1. DVAR TORAH FOR ROSH HASHANNA 5767
| Reuven Brauner , |
Raanana, Israel |
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(09.22.06) |
This morning I had to go to the bank to deposit a couple of checks and order new checkbooks.
After waiting about 15 minutes in line, I began my transactions with the teller. He deposits the two checks and then I tell him that I want to order checkbooks.
Teller: How many checkbooks do you want?
Me: Whatever the maximum is.
Teller: You can order however many you want, ten, twenty, thirty……
Me: Okay. I’ll take ten.
Teller: The maximum is eight.
Me: Then why did you tell me that I could order as many as I want?
Teller: That was before you said ten which is above the maximum.
Me: So give me eight. (He now begins typing out the form for this order.)
Teller: Why don’t you order them over the Internet?
Me: Well, because I’m already here.
Teller: But you save 50% if you do it by the Internet.
Me: Really? How much is this costing me?
Teller: For the eight checkbooks it’s 72 Shekels.
Me: So if I order them via the Internet it would only cost me 36 Shekels? In that case, cancel the order for the checkbooks.
Teller: (Putting the order form he typed out during our interchange on the counter) But, you told me to order them.
Me: That was before you told me how much it was and how much I could save if I ordered then over the Internet. (I pick up the order form and rip it up.)
Teller: Hey! Why did you rip it up?
Me: Because I told you to cancel the order.
Teller: But, why did you rip it up?
Me: Because I told you to cancel the order.
Teller: But, why did you rip it up? (pause) Forget it.
At this point he types out another form which he staples to the one I ripped up and makes me sign it. I didn’t read it but it probably said that I, the customer, am a big jerk, and was the one who ripped up the form when what should have been done is simply hand it back for him to cancel. He needed the original order form back as documentary proof of this transaction.
Being Erev Rosh Hashanna, this incident clarified to me why we find the phrases Kra Satan and Kra Roa Gezar Dineinu, from the root Kriah, and not Bitul. Kriah means to rip or tear something up, whereas Bitul is simply to cancel.
The difference iswith Bitul there is always a paper-trail. It does not deny that there was some original act which occured it is cancelling. It merely comes to say cross off that act because there has been a change of heart or mind. This is what my bank teller needed. Once he logged my original order in the computer, it could not be erased. It happened. He could not make like it didn't happen. The best he could do at that moment was to cancel it – Bitul. This is what banks do and what stores do whenever we return something bought there. They don't erase the original transaction, they simply minus it out with a cancellation. Once in the system, always in the system.
We want G-d to not just cancel our sins, but to rip it all up and shred all the evidence of the sin – Kra!
Now, this is why we want Kriah and not just Bitul on the Yomim Noraim. We don't just want G-d to cancel our sins, we want G-d to completely forget that we ever did anything wrong in the first place, like they never happened.
Fortunately, unlike the bank’s computer, G-d has the capability to tear up and forget all the evil stuff we do when we sincerely repent, and He can rip up His evil decrees with no sign that they were ever planned. That's G-d for you.
We want the clock turned back so that we can start our lives all over again with a clean slate and no records anywhere of our sins and misdeeds. This is the message of Rosh Hashanna. We also want to order the checkbooks over the Internet and save money, but that I'll do Monday.
Shana Tova – Reuven Brauner
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