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The Judgment of Rosh HaShanah
I. Intro- We find numerous references in the Rosh HaShanah/ Yamim Noraim
liturgy to the sifrei chaim and the sifrei meisim. This shiur will explore the
various approaches among the Rishonim regarding the significance of Rosh
HaShanah in its role as the day of judgment.
II. R. Kruspedai's statement and the explanations of the Rishonim
a. The Gemara quotes R. Kruspedai in the name of R. Yochanan saying that
there are three books that are opened on Rosh HaShanah, one is the book
of "resha'im gemurim", the second is the book of "tzaddikim gemurim"
and third is the book of beinonim. The tzaddikim gemurim are written and
sealed immediately for life, the resha'im are written and sealed
immediately for death and the beinonim are suspended until Yom Kippur.
If they "merit" they are written for life and if they don't merit they are
written for death. {}
b. Questions on this passage:
i. This statement only seems to include the absolutely righteous, the
absolutely evil and those who are 50/50. What about the righteous
who have some aveiros and the resha'im who have some mitzvos?
ii. What does it mean to be written for life and for death? Don't we
have a rule that there is no reward and punishment in this world?
iii. How do the beinonim "merit" between Rosh HaShanah and Yom
Kippur?
c. Answers of the Rishonim:
i. Tosafos- This entire passage deals with the judgment for Olam
Habah. We are not only dealing with the absolutely righteous and
absolutely evil. Rather, anyone who is righteous is sealed
immediately for Olam Habah and anyone who is evil is sealed
immediately for Gehinom. {}
1. Rashba presents the approach of Tosafos and questions the
approach based on the fact that a rasha always has an
opportunity to perform teshuva and even a tzaddik can lose
his share by commiting serious aveiros at the end of his
life. If so, what is the significance of an annual judgment
on Rosh HaShanah? {}
2. Tosafos HaRosh seems to deal with this question and
answers that each year a projection is made regarding
whether a person will merit Olam Habah. Depending on
the projection, a person may receive agony in this world to
offset punishment in the next world, or vice versa. {}
a. What is fascinating about this comment is that
according to this approach, a positive judgment on
Rosh HaShanah may actually mean more stress and
agony in the upcoming year.
ii. Ramban- The judgment is on matters of this world. Tzaddik and
rasha do not refer to a person's merits but rather the fate of their
judgment. If someone wins in judgment he is titled as a tzaddik
and if not he is titled as a rasha. The beinoni waits for his zechus
until Yom Kippur. There is nothing about Rosh HaShanah that
deals with matters of Olam Habah. {}
iii. Rashba- We are dealing with matter of Olam Hazeh, but
nevertheless, tzaddikim and resha'im are defined by their merits.
An absolute tzaddik and an absolute rasha don't receive benefits or
agony in this world that would offset their reward or punishment in
the next world. Therefore, the absolute tzaddikim will be sealed
for a year of pure good and the absolute resha'im will be sealed for
a year of pure bad. The beinonim are those who don't fit into any
of these categories. {}
iv. Rambam's opinion
1. Rambam's third chapter of Hilchos Teshuva has the
following sequence: {}
a. Anyone whose merits outnumber his transgressions
is a tzaddik, anyone whose transgressions
outnumber his merits is a rasha and if they are equal
he is a beinoni. The same applies to each country.
b. If someone's transgressions outweigh his merits, he
dies immediately from his transgressions. The same
applies to each country and to the entire world.
However, this calculation does not go by numbers
because there are certain merits that outweigh many
transgressions and vice versa. The worth of the
merits and transgression are only known to G-d.
c. Just as merits and transgressions are calculated at a
person's death, so too each Rosh HaShanah, these
calculations take place. Someone who is found to
be a tzaddik is sealed for life, a rasha is sealed for
death and a beinoni is held until Yom Kippur. If he
performs teshuva, he is sealed for life and if he
doesn't perform teshuva, he is sealed for death.
2. There are a number of questions that the Rishonim and
Acharonim ask:
a. Ra'avad- How is it possible that a rasha dies
immediately? Aren't there plenty of resha'im
walking the streets?
b. If reshaim die right away, how does he reach Rosh
HaShanah?
c. Why don't we see a spike in deaths on Rosh
HaShanah if that is the day of calculation? Why
don't we see all of the beinonim who didn't perform
teshuva die on Yom Kippur?
3. There are different approaches the Acharonim take in
understanding Rambam:
a. Kesef Mishneh does not address all of these
questions but he does imply that when Rambam
states that that a rasha dies immediately, it is to be
taken literally. Ra'avad's question is not really a
question because Rambam himself states that there
is no way for us to know who is really a tzaddik and
who is really a rasha. {}
i. R. Moshe Feinstein- When Rambam states
that nobody knows how the cheshbon of the
merits and transgressions is calculated, he
means that it is impossible to know because
in each generation there are different
challenges and those challenges are factored
in as well. {}
ii. R. Chaim Friedlander- Rambam alludes to
the fact that G-d factors in people's personal
challenges when he refers to G-d as the Kel
Dei'os. Rambam uses the term dei'os to
describe middos. Each individual has his
own proclivity towards certain things and
those are certainly factored in when G-d
determines whether he is a rasha or a
tzaddik. {}
b. Lechem Mishneh- Rambam discusses both the
judgment of Olam Hazeh and Olam Habah. {}
i. The section where Rambam discusses
immediate death refers to Olam Habah, i.e.
after death, a rasha is immediately sentenced
to gehinnom.
