His cornerstone.* According to tradition, creation began with a stone core (*even shetia*) from which the earth gradually expanded (*Yoma* 54b). The Temple was built on this spot, which was also the place where Jacob slept the night he dreamed of a ladder stretching to heaven (*Ḥullin* 91b). It is, spiritually, the center of the universe. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 106 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 106](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/106) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** אֶתֵּן לְפֹעֲלִי צֶֽדֶק *I shall ascribe righteousness to my Maker.* For commentary see page 429. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 112 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 112](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/112) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** אַדֶּֽרֶת מַמְלָכָה *The glorious mantle of our royalty.* For commentary see page 413. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 140 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 140](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/140) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** אָדוֹן, אִם מַעֲשִׂים אֵין בָּֽנוּ *Master, if we are devoid of good deeds.* On Abraham’s words, “Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?” (Gen. 18:25), the Midrash comments, “[Abraham said to God:] If You want a world, there cannot be strict justice. If You want strict justice, there cannot be a world. Yet You seek to hold the rope by both ends, desiring both strict justice and a world. Unless You forgo a little, the world cannot endure” (*Bereshit Raba* 49:9). ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 146 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 146](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/146) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** מֶֽלֶךְ עֶלְיוֹן *The Supreme King.* A prayer originally set as a counterpoint between verses describing God, “the Supreme King,” and others speaking of a human ruler, “the destitute king.” A glance at the initial letters of each verse immediately shows that half the verses, those speaking of the destitute king, have been removed. Only two remain, just before the end of prayer, said in an undertone and with the Ark closed. It is not clear why the poem was edited in this way. It may have been felt dangerous, even *lèse majesté*, for Jews to denigrate the grandeur of human kings, especially when their very permission to live in a country depended on the will, sometimes the whim, of the king. Yet the fundamental principle remains true, important and one of Judaism’s greatest contributions to human thought: Above all human rulers is the Supreme King of kings, Sovereign of the universe. This means that no human rule is absolute, which means in turn that there are moral limits to the use of power. Without this, there may be no check to the abuse of power and the denial of human rights. ###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 163 [Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Second Day, Leader's Repetition for Shaharit 163](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Second%20Day,_Leader%27s%20Repetition%20for%20Shaharit/r/163) **English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:** יהוה מֶֽלֶךְ, יהוה מָלָךְ, יהוה יִמְלֹךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד *The Lord is King, the Lord was King, the Lord shall be King forever and ever.* The initial letters of the poem spell out the name of its author, Rabbi Shimon bar Yitzḥak. Its theme is the nature of the *Kedusha* we are about to say. Recall that the key lines of the *Kedusha*, “Holy, holy, holy” and “Blessed is the Lord’s glory from His place,” are the words the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel heard the angels singing in their respective visions of heaven. Yet in the *Kedusha* we say them down here on earth. In this daring act, we live the idea that we and the angels sing in harmony when we sing God’s praise. In the poem, the first line of each verse speaks of how the angels praise God, the second about how we praise Him, and the third about how “both camps,” literally “these and those,” angels and mortals, join their voices so that from heaven and earth praises stream toward God.