[Avodah] rosh hashana

[Rich, Joel]

Rosh Hashanah has been difficult for me for a long time. Rosh Hashana is both a Yom Din and a coronation night(malchiyot). F Scott Fitzgerald said, "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." So how can we experience the pure joy of a coronation at the same time that we feel the dread of judgement day?
But now I realize that I had really heard a possible  answer many decades ago from Rav Nissan Alpert ZT"L. Everyone questions why on Pesach there is no blessing over saying the Haggadah, after all we are completing the mitzvah of sippur yetziat mitzrayim. Rav Alpert explained that we need to consider the text of a bracha which is usually of the form, "elokeinu MELECH haolam, asher kidshanu bmitzvotav VTZIVANU". This text implies that before there can be a commandment, there must be an accepted commander. Since on Pesach we are re-experiencing the exodus in which we accepted the commander, we cannot say a blessing before such an acceptance.
I think this applies on Rosh Hashanah as well. It is the very act of accepting HKB"H as our king that engenders the fear of the Yom Hadin. If we don't perceive authority, we have no reason to fear. It's only once we accept that authority that we can experience our responsibility to that authority. Thus both feelings are caused by the same acceptance. We are thrilled by the ein od mlvado nature of our unique relationship with HKB"H even at the same time as we feel the weight of our assumed responsibility.

Reactions?

Kt
Joel rich

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