Each time the shofar is sounded during Mussaf on Rosh Hashanah, we say, "Hayom haras olam hayom yamod bamishpat." Translated in a literal way, this expression refers to the day when the world was "conceived." In a different sense, we could also say that, Rosh Hashanah is the "motherhood day" of the world.
It is very interesting that in Lashon Hakodesh, the words for day (yom), week (shavua) and month ( chodesh) are all masculine; yet the word for year (shanah) is feminine. Is it because the year is the mother of all the other periods of time? The days combine to form weeks, the weeks turn into months, and the months make up a year. Thus, in a sense, the shorter intervals of time are all children of the year. On Rosh Hashanah, all these days and weeks and months are collectively viewed as having completed one full year. Therefore, Rosh Hashanah can be considered, in a cosmic as well as in a human sense, as the Mother's Day of creation.
Maybe it is not a coincidence that Rosh Hashanah is also an occasion on which we recall six mothers whose words and experiences are commemorated in our Machzor. Surprisingly, two of them are not even Jewish!
On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, we read the Torah portion dealing with Sarah miraculously giving birth to Yitzchak at the age of ninety: "V'Hashem pakad es Sarah." This Parshah also describes Sarah's insistence that Yishmael, the son of Avraham and Hagar, be driven out of Avraham's house, so that he would not have a harmful effect on Yitzchak's moral development.
The second of our Imahos, Rivkah, is mentioned indirectly in the morning tefillah. Every Shabbos we say "b'fi yisharim tishalal ub'divrei tzaddikim tisborach"; yet, on Rosh Hashanah we change the words around and say instead, "n'fi yishorim tisromam ub'divrei tzaddikim tisborach ibil'shon chassidim tiskadosh ub'kerev kidoshim tishalal." Why the difference? The purpose of rearranging the words is that when the first root letter of every third word is taken, i.e., the "resh" of tisromam, the " bes" of tisborach , and the "kuf" of tiskadash, and the "heh" of tishalal , they spell Rivkah. Incidentally, the first letter of each of the preceding words the " yud ", of yesharim, the "tzadi " of tzadikim the " ches " of chassidim and the "kuf" of kedoshim spell out the name Yitzchak. Thus, Rivkah, the mother of Yaakov and Eisav, is also incorporated in the Rosh Hashanah services.
Rachel, the wife of Yaakov and the mother of Yosef and Binyamin, is mentioned in the Haftorah recited on the second day. Here Yirmiyahu, in describing the desolation following the churban bayis rishon , tells of "Mamme Rachel" as the old Jews in Yerushalayim refer to her "Rachel mvakah al bane'hah" "Rachel is weeping for her children....."
The last of the Jewish mothers is Chana, the mother of Shmuel, who is the central figure in the Haftorah recited on the first day. The Navi describes her praying to Hakadosh Baruch Hu in Mishkan Shilo; and we learn many of the laws of tefillah from Chana's method of tefillah.
The first of the non -Jewish mothers is Hagar, the mother of Yishmael, who is mentioned is the Torah reading of the first day. The Parshah tells us that she was driven out of Avraham's home with a sick child. Despondently, she prayed to Hashem, Who allowed her to find water for her child.
The other non-Jewish mother's name remains unrecorded, yet she is important to us as well. This is the mother of Sisra, the general of the king of the Canaanim. Sisra served under Yavin Melech Canaan, actually the king of Phoenicia, who attacked Eretz Yisrael during the time of Devorah and Barak. Hashem helped the Jews under the leadership of Devorah to subdue the Canaanim, the Sisra was killed by Yael. The Navi (Shoftim 5:25) describes Sisra's mother waiting in growing despair for her son's return. "vatiyabev eim Sisrah be'ad ha'eshnav maduah boshesh richboh lavo." And the mother of Sisra moaned behind the window, (asking), "Why is his chariot so late in coming?" She has been awaiting his triumphant return from smashing the Jewish army, and he hasn't yet arrived. So she looks out the window and begins to whimper and sigh. This is very pertinent to Rosh Hashanah, because the Gemara says that the teruah blast of the shofar recalls for us the whimpering of Sisra's mother. According to the Midrash, she sighed and groaned one hundred times, which is why the minhag required us to sound a total of one hundred sound of the shofar.
We now have six mothers, each of whom has some connection to Rosh Hashanah. Let us examine these women's personalities and their ties to the Yom Tov in more detail.
