“Betokh ami anokhi yoshavet”

We are two days from Rosh Hashanah, and there is something to learn before we enter it. It is in the parasha we have just read: Atem nitsavim hayom — you are standing today, all of you, before Hashem your God.

And the question is: what is this hayom? What is this “today”?

The holy Zohar says this: wherever the Torah, wherever Tanakh, writes hayom, “the day”, it is a hint to Rosh Hashanah — the day the Holy One, blessed be He, sits to judge the world.

From where is this learned? From a verse in Job:

That day is the day of Rosh Hashanah: the day the world is judged.

Take the story of the Shunammite woman. It is in the book of Kings, II Kings chapter 4, in the days of Elisha the prophet — Elisha, who succeeded Elijah.

What day was it? Rosh Hashanah — since it is written vayehi hayom. Shunem is a place name.

She sees a prophet, a holy man of God, passing through her neighbourhood. She says: come, let me invite you to eat, to be received in my house properly. And from then on he ate with her whenever he passed.

She then says to her husband:

In other words: it is not right to offer him only a meal. Let us also give him lodging as it should be — a small gallery, an upper room; a bed, a table, a chair, a lamp.

And so it was: vayehi hayom, he came there, withdrew to the upper room and lay down. She had arranged everything for him — food, drink, a place to sleep.

Naturally Elisha feels that gratitude must be expressed. This woman looks after him, his meals, his lodging. The good must be repaid.

He calls Gehazi his servant — the one always at his side — and says: call this Shunammite woman. She comes and stands before him. And he does not speak to her directly: that would be neither fitting nor modest. He tells Gehazi: please ask her.

Meaning: what can be done for you, what can be arranged on your behalf? In today's terms: do you want a reduction on your municipal tax? A licence for your business? I can arrange it. Something with the king? I can speak to the king. A position? Whatever you want, I can organise it.

That is her answer. How does it answer the question? We do not know yet. For the moment: betokh ami anokhi yoshavet.

On the plain level it can be understood this way: I need nothing. I live here like all the people, I want nothing, thank you very much.

Elisha is not satisfied with that. He turns to his servant and says uma la'asot lah — and what is to be done for her? She has not answered the question; what can still be done so that she has good?

Gehazi answers:

A barren woman and an aged husband: whom does that recall? Abraham and Sarah.

He says: call her. She is called, and she stands in the doorway. Do you remember the doorway? Petach ha-ohel kechom hayom, the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day. The story is very close to the other one.

Exactly as was said to Sarah. What does lamo'ed hazeh ka'et chayah mean? A year from now, at this same date, you will embrace a son.

And she answers: “No, my lord, man of God, do not deceive your handmaid” — that is: we are in no condition to have children. That too recalls what Sarah said.

The text then tells us that the child grew up.

He went to help his father in the field. He was struck by the sun — “my head, my head!” — they carried him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and he died.

She goes up, lays him on the bed of the man of God, shuts the door and goes to fetch Elisha. She tells him: I told you so, you played with me — and now he is dead. Elisha answers: do not worry.

Gehazi goes ahead of them with the staff:

Elisha comes into the house, and there is the boy, dead, laid on his bed. He goes in, shuts the door on the two of them, and prays to Hashem.

He then calls the Shunammite: “take up your son”. She comes, falls at his feet, bows to the ground, takes her son and goes out.

Who is this child, the son of the Shunammite? He is Habakkuk the prophet.

And why is he called Havakuk? Because he was embraced twice. His mother embraced him once, and Elisha embraced him a second time in order to bring him back to life.

Now we must understand. He asks what she wants arranged for her, and she answers betokh ami anokhi yoshavet. On the plain level: I need nothing.

But the holy Zohar says this. When he asks “is there anything to say on your behalf to the king, or to the captain of the host?”, something else can be heard. Who is the King?

And she answers: betokh ami anokhi yoshavet. That is: I want nothing for myself alone, nothing private. I am inside Israel. Whatever the Holy One blesses for Israel, I shall benefit from it anyway as one of the people.

Take an example. If I want financial security: bless Israel, that they should have financial security — and I, as an individual within a blessed Israel, will be blessed from it.

And this is what the Zohar says on the passage:

So Elisha is saying to her: have you anything to ask before the King above, concerning the matters in your hand? What do you want me to do for you before the Holy One, today, the day of Rosh Hashanah?

Here is the heart of it, and it is a very important piece of advice for Rosh Hashanah and for the prayers of Rosh Hashanah.

On Rosh Hashanah the mercies of the Holy One spread over His people as one. The whole nation of Israel stands in judgment on that day.

It is true that He passes us one by one before Him, like bnei maron. But in a single glance, at one stroke, He sees all Israel and the details within it. And the nation of Israel as a nation stands in judgment too.

This is why it is neither fitting nor to a man's advantage to separate from the community on that day. What does separating mean? Praying as an individual, and above all asking for oneself alone, making private requests for one's own person.

There is a saying in the Zohar that the wicked are like dogs: they say hav hav. You know how a dog barks — hav hav.

Now hav, in Aramaic, means: give. Give, give, give. One who says only “give me, give me, give me” is like the dog begging. That is not the way to do it.

We said one step: the nation of Israel. Ask for Israel — betokh ami anokhi yoshavet.

But there is something greater still, and if you pray for it you have solved every problem at once. What are we missing, that makes us feel lacking all the time?

So it is wiser not to waste the bullets on our small private affairs, but to ask for the greatest thing: that the Shekhinah return to her place. And if you pray for the return of the Shekhinah, then everything else will be in order anyway.

This wisdom, this secret, the Or HaChaim HaKadosh also revealed to us. There is a prayer he wrote, printed in the Yom Kippur siddurim, which it is good to say during Vaya'avor Hashem al panav vayikra — during the thirteen attributes. That is why the chazanim leave a little room there, so that whoever can manage it may say it.

Look closely at the wording, and at what he asks for.

Why? “For Your parting from us is as hard as the parting of our soul from our body.” And the last line: veye'ol malkenu behekhaleh — may our King enter His palace, that is, the Beit HaMikdash.

What should we pray for? The question was asked, and the answer is simple. You want to pray for a livelihood? You get an automatic message from Heaven: go to work. You want a match? Register, go out, meet people. All of it is already laid out before you.

So, with God's help: on Rosh Hashanah, in the prayers, put the thought on the exile of the Shekhinah, and on her swift return in our days. Veye'ol malkenu behekhaleh.

May we merit a good and blessed year. Tikhleh shanah vekileloteha, tachel shanah uvirkhoteha — let the year end with its curses, and let the year begin with its blessings.