Timeless Torah

“הַיוֹם הֲרַת עוֹלָם - Today is the birthday of the world, today all creatures stand in judgment…” (Rosh Hashana liturgy; recited after Shofar blowing.)
Rosh Hashanah is a mystery gift-wrapped with apples and honey, filled with plenty of stirring prayers, and accompanied by a sobbing shofar. Explain one puzzle, and new enigmas take its place.
First: Why blow a horn? Why is prayer not enough?
Second: Why does the Torah speak so cryptically, as though we are expected to decipher its meaning on our own? “It will be a day of sounding,” we are told. Sounding what? The singular Biblical reference we have regarding sound is a Psalm written by King David, “Sound the shofar at the new moon.”
But how do we know that this quote, “Sound the shofar,” means the beginning of the year, something not mentioned anywhere in Torah?
The short answer: we always knew. We knew because when Moses received the Torah he transmitted this information, even if he did not write it down. And even before we heard it from Moses, we knew. Our ancestors, the twelve tribes heard it from their father Jacob. He learned it at the feet of his grandfather Abraham, who received the ancient teachings from Shem, son of Noah. In turn, Noah got it from Methuselah, he from Enoch, and Enoch certainly knew of Rosh Hashana, for he received his wisdom directly from Adam, who had been formed on that very day.
One mystery solved.
But why then is there no reference to Adam's birth anywhere in the High Holiday prayers? All you find is the statement, “Today is the birthday of the world.”
Perhaps the Sages were suggesting a revolutionary thought; one that modern science would only adopt millennia later: The cosmos assumed reality only after Adam opened his eyes? After all, doesn't quantum physics preach that there can be no event, without an observer? The universe begins then with the creation of the first human consciousness.
Another mystery solved? No.
The Book of Genesis tells that Adam was formed on the sixth day. So, there was a world before. Granted, a very different world; but in it existed matter, energy, time, space, even angels. Why then commemorate Rosh Hashanah on Adam’s birth and not six days earlier at Creation?
Because we are not celebrating an anniversary: “Today is the birthday of the world,” means today, now. Today the world is born again. Only that first time the world was a freebie. Today it depends on us, the current Adam. Thus every Rosh Hashana we are reborn, and because of us, the entire universe.
The entire cosmos is on life-support. Glowing phosphors that form characters on a computer screen only exist until you pull the plug, and then the whole thing vanishes without a trace. Similarly, were G-d to pull the plug on His creation, space itself would vanish and time would be annulled. Indeed, there would be no memory of the world. (This is where the metaphor breaks down. In the computer world, a memory of the document might be imbedded in the hard drive, in our world, the computer would also disappear.)
There is not a particle of the cosmos that sustains itself. The universe and everything in it pulsates with the vital energy that gives it being. The quality of this power is determined on Rosh Hashana, because that is when a new surge of energy for the coming year emerges.
That is why we call it Rosh Hashana - Head of the Year, and not just New Year's Day. Just as the head contains within it a neuro-switch for every part of the body, so does the Head of the Year include a concentrated preview of the whole year.
It is no accident that a shofar with its narrow mouthpiece and wider opening resembles a birth canal. In fact, the Bible mentions Shifrah, the midwife of the ancient Hebrews in Egypt who ensured that the babies would emerge healthy and viable. One might say then, Rosh Hashana is the New Year's birth canal and shofar is the midwife. Into its piercing cry we squeeze all our heartfelt prayers until it reaches the cosmic womb. There it touches a switch eliciting G-d’s first breath that gives us another year of life.
Isn't this strange, that a created being should take part in its own creation? Imagine cartoon characters participating with the artist in their own design. Imagine them pleading with the broadcasting corporation for air time in the coming season. Now imagine us, the created beings, pleading with our Creator, “Grant us life! Health! Nice things!”
How could it be? We possess a neshama, a G-dly soul that lies beyond creation, which is why we call G-d both a king and a father: A king because He determines whether we will be or not be; a father, because there is something of Him within us that allows us to take part in that decision.
The spark of G-d within us connects with the Infinite G-d above. We give him our holiest breath via the blowing of the ram’s horn. He responds with His Breath of Life. The shofar thus completes the circuit rebooting the universe with a flow of energy for an entire year.
With important matters, our words burst forth with emotion. When issues shake us to the core, there are no words. We break out in a cry. This is the sound of the shofar. The very core of our souls screams.
That is why prayer alone does not suffice. Our very life depends upon its blast reaching the Master of Mercy. And what day could that be if not the day, “all creatures stand in judgment,” the holy day of Rosh Hashana?