ii. The section about Rosh HaShanah deals
with Olam Hazeh. Rambam understands the
passage about R. Kruspedai the same way as
Ramban- tzaddik means that he wins his
judgment for Olam Hazeh and rasha means
that he lost his judgment for Olam Hazeh.
c. Be'eiros HaMayim (R. Yitzchak Ibn Shanghi- The
text is printed at the end of the source sheet)- The
whole section is dealing with Olam Hazeh:
i. Each year on Rosh HaShanah the tzaddikim
are sealed for life and the reshai'im are
sealed for death. This doesn't mean that
they die immediately; it means they are
sealed immediately.
ii. Similarly, when Rambam states that a rasha
dies right away, it is not literal. Rather he is
sentenced to death immediately.
iii. If someone was sealed as a tzaddik and then
later becomes a rasha, his fate can change
and he will be sentenced to death as a rasha.
iv. Although someone's fate can always change,
before it is written and sealed it is much
easier to be written as a tzaddik. After one
is already sealed as a rasha, the burden of
proof is on the rasha to prove that he has
changed to a tzaddik.
III. Greeting each other on Rosh HaShanah
a. One area where the dispute between Tosafos and Ramban is significant is
regarding the proper greeting one gives on Rosh HaShanah.
i. Rama writes that one should say to his friend l'shana tova tikasev.
{}
ii. Magen Avraham writes that one should also say v'teichasem
because we want everyone to receive the benefits of the tzaddikim
who are sealed immediately on Rosh HaShanah. {}
iii. The Vilna Gaon notes that the minhagim of Rama and Magen
Avraham are contingent on the dispute between Tosafos and
Ramban: {}
1. According to Ramban (and Ran) R. Kruspedai's statement
refers to this world and as such a good judgment for this
year can be written and sealed on Rosh HaShanah.
2. According to Tosafos, R. Kruspedai's statement refers to
Olam Habah. As such, the beracha that we greet our friend
with has nothing to do with R. Kruspedai's statement. We
want to give our friends the beracha of having a good year
in this world. Matters of this world are not sealed until
Yom Kippur regardless of whether one is a tzaddik, a rasha
or a beinoni.
a. One must also factor in Tosafos HaRosh's approach
that the purpose of the judgment on Olam Habah is
to determine how to offset punishment in this
world. When you wish someone a shanah tova,
what you are wishing for is that he receives a
judgment on Rosh HaShanah that doesn't require
any stress or agony to offset punishment.
iv. R. Menachem Azariah M'Panu suggests that no matter how one
understands R. Kruspedai's statement, nobody is sealed on Rosh
HaShanah. When he says that that the tzaddikim and resha'im are
sealed "l'altar" it does not mean immediately, rather in the same
book. I.e., there is not going to be a change to the writing, but they
will not be sealed until Yom Kippur. {}
1. Magen Avraham quotes R. Menachem Azariah to imply
that one should not say v'teichasem on Rosh HaShanah. {}
b. Another area where this dispute is significant is in the timing of the
greeting:
i. Levush- We don't recite l'shanah tova after davening because the
judgment is finished after the third hour of the day. Although we
continue to recite kasveinu l'chaim, that is because we are
davening for ourselves and we should consider ourselves to be
beinonim. However, to say to somebody else that he should be
written l'chaim after the third hour is not proper because it implies
that he is not one of the tzaddikim gemurim who are written and
sealed on Rosh HaShanah. {}
1. Magen Avraham {} and Taz {} agree to the premise but
disagree about when the final judgment time of Rosh
HaShanah is.
ii. It's possible that the Vilna Gaon would disagree with the premise
of this entire discussion. According to the Gaon, our wishes for a
shana tova refer to matters of this world. Therefore, whether one
should continue to wish his friend a shana tova during the Aseres
Yemei Teshuva will depend on the machlokes between Tosafos
and Ramban.
1. According to Ramban, it would not be appropriate to greet
someone as if he is a beinoni.
a. One can argue further that even according to the
approach of Ramban, classifying someone as a
beinoni is not necessarily derogatory because
according to Ramban it is not a reflection of his
merits. It is really only derogatory according to
Rashba who assumes that there are matters of this
world that are written and sealed on Rosh HaShanah
based on one's merits.
2. According to Tosafos, matters of this world are not sealed
until Yom Kippur. There should be nothing wrong with
wishing someone a shanah tova during Aseres Yemei
Teshuva because it does not indicate that he is a beinoni.
IV. Liturgical references to this issue
a. Unesaneh Tokef {}
i. Clearly refers to matters of this world
ii. On Rosh HaShanah they will be written and on Yom Kippur they
will be sealed:
1. This tefillah is more compatible with the approach of
Tosafos because according to Tosafos all matters of this
world are written on Rosh HaShanah and sealed on Yom
Kippur.
2. If one wants to understand this tefillah according to
Ramban, one would have to explain that we are only
referring to beinonim, which is a difficult assumption to
make.
iii. Asher Mi Ya'aseh- This piyut is recited in some congregations
before Kedusha on the second day of Rosh HaShanah (Artscroll
printed it in the back of the machzor). {} The paytan clearly takes
the side of Tosafos in understanding R. Kruspedai's statement:
1. Tzaddikim receive eternal life.
2. Reshaim are sent to a "tav'eirah," a reference to gehinnom
3. The same judgment occurs at death.
.3תוס' הרא"ש שם ד"ה צדיקים ראש השנה טז:
וכתב רש"י כמאן מצלינן וכו' כר' יוסי דאמר אדם נידון
בכל יום ויתפלל שידונו אותו לזכות ולא יקנסוהו מיתה
דאי כרבנן דאמרי אין נידון אלא בר"ה הרי כבר
נקנסה עליו עכ"ל.