Mind First, Then Heart

The high holy days have passed and Sukkot fast approaches. Looming in everyone’s minds is the question: how will we celebrate this year? How can we be joyful on Sukkot and Simchat Torah only one year after October 7th, and while we are still at war?

Rabbi Doron Perez points out (in a booklet “Days of Awe in Times of War,” in honor of his son, Capt. Daniel Perez, hy”d) that the more obvious term for the Jewish New Year would have been Reishit Hashanah. Not only is Reishit in the first word of our Torah, reflecting the beginning of the world, it is also found in a verse (Devarim 11:12) referring to a year’s beginning as “reishit hashanah.”  So why indeed did our sages designate the holiday as Rosh Hashanah? Rabbi Perez  explains that the appellation reflects the essence of the day, a time to focus on our rosh, our minds, and “examine our spiritual and mental paradigms and thought processes in preparation for the year ahead.”

The intellect is engaged during Rosh Hashanah as we proclaim God as our King with the blowing of the ram’s horn, meant to awaken us from our mental slumber; אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם יֹדְעֵי תְרוּעָה, praise to the nation who knows the teruah blast (Tehillim 89:16). Rosh Hashanah is the yom teruah, day of the shofar’s cry, the time for awakening the mind in service of our God, our King. The Divrei Shmuel  (Second Slonimer Rebbe) points out that, though out of order, the first 4 letters of the verse שְׂאוּ שְׁעָרִים  רָאשֵׁיכֶם וְהִנָּשְׂאוּ פִּתְחֵי עוֹלָם וְיָבוֹא מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד- Oh gates, lift your heads and be uplifted, you everlasting entrances, so that the King of Glory may enter (Tehillim 24:7), spell shofar. Lift your heads is referring to our minds. Allow the shofar to affect your thinking patterns so that the King of Glory may enter our temporary abodes, our sukkah.

We start the Tishrei holidays with our minds. Then we move onto our hearts.

וּלְקַחְתֶּם לָכֶם בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים וַעֲנַף עֵץ עָבֹת וְעַרְבֵי נָחַל וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם לִפְנֵי ה’ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם שִׁבְעַת יָמִים׃ (ויקרט כג:מ)

On the first day you shall take the etrog, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before your God seven days.

While each of these arba minim, four species, is significant and necessary for the mitzvah, many Hasidic stories (and the movie Ushpizin) portray the great efforts and monetary commitment that religious Jews are willing to spend on obtaining a beautiful etrog in particular. These arba minim symbolize the human body, with the lulav (palm) representing the spine, the hadas (myrtle) representing the eye, the aravah (willow) the mouth, and the etrog (citron), the heart (Vayikra Rabbah 30:14). The Holy One, Blessed be He, seeks the heart – הקב”ה ליבא בעי- the barometer of greatness is measured by the devotion of the heart (Sanhedrin 102b).

The heart reflects the source of emotions and the focus on the etrog is in line with the fact that Sukkot is the only holiday that emphasizes this concept of happiness, as we see in Devarim 16:15:

שִׁבְעַת יָמִים תָּחֹג לַה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ … וְהָיִיתָ אַךְ שָׂמֵחַ

  You shall hold a festival for your God for seven days, and you shall have nothing but joy.

Our minds must rule our hearts (מוח שליט על הלב, see Tanya chapter 12 and elsewhere). Rosh Hashanah sharpens our thoughts. It’s a necessary boost to our minds before Sukkot, the holiday of the heart, the time of happiness. But how in the world can we be joyous? Mind over heart. How do chayalim enter into battle? Mind over heart. How do families ever manage to cook a meal or go to work after a shattering loss? Mind over heart. Our hearts are so precious, yet if we let emotions rule us, we would not be able to function.

While finding happiness seems an impossible task this year, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (Likutei Moharan 1:2) teaches

כִּי אִישׁ הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי צָרִיךְ תָּמִיד לְהִסְתַּכֵּל בְּהַשֵּׂכֶל שֶׁל כָּל דָּבָר, וּלְקַשֵּׁר עַצְמוֹ אֶל הַחָכְמָה וְהַשֵּׂכֶל שֶׁיֵּשׁ בְּכָל דָּבָר, כְּדֵי שֶׁיָּאִיר לוֹ הַשֵּׂכֶל שֶׁיֵּשׁ בְּכָל דָּבָר לְהִתְקָרֵב לְהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ עַל יְדֵי אוֹתוֹ הַדָּבָר, כִּי הַשֵּׂכֶל הוּא אוֹר גָּדוֹל, וּמֵאִיר לוֹ בְּכָל דְּרָכָיו, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב (קהלת ח׳:א׳): חָכְמַת אָדָם תָּאִיר פָּנָיו.

For the Jew must always focus on the inner intelligence of every matter, and bind himself to the wisdom that is to be found in each thing. This, so that the intelligence which is in each thing may enlighten him, that he may draw closer to God through that thing. For the wisdom is a great light that shines for a person in all his ways. As it is written (Ecclesiastes 8:1), “A person’s wisdom causes his countenance to shine.”

I first became familiar with these words from a Yosef Karduner song nearly 25 years ago (Simanim Baderech, 2000), and the message is strikingly significant in our day. As Rav Judah Mischel points out in his book Baderech, the verse in Tehillim (16:8)  שִׁוִּיתִי ה’ לְנֶגְדִּי תָמִיד כִּי מִימִינִי בַּל אֶמּוֹט precedes the verse (16:9) לָכֵן  שָׂמַח לִבִּי וַיָּגֶל כְּבוֹדִי אַף בְּשָׂרִי יִשְׁכֹּן לָבֶטַח. First we develop the rosh, the mind- I am ever mindful of the LORD’s presence; He is at my right hand; I shall never be shaken (v.8)  and that is followed by – so my heart rejoices, my whole being exults, and my body rests secure (v.9). He explains, “Shivisi, equanimity, is the product of a conscious choice to live with the knowledge that Hashem is always with me. When I am secure, and I know that I am not alone, my heart can begin to open in joy” (pg. 157-158). Mind over heart.

The development of a healthy mental state includes choosing emunah. Hashem is with me, Hashem is Master of the Universe and this can ultimately bring us to a place of joy. Once we develop our minds, we can open our hearts. As Rabbi Perez writes, “when we face challenges in life that shake our world, we have to dig very deeply into our reservoirs of faith and perspective…we indeed see the world not the way it is but the way we are…If we believe that we live in a world of blessings, then we do.”  Mind over heart. In the transformative time from Rosh Hashanah to Sukkot, “our time of happiness,” we allow our thoughts to rule our emotions. Mind over heart for the win.