We will begin with the last-mentioned, the mother of Sisra, because her inclusion is the most unexpected. We find her torn between two emotions - she teeters on the verge of either the most soaring of hopes or the deepest of depressions. Her son is everything to her: the apple of her eye, the shining light of her existence. If he comes back a hero, she will be ecstatic, but if he does not return, her life will be virtually over. So she is poised between two extreme emotions - bursting with joy at one moment, and moaning with despair at the next. Finally, she fears that maybe her son will not be coming back, and begins to utter brief sobs. These are the sounds we imitate on Rosh Hashanah.
Why is that so? What does the shofar blowing have to do with Sisra and his mother?
The answer is that on the Yom Hadin, our emotional status should resemble that of Sisra's mother. We are also in a state of tingling uncertainty, not knowing whether we should be jubilant or despondent. We are awaiting the new year. Will it bring the realization of all our fondest hopes? Or, chas v'shalom, will it be the occasion for unfortunate occurrences? Since we are suspended in a state of doubt, we do not say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah; while the Book of Life and Death are opened, waiting for our names to be inscribed in one or the other, it would not be appropriate. However, it is most appropriate to plead with the Ruler of the World, " zachreinu l'chaim melech chafetz b'chaim." That is why we blow the teruah in a way that imitates the sighs and sobs of Sisra's mother. We, too, do not know whether to laugh or cry.
The second of the non-Jewish mothers mentioned above is Hagar, an Egyptian woman who is caring for her sick son Yishmael. He has been ordered out of Avraham's house for having scoffed at the sanctity of the tent of his father. Hagar has taken him away, and he has become ill and feverish; he has drunk all the available water to quench his burning thirst. Now he can no longer walk by himself, and his mother cannot hold him up any longer. She has put him down under a bush, where he had collapsed, and she sits down a stones throw away and begins to weep. "I cannot stand it anymore; I can no longer watch the child dying." She pleads with Hashem to provide some water so that her son will survive, and Yishmael prays too. Hashem answers the prayers - of Yishmael, not Hagar. This is because Yishmael has the merit of being the son of Avraham, and of doing teshuvah at that moment.
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch notes that Hagar, an Egyptian, does not behave as a Jewish mother would have acted under similar circumstances. A Jewish mother would not have abandoned her dying child under a bush saying that she could not watch her child suffer. This is the mark of a selfish person, more concerned for her own emotional safety than her son's well being. A true Jewish mother would have sat at the child's side until the very end; holding his hand, comforting and consoling him. Yet, Hagar was too nervous to remain with Yishmael. She prayed to Hashem on his behalf, but Hashem responded to Yishmael's prayers, not Hagar's, because she had thought of herself rather than of her child.
Hashem responded that He would help Yishmael "ba'asher hu sham; in the condition he is in now." This informs us that Hashem is eager to judge a person in his newly purified form. No matter what a person may have done in the past, if he does teshuvah and brings out the best in himself on Rosh Hashanah, then Hashem does not judge him as he was or will be, but as he is now.
Thus, from Hagar and her son we learn that if any person overwhelmed with anguish cries out to Hashem, then Hashem will heed his request. Rosh Hashanah is called Yom Hazikaron a day when no one is forgotten, and when one's pleas and wishes are remembered.
As mentioned earlier, Yishmael was ordered out of Avraham's house by Sarah. She told her husband, " garesh es ha'amah hazos v'es b'nah; Drive out this housemaid and her son." I don't want him in this house together with my son Yitzchak, because he is a scoffer and mocks everything we hold dear. I don't want my son to be negatively influenced by him. Yet we also find that "vayera hadavar me'od be'einei Avraham al odos bno; This was very bad in the eyes of Avraham, because ( in his perspective) Yishmael was still his son."
In other words, Avraham and Sarah were at odds over how to view Yishmael. Sarah claimed that Yishmael was an ill-behaved slave, the son of a slave woman, who did not deserve to remain in their home because of his immoral conduct. Avraham responded that even though Yishmael might have acted improperly, he was still a child, Avraham's child. If he misbehaves, Avraham held, he deserves to be chastised, but not driven out of his father's house. One does not cast out one's own child.
