Rabbi Elazar opened by saying: "Now there was a day when the
sons of Elokim came to present themselves before G‑d, and the Adversary came
also among them." (Job 1:6) "Now there was a day," refers to
Rosh Hashanah, the day that G‑d rises to judge the world. Similarly, "And it
happened one day, that he came there." (II Kings 4:11) That day was
the holy day of Rosh Hashanah.1
That day was
the holy day of Rosh Hashanah.
"And the sons of Elokim came." These are the appointed ministers [who
stand before the Heavenly Court and] appointees [who are appointed by the
Ministers and are responsible for supervising all the actions of people] and
the messengers [who are sent by G‑d] whose mission in the world is to
observe [and record] the actions of people. "To present themselves
before G‑d," as is written: "And all the hosts of heaven standing by Him
on His right hand [the defending angels] and on His left
[the accusers]." (I Kings 22:19)
But in the passage: "To present themselves before G‑d," I have found the
love of G‑d toward Israel. These messengers who are appointed to observe the
actions of people wander around and take all these actions, and on the day that
judgment rises to judge the world, they became accuser against people.
Come and see, of all of the nations of the world only Israel has
constant supervision [the essence of the supernal guidance is on them]
over their activities because they are G‑d's children. [In addition, the
denouncers are jealous of Israel and seek to discredit them in the eyes of their
Father in Heaven.]
When the actions of the children of Israel are found to be improper, the
appointed messengers stand against these actions of Israel and stand by G‑d. For
when the children of Israel perform actions that are not good, they weaken, so
to speak, G‑d's strength. When they perform good actions, they give might and
power to G‑d [by the elevation of Feminine Waters which are needed for
supernal union]. Of this, it is written: "Give strength to Elokim
[malchut is called Elokim]." (Ps. 68:35) How? By doing
good actions. Therefore, all the appointed ministers gathered by G‑d on that day
(of Rosh Hashanah). 'Upon' G‑d most certainly, for by gathering
against Israel, it is as though they have gathered against G‑d.
...by gathering
against Israel, it is as though they have gathered against G‑d.
"The Adversary also came among them."2 The word "also" is added to
show that they all came to accuse Israel, and he also joined them because he was
the greatest slanderer of them all. As soon as G‑d saw that they all came to
accuse, immediately, "And G‑d said to the Adversary: 'From where do
you come?'" (Job 1:7) Did G‑d not know where he came from? Rather the
question was only to allow His will and thoughts to take shape [as will be
shown]. Then the Adversary answered G‑d and said, 'From going to and fro
in the land." (Job 1:7) From here I learned that the countries of the
world are given over to Other Side [each having one of the 70 ministers to
rule over it] except for the land of Israel exclusively [as it says "the
eyes of G‑d your G‑d are always looking on her." (Deut. 11.12)] As soon as
the Accuser said, "From going to and fro in the land" G‑d saw that the
Satan wanted to slander the land of Israel. Immediately, "G‑d
said to the Adversary, 'Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none
like him on earth...'" (Ibid. 1:8) [He thus mentioned Job and distracted
the Satan's attention from Israel.]
BeRahamim LeHayyim:
Here is another example of a distraction, of running
interference in front of the Satan. Sort of incredible that G‑d's most
loyal and cunning servant could be fooled by a ruse such as letting him go at
Job with all he got! The judgment of Job actually came
some 6 months earlier on Rosh Hashanah. The decree however was abated
until when we crossed the Sea of Reeds.
What this means is that there is more than meets the eye. Who knows why it
may appear that we are being judged at a certain time in a certain manner?
We could be working out some past life drama or we could be dealing with some
fairly recent blemishes. All we know for sure is that Rosh Hashanah
is Judgment Day par excellence, and our job for the world in general and
ourselves in particular is to create a groundswell to move the King from his
Throne of Judgment to his Throne of Mercy.
An essential first step is to not judge our fellow poorly—lean him to the scale of mercy, give him the benefit of the doubt, find some merit in him even if his actions seem problematic. That was the work of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, who defended us Jews from what appeared to be sins, iniquities, and transgressions. What comes around, goes around...we are told that on our own personal judgment day, we will be shown a movie of someone's behavior and asked to judge him. Guess what! We give a verdict on ourselves! So the time to start that healthy mind train on judging our fellow positively is now, before it is too late.
Bracketed annotations from Metok Midevash and Sulam commentaries
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