Fear Before Judgement

When I was in Yeshiva in Israel, my Rosh Yeshiva would always give a "shmuez" before Rosh Hashana with the same theme. The theme is that every year, Hashem does something in the world immediately before Rosh Hashana that strikes fear in the world, and thus, we say ...ובכן תן פחדך. This also is used as a catalyst for Teshuva, he says.

The examples he used at the time were Saddam's invasion of Kuwait along with hurricanes and other world events. It wouldn't take much guessing to guess what he chose as the fearful event that occurred before Rosh Hashana 5762.

This year, barring something occurring on Erev Rosh Hashana itself, we have more of a worry of the future than fear caused by a major world event. We have a worry of:

• what the Goldstone repercussions will be (will all nations go against Israel?)
• Iran already having nuclear bomb capabilities
• a possible al Qaeda attack in India, where Israel had to issue a warning to stay away from Chabad Houses in particular

All these worries are nothing compared to the fear we need to have of Hashem before our yearly judgement, but they're used to put us into a fearful mindset to help us do Teshuva before the Yom Hadin. Once Rosh Hashana comes, however, we should not worry or be afraid. We need to dress in our best clothes to show confidence that we will come out meritorious in judgement. והבוטח בה' חסד יסובבנו.

May this year of תש"ע stand for תהא שנת עשירות and not ח"ו stand for עניות.
May this year of תש"ע mean either "You will save" or "You will accept our Avoda" as in וַיִּשַׁע יְהוָה, אֶל-הֶבֶל וְאֶל-מִנְחָתוֹ
May this be a year of ישועות for all of כלל ישראל, including the ישועה - meaning the coming of Mashiah Tzidkeinu, as we sing on Rosh Hashana:

וֶאֱמֹר לְצִיּוֹן בָּא זְמַן הַיְשׁוּעָה יִנּוֹן וְאֵלִיָּה אֲנִי שׁוֹלֵחַ

Wishing everybody: תזכו לשנים רבות נעימות וטובות and a כתיבה וחתימה טובה and a Shana Tova!