This discussion between Avraham and Sarah is reflected in our tefillos on Rosh Hashanah. After blowing the shofar, we say, "Hayom haras olam hayom ya'amod bamishpat kol y'tzurei olamim; Today is the 'mother's day' of the world; today all your creations stand before You in judgement. Im k'vanim, im k'avadim; They come before You either as children or as slaves. Im k'vanim rachmeinu k'racheim av al banim; If as children, have compassion as a parent has compassion for his child. v'im ka'avadim eineinu l'cha tluyos ad shetichaneinu; If as slaves, our eyes look up to You until You favor us with Your grace."
On Rosh Hashanah, we stand before the Almighty and wonder: Are we being viewed as His children or as His slaves? If we serve Hashem purely out of fear, then we are in reality only slaves; but if we worship Him out of love, then we deserve to be called His children. Which are we? This is what we must contemplate on Rosh Hashanah. Because the disagreement between Avraham and Sarah over Yishmael's status reminds us of this crucial question, it is an appropriate reading for Rosh Hashanah.
We meet our next mother, Chana, when she was first praying for a child. She asks Hashem to end her barrenness and bless her with a much desired child, whom she would then give over to the service of the Almighty. She does not want Hashem to alter His master plan for humankind on her behalf. Chana realizes that whatever happens, for good or bad, is all part of the Divine plan; and she knows that if she has not yet had a child, it was because Hashem so willed it. Nevertheless, she goes secretly to the Mishkan and prays quietly to Hashem for a child. She is not making a request for selfish reasons; she is not just desirous for partaking in the joy of bringing up a child. Rather, she asks for the privilege of bearing a child for Hashem, of raising a future Jewish leader who will serve the Ribono Shel Olam throughout his life.
The Navi says, "vatispallel al Hashem" Chana was praying for the sake of Hashem, and not for her own benefit. This was a secret prayer, one that no one was supposed to know about. Nevertheless, from this silent prayer of Chana we learn many of the laws of public prayer. We see that the basic tefillah should be said quietly, but at the same time one must move one's lips, as Chana did.
Then there is another facet of tefillah into which we can gain insight from this episode, one that pertains directly to Rosh Hashanah. On this day we ask Hashem to let us live, and to enjoy a successful year ahead. Imagine if we conducted a two-way conversation with the Ribono Shel Olam. Hashem might ask us why we want to continue living in the year to come. "Well, I want to enjoy myself, for the fun of it," we might say.
"Why do you deserve to be so happy?" the response might be. "How will you utilize the good health and good fortune if your prayer will be answered?"
We would have to think hard. And perhaps we would say, "I would like to use my resources, my influences, and my abilities, everything that I own and can do, to serve Hashem, to glorify the Torah, to help others, and to alleviate the misery of our Jewish brothers in Eretz Yisrael and in the Diaspora."
This is why we say, "zachreinu l'chaim melech chafetz bachayim v'kasveinu b'sefer hachayim l'ma'ancha Elokim chaim". We ask that Hashem remember us for life, for His sake rather that for ours; for only if we devote our existence to fulfilling the tasks He has set for us do we deserve to live. This is what we learn from Chana and her prayer.
Our mother Rachel is mentioned in association with lamentations and bitter weeping: "Rachel mivaka al baneha; Rachel weeps for her children." Why is only Rachel connected with tears and mourning? In what way was her lot so grief related?
Rachel was the mother of Yosef, who in turn was the father of Ephraim. Sheivet Ephraim was the leader of Malchus Yisrael, the Northern Kingdom, inhabited by ten of the twelve tribes; the king of Malchus Yisrael came from Ephraim. These tribes were sent into exile long before the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash, and they have been lost to us ever since. Therefore, Ephraim represents that majority of the Jewish nation that has vanished into history, and Rachel mourns for these descendents, these children of hers who are no longer in our midst.
On Rosh Hashanah we read of Rachel's weeping and her refusal to be comforted: "Me'anah l'hinachem al baneha ki eineinu; She will not be appeased for her children, for they are no longer there." Hashem tells her, "Min'i kolech mibechi v'einayich midimah; Do not weep anymore; wipe the tears off your eyes. Ki yesh tikvah l'achrisech n'um Hashem v'shavu banim l'gvulam; for there is hope for your future; the children will come home."
Exactly how these lost tribes will come back, we do not know. There must be millions and millions of Jewish souls that have been lost over the course of the centuries. Somehow, though they will return. All of a sudden, there will be a mass movement back to Judaism. Perhaps this will happen in some distant land, totally unexpectedly. Maybe people in China or India will suddenly convert, because they were once Jewish souls lost thousands of years ago, and now they are coming back. How will this happen is not for us to know. These are mysteries, and the Torah in parshas Nitzavim tells us, "hanistoros laHashem Elokeinu; Mysteries belong to Hashem." We should not occupy our minds with them.
