״וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם בֶּן מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה אָנֹכִי הַיּוֹם״, שֶׁאֵין תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר ״הַיּוֹם״, וּמָה תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר ״הַיּוֹם״ — הַיּוֹם מָלְאוּ יָמַי וּשְׁנוֹתַי. לְלַמֶּדְךָ שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יוֹשֵׁב וּמְמַלֵּא שְׁנוֹתֵיהֶם שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים מִיּוֹם לְיוֹם מֵחֹדֶשׁ לְחֹדֶשׁ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״אֶת מִסְפַּר יָמֶיךָ אֲמַלֵּא״.
\“And he said to them: I am one hundred and twenty years old today” (Deuteronomy 31:2). As there is no need for the verse to state “today,” since it is clear that Moses was speaking on that day, what is the meaning when the verse states “today”? It is to teach that Moses was speaking precisely, as if to say: Today my days and years are exactly filled and completed. This comes to teach you that the Holy One, Blessed be He, sits and fills the years of the righteous from day to day and from month to month, as it is stated: “The number of your days I will fulfill” (Exodus 23:26). Similarly, the Patriarchs merited that their years be fulfilled to the day, and so they died on the same date they were born.
Rosh Hashanah translated literally means “new year.” The translation we often term Rosh Hashanah with is, “the beginning of the year.” I would like to retranslate Rosh Hashanah as, “the rebirth of the year, meaning, “A year of new life - a spiritual regeneration or growth.”
Each individual day should be divided into the three areas of study.
What is the Gemara teaching us?
No one lives forever.
(ג) וְתָּא חֲזֵי, כַּד חָב אָדָם בְּאִילָנָא דְּאֲכַל מִנֵּיהּ, גְּרַם לְהַהוּא אִילָנָא דְּשָׁרֵי בֵּיהּ מוֹתָא לְכָל עָלְמָא...
When Adam sinned by eating of the tree, he brought death to the whole world...
(ט) כַּד חָב אָדָם בְּאִילָנָא דְּאָכַל מִנֵּיהּ, גָּרַם לְהַהוּא אִילָנָא, דְּשָׁרֵי בֵּיהּ מוֹתָא לְכָל עָלְמָא...
We don’t how long we will live therefore we must utilize and prioritize the time that we have here on earth. What is the best day to do that? Perhaps Rosh Hashanah, or even better, on one’s Hebrew birthday!
יום הולדת [את] פרעה. יש לי לומר יום זה תכלית שנתן ביום שנולד, ודומה לו ביום הולדת (אותם) [אותך] (יחזקאל טז ד), ונראה לי הולדת מהולדת, ורוב בני אדם מחבבים יום שהוא תשלום שנתן, שהוא כנגד אותו היום שנולד ושמחים בו ועושין בו משתה...
Most people are happy and make a seudah on the day they were born.
A birthday party made with words of Torah and praising Hashem would turn the party into a seudas mitzvah (Yabe’ah Omeir, Orach Chayim 6:29:4)
The second great miracle is that Hashem allows that same person to merit celebrating the day of his birth or birthday, a year later.
But repentance, and prayer and charity annul the evil decree.
A person’s hebrew birthday has to a lot to do with teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah. In what way?
(ב) וּ֝צְדָקָ֗ה תַּצִּ֥יל מִמָּֽוֶת׃
(2) But righteousness saves from death.
A person’s birthday, on a personal level, is like a second Rosh Hashanah!
R’ Menachem Schneerson zt”l, has written about understanding one’s birthday as his own personal Rosh Hashanah; one ought to say extra tehillim or specific tehillim corresponding to one’s upcoming birthday (see Iggeros Kodesh Volume 3, page 451).