B'Sefer Chaim is one of our most recognizable High Holiday prayers. Let's read the translation of B'sefer Chaim below. Then we will listen to two different arrangements of the prayer. Which of the arrangements do you think is more appropriate for the prayer and why?
בְּסֵֽפֶר חַיִּים בְּרָכָה וְשָׁלוֹם וּפַרְנָסָה טוֹבָה נִזָּכֵר וְנִכָּתֵב לְפָנֶֽיךָ אֲנַֽחְנוּ וְכָל עַמְּךָ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל לְחַיִּים טוֹבִים וּלְשָׁלוֹם:
In the book of life, blessing, peace and abundant prosperity, may we be remembered and inscribed before You; we and all Your people, the House of Yisrael for a good life and peace.
How do you understand the idea of "The Book of Life" as it relates to the High Holidays.
Where does the idea of "The Book of Life" come from? It seems as if some version of this idea existed even in Moses' time.
(לא) וַיָּ֧שׇׁב מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶל־יהוה וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אָ֣נָּ֗א חָטָ֞א הָעָ֤ם הַזֶּה֙ חֲטָאָ֣ה גְדֹלָ֔ה וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֥וּ לָהֶ֖ם אֱלֹהֵ֥י זָהָֽב׃ (לב) וְעַתָּ֖ה אִם־תִּשָּׂ֣א חַטָּאתָ֑ם וְאִם־אַ֕יִן מְחֵ֣נִי נָ֔א מִֽסִּפְרְךָ֖ אֲשֶׁ֥ר כָּתָֽבְתָּ׃
(31) Moses went back to יהוה and said, “Alas, this people is guilty of a great sin in making for themselves a god of gold. (32) Now, if You will forgive their sin [well and good]; but if not, erase me from the book which You have written!”
Long before the time of Moses, (c. 1800 BCE) we find a similar idea in the ancient Sumerian prayer by Rim-Sin to the god Haia:
Grant to prince Rim-Sin a reign all joyous and length of days! On a tablet of life never to be altered place its (the reign's) name(s)!"
A thousand years later, an inscription from the time of the Assyrian King Esarhodden reads
"To the king , my lord .. . . Mayall be very very well with the king, my lord. May Nabu and Marduk bless the king, my lord . . . . On the seventh day is the making of the reckoning of Nabu. In his tablet of life [may he make] the reckoning of the king , my lord (and) of the sons of my lord forever.
What idea or ideas do these three ancient texts share about the Book of LIfe?
By the time of the Talmud, the idea of the Book of Life is tied specifically to Rosh HaShannah.
אָמַר רַבִּי כְּרוּסְפָּדַאי אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: שְׁלֹשָׁה סְפָרִים נִפְתָּחִין בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, אֶחָד שֶׁל רְשָׁעִים גְּמוּרִין, וְאֶחָד שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִין, וְאֶחָד שֶׁל בֵּינוֹנִיִּים. צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִין — נִכְתָּבִין וְנֶחְתָּמִין לְאַלְתַּר לְחַיִּים, רְשָׁעִים גְּמוּרִין — נִכְתָּבִין וְנֶחְתָּמִין לְאַלְתַּר לְמִיתָה, בֵּינוֹנִיִּים — תְּלוּיִין וְעוֹמְדִין מֵרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה וְעַד יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, זָכוּ — נִכְתָּבִין לְחַיִּים, לֹא זָכוּ — נִכְתָּבִין לְמִיתָה.
§ The Gemara goes back to discuss the Day of Judgment. Rabbi Kruspedai said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Three books are opened on Rosh HaShana before the Holy One, Blessed be He: One of wholly wicked people, and one of wholly righteous people, and one of middling people whose good and bad deeds are equally balanced. Wholly righteous people are immediately written and sealed for life; wholly wicked people are immediately written and sealed for death; and middling people are left with their judgment suspended from Rosh HaShana until Yom Kippur, their fate remaining undecided. If they merit, through the good deeds and mitzvot that they perform during this period, they are written for life; if they do not so merit, they are written for death.
How do you feel about the idea that we are all judged on Rosh HaShannah and that God writes our fates for the coming year in the appropriate book? What questions does this idea answer? What questions does this idea raise?
Some interpretations of the meaning of the Book of Life:
Or Somayach Yeshiva Website: (Orthodox)
Rabbi Chaviv Danesh
At face value, the above gemara is problematic. After all, we see many righteous people who don’t live out the year, and many wicked people who do. How should we understand this gemara? Tosefot addresses this question, and answers that the gemara here is referring to life in the World-to-Come — and not to life in this world.
Chazal tell us that a person’s spiritual standing has the power to determine how G-d will deal with him in this world. For example, at times G-d may let a wicked person live out a prosperous year to repay him for the good deeds he performed in this world so that he will be left without reward in the World-to-Come (Kiddushin 40b); as it says in the pasuk: And He [G-d] repays His enemies to their faces in order to destroy them (Devarim 7:10). Similarly, G-d may decree that a righteous person should suffer for his transgressions in the upcoming year so that in the World-to-Come he will have only merits. The opposite may be true as well. At times G-d may decide that a wicked person should suffer for his evil deeds while a righteous person should prosper in order to allow him to continue in his righteous ways. All these decisions are made by G-d’s detailed, meticulous, and mysterious calculations.
Rabbi Laura Geller in Mishkan Hanefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe
Your Book of Life doesn’t begin today, on Rosh Hashanah. It began when you were born. Some of the chapters were written by other people: your parents, siblings, and teachers. Parts of your book were crafted out of experiences you had because of other people’s decisions: where you lived, what schools you went to, what your homes were like. But the message of Rosh Hashanah, the anniversary of the creation of the world, is that everything can be made new again, that much of your book is written every day — by the choices you make. The book is not written and sealed; you get to edit it, decide what parts you want to emphasize and remember, and maybe even which parts you want to leave behind. Shanah tovah means both a good year, and a good change. Today you can change the rest of your life. It is never too late.
Rabbi Amy Scheinerman
Tradition teaches that on Rosh Hashanah God decides whether or not to write us into the Book of Life for the coming year. The decision is made on the basis of our past deeds. The Book is sealed on Yom Kippur, giving us Ten Days to repent from our sins in order to be written and sealed into the Book of Life. Many people find this image terrifying and theologically problematic. There are two sides to the image, however. One is God's sovereign power to determine life and death, but the other is our role in determining our future based on our moral/religious decisions. We are neither powerless nor all-powerful in determining our futures and the prayers of Rosh Hashanah reflect this understanding.
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Chasidic Story
Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev, the 18th century Chassidic leader, was known as "the defense attorney of the Jewish people," because he constantly beseeched God to deal kindly with His people.
One year, when Rosh Hashana fell on Shabbat, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak went to the front of the synagogue to lead the congregation in prayer. Before beginning, he looked heavenward and said: "God, today is Shabbat. You taught us in Your holy Torah that Shabbat may only be broken in order to save a life. I demand that you keep the laws which You gave us. Since writing is prohibited on Shabbat, You have no right to record anybody in the Book of Death. You may only break Shabbat to record all of mankind in the Book of Life!"
In B'sefer Chaim we ask God to inscribe us for "live, peace, blessing and prosperity." What other things would you like God to inscribe you for this year? In other words, what are the blessings you are looking for this year?