Nevertheless, we look to the future, for the day when "tekah b'shofar gadol l'cheiruseinu" the great shofar will be blown; " v'kabtzeinu yachad me'arbah kanfos ha'aretz" and all Jews from around the world who are distant from Torah will return to their true source.
This, then, is another meaning of the shofar blasts. The shofar represents not only the voice of Hashem at the giving of the Torah and the sobbing of a person unsure of his fate, but also the voice of Hashem at the end of the galus, when, "v'shavu banim l'gvulam all the lost Jews will come back." This is the comforting assurance given to mother Rachel, who is weeping for her missing children. This is why we read of Rachel in the Haftorah of the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
Finally, we have our mother Rivkah, who is incorporated in our Tefillas Shacharis. On Rosh Hashanah we include the prayer "uvchen tein pachdecha" in our tefillos. In this, we ask that Hashem impose a feeling of awe on all nations. In other words, we seek to have all righteous non-Jews survive the Day of Judgement. As the Navi says, they will find the Jewish men, hold on to their tzitzis and ask to be taken along to Hashem's royal home in Yerushalayim. Then all humankind will be united in service of the Almighty: "v'ya'asu kulam agudah achas la'asos ritzoncha blevav shalem ."
In fact, Rosh Hashanah is not exclusively the Jewish New Year. The Jewish new year begins in Nissan in the month of the Exodus, as it says, "Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chadashim rishon hu lchodshei hashanah." Rosh Hashanah then, is the New Year for all humankind, all inhabitants of the earth. However, Klal Yisrael is the only nation who recognizes it as such. Consequently, when we wish for a good new year, we do not limit our hopes to just the Jewish people. Rather, we extend them to all people, as we say in Aleinu, "v'chol bnei basar yikr'uh b'shmecha ." We look forward to the day when all human beings will bend their knees in service to Hashem.
This will be true of all nations with the exception of one and that one is Eisav. The Navi Malachi tells us that Hashem says, "Va'ehav es Yaakov v'es Eisav saneisi; Yaakov I love but Eisav I hate." Eisav is "v'ha'am asher za'am Hashem ad olam; the one nation against whom Hashem's anger will burn forever." While all nations will be given a chance to do teshuvah, the house of Eisav will receive it just desserts. "v'hayu beis Yaakov l'esh... ubeis Eisav l'kash... v'lo yihyeh sarid l'beis Eisav ki Hashem diber; And Eisav shall be like straw: (consumed by fire) "......and there will not be any remnant to the house of Eisav for Hashem has spoken: (Ovadiah 1:18).
The Torah tells us that although Yitzchak was fond of Eisav, Rivkah championed the cause of Yaakov and ensured that he alone received the berachos from his father. It is because of Rivkah that we say on Rosh Hashanah in Tefillas Mussaf, "V'akeidas Yitzchak lzaro (shel Yaakov) hayom brachamim tizkor; Remember the Akeidas Yitzchak with mercy for the descendents of Yaakov" but not for all of Yitzchak's descendents. Eisav must remain outside of the purview of Hashem's rachamim. That special place in Hashem's heart is used only for Klal Yisrael. It is also for this reason that Rivkah is alluded to in the tefillah of Rosh Hashanah.
On Rosh Hashanah, then, we look forward to the day when the great shofar will be sounded, and "v'karev pzureinu mibein hagoyim" all Jews will be gathered for the supreme Geulah. This is when the nations of the world will open their eyes and accept the Kingdom of Hashem, as we say in the Shemoneh Esrei, "umalchuso bakol mashalah; Every nationality will accept Him." Then those who have been influenced by the spirit of Eisav will lay down arms and discard animosity, and Jews and non-Jews will live together peacefully as brothers.
So, on this Jewish "Mother's Day" of Rosh Hashanah, let us rejoice that our Jewish women consider themselves the descendents of these great Jewish mothers: Sarah and Chana, Rachel and Rivkah. Just as Sarah was concerned for her child: just as Chana pleaded to bear a child who could glorify G-d; just as Rachel sought to have all her offspring once again fully integrated in Klal Yisroel; and just as Rivkah zealously secured the blessings for her child alone, so may all our Jewish mothers be blessed with the very best for their offspring.