מוסף של ראש השנה

Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon - " The Musaf prayer of Rosh Hashanah"

Translated by Rav Yoseif Bloch

"An answer to this question (at least according to the view of Rabbi Akiva, whom the halakha follows) may be found in the words of Rabbi Chayim of Brisk, who explains that the berakha of Kedushat ha-Yom and the berakha of Malkhuyot are intrinsically linked. The essential theme of Rosh Ha-shana is the coronation of God as Sovereign over the world. Consequently, Malkhuyot may be incorporated into the berakha which deals with the uniqueness of the day. Indeed, the conclusion of the fourth berakha, 'King over the entire land, Who sanctifies Israel and the Day of Remembrance,' is shared by all the prayers of Rosh Ha-shana; it is not unique to the Musaf prayer, the sole place where theberakha of Malkhuyot is found."

Yeshivat Har Etzion - Based on a speech by Rav Aharon Lichtenstein:

"In the Rosh Ha-shana prayers, the Anshei Knesset Ha-gedola (Men of the Great Assembly) defined it as Yom Ha-Zikkaron (the Day of Remembrance), and we are obligated to understand what it is that we are to remember, and how. I believe that the holiness of the day is bound up with remembrance in two senses. Undoubtedly, the first aspect is the reservoir of the past. There is amassing of facts, reviewing of information, as it were. It finds expression principally in the opening of the section of Zikhronot (the middle section of the three special additions to the Mussaf service on Rosh Ha-shana), where the character of Rosh Ha-shana as a day of judgment is spelled out. 'You remember the deeds of yore, and account for the primal creations. Before you all the wonders are revealed and many hidden things from since creation, for there is no forgetfulness before the seat of Your glory, and nothing is hidden from before You. You remember all that is done, and nothing in creation is concealed from You....'"

"At the same time, there is clearly a second aspect. This, too, is reflected in the section of Zikhronot... Initially, we say in our prayer, "For the remembrance of all of creation comes before You: man's every action, thought, plan, and desire...." In the wake of this fact a terrible threat seems to face man, who is exposed in his nakedness and his guile... But it also stands at the center of the request at the end of the berakha. The fact that "For You remember all the forgotten things forever, and there is no forgetfulness before the seat of Your glory" is repeated, but for a completely different purpose. That which is remembered is principally the covenant between God and Knesset Yisrael, and the selflessness of our forefathers - and their descendants - as its source and for its sake. If so, then the character of the remembering here is not one of bare factual knowledge, but rather of spiritual connection. On this level, the very fact of a connection with God is a positive phenomenon. Nothing can be worse for us than to be distanced from Him, exposed to a cold, an uncaring cosmos, cut off from the source of life and "forgotten" by Him. In light of the Ramban's statement that "Rosh Ha-shana is a day of judgment-in-mercy" (Commentary on the Torah, Vayikra 23:24), we may say that we open with praise of the King of Judgment, and in the midst thereof we describe the memory which gathers and knows, and also accuses. But we close with a request to our God and the God of our fathers - and thereby appeal to the supportive and redemptive memory, to the source of "the remembrance of salvation and mercy from the highest Heavens." Hence both aspects of Yom Ha-zikkaron find expression.