Loving judgment[1]
ותתן לנו יקוק אלקינו באהבה את יום הזכרון הזה
Hashem, our G-d, give us, with love, this day of remembrance…[2]
In the middle blessing of Shemoneh Esrei on Rosh Hashanah, we ask Hashem to give us, with love, this day of remembrance, a day of shofar blasts, a holy convocation. The obvious question is how could our Sages establish the text of the blessing for Rosh Hashanah to be that He give us, with love[3]? This is the same expression used with other festivals. However, Rosh Hashanah is a day of judgement. It’s a day that Hashem sits on His throne of judgement[4]. The whole world is judged one by one, like sheep[5]. Everyone’s fate hangs in the balance[6]. This is exactly the reason that we don’t say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. As it says in the gemarra, how could it be that the King sits on His throne, with the books of life and death before Him, and the Jews should sing song[7]? The Rambam elaborates[8] that these are days of fear and trepidation. If so, how can we say that Hashem gave us this day with love, like all the other Festivals?