Rosh Hashana Questions

Questions on Rosh Hashana:

1. Why does the judgement take place over two days and not simply all on one day?
2. What are the different names for Rosh Hashana?
3. Rosh Hashana is a day of judgement. Why then do we not say vidui and ask for forgiveness for our sins?
4. You judge someone at the end of a period. Why then is Rosh Hashana at the beginning of the year?
5. Rosh Hashana is when we are judged. Why then do we not have Yom Kippur before it so that we can already have forgiveness before we enter judgement?
6. A lot of the focus of Rosh Hashana is in the Mussaf davening with the focus on Malchiyos, Zichronos and Shofros. What do these have to do with Rosh Hashana?
7. What is the judgement on – this world or the next?
8. What pick this date of the first of the month of Tishrei for Rosh Hashana? Why not pick another date during the year?
9. What lies behind the name “Rosh Hashana”, the “head of the year”?
10. How can you call both days “Rosh”, head, as if one is then the other isn’t?
11. Why do we find that only Rosh Hashana is kept as two days even in Eretz Yisroel, earning the name of Yoima Arichta as opposed to all the other festivals?
12. Rosh Hashana is the fiftieth day climaxing the seven weeks of comfort known as the shiva denechemta. How is this significant?
13. The Gemora Rosh Hashana 10b brings that on Rosh Hashana, Sora, Rochel and Chana conceived. Also, Yosef was let out of prison in Mitzrayim and the servitude in Mitzrayim stopped. How are all of these connected with Rosh Hashana?
14. The Gemora (Rosh Hashana 16a) brings the famous moshol, parable, of the din. It is likened to the passing of sheep through the narrow opening of the pen. How does this aptly describe the nature of Rosh Hashana?
15. The Gemora Rosh Hashana (18a) brings three mesholim, parables, on how a person is judged on Rosh Hashana. What are they and why the need for three different ones?
16. With difficulty the Rabbis allowed the four additions in Shemona Esra of asking for our personal needs – זכרנו לחיים וכו. Why ideally should these not have been added? Why do they not fit in with the davening on Rosh Hashana?
17. There seems to be a difference in where Rosh Hashana is found in chazal. In the Gemora it appears before Yuma while in Mishnayos it appears after Beitza. What lies behind this?
18. Rosh Hashana also falls on Rosh Chodesh. Why then do omit any major mention of Rosh Chodesh?
19. Rosh Hashana does not fall on certain days of the week – לא אד”ו ראש – not on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. What lies behind this?

Idea for answers on Rosh Hashana:

1. There are different types of judgement for different people. Each one is given a separate day. The first day is more difficult judgement, דינא קשיא, with the second day being less severe, דינא רפיא. …
2. Rosh Hashana as we call it is after it being the head of the year. In the tefilla we refer to it as Yom Hazikoroin, the day of remembrance, as all our actions are brought and remembered before Hashem. In the Torah it calls it Yom Terua, after the commandment to blow of the shofar on Rosh Hashana. Another name it is called by is Yom HaDin reflecting that it is a day of judgement.
3. The focus of Rosh Hashana is not atonement. The time for that is on Yom Kippur. Rather, the day of Rosh Hashana is a time to commit ourselves as servants submissive to the will of Hashem – Malchus Shomayim. A servant does not list his faults but what counts is from now on is his commitment to carry out the will of his master. Mention of sins through vidui and the like goes against showing that this person can be loyal. Therefore first comes the commitment to be submissive on Rosh Hashana, then on Yom Kippur we put this into practice by saying vidui and showing remorse for having sinned in the past.
4. See answer 4.
5. See answer 2. The judgement on Rosh Hashana is not simply about the past. This will be done after a person dies and then his whole life is reviewed and analysed Above. Rather it is about the future. How will the next year be depends on a commitment by a person to show how he can be a loyal servant to Hashem.
6. See answer 2. …
7. There is a big argument amongst the meforshim as to what the judgement of Rosh Hashana goes on. Tosfas (Rosh Hashana 16b) learns that it goes on judgement of the next world. The Ran learns that it is going on the din of this world. …
8. The Ran (to Rosh Hashana 16a) brings that it was on this day, the first of Tishrei according to R’ Eliezer, that Odom was created. On this day he sinned and was judged and was forgiven. This shows that this is a good day for man to be judged on. …The question on this is that judgement day is decided by Hashem and not man when it will be? The answer is that Hashem Himself decided that Rosh Hashana should be for man the day of judgement as being a good time for man.
9. A root and seed contains in it all what will be in the future. A head contains in it the main part of man that instructs the rest of the body of how to act. Rosh Hashana, the “head of the year” is where it is determined how the whole of the rest of the year will pan out. The whole future of the next year is decided on this one day.
12. The seven weeks of comfort following the churban come to tell us that Hashem remains with the Jews even in Golus. Rosh Hashana, as seen in the tefillos, is when we express that it is now the time for Hashem to again be revealed openly in the world, like was seen during the times of the Beis Hamikdosh, only now throughout the whole world. After this, we no longer need to continue the weeks of comfort!
16. On Rosh Hashana we are meant to realise that we are not in this world for our personal needs. Rather we are placed in this world for a purpose of carrying out the will of Hashem, whatever that may entail. In Shema we say    בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך and this means giving up our personal desires in life to annul them to what Hashem wants. Rosh Hashana is the coronation day when Hashem is revealed as King of the world first seen as the day when man was created on the sixth day of creation, the first of Tishrei. On this day the focus is for man to show he is a loyal servant to Hashem. Therefore personal requests are not really in place. However, the Rabbis realised that people are not holding on this high level and therefore allowed this additions.