The court astrologer predicted that the queen of the country would die the following day. When the prediction came true, the king was furious. He ordered that the astrologer be executed, believing that he had conspired to bring about the queen's death. As guards grabbed him and brought him to the court of the king, the king demanded, "You seem to predict very well. Tell me, when are you going to die?" With a grave seriousness, the astrologer replied, "I shall die three days before you, oh glorious and great king." The king spared his life 5,786. The number for this year, what is the predictions for the year to come? The difference between last year and this year is the letter VV. Last year was 5,785. Five is a he and this year is 5,786 which is the letter V. And therefore this year will be a year of significant change and transformation. What does the letter VV mean? The letter V is shaped like a pillar. And so says alto. The letter VV represents the power of Torah. When one studies Torah, he has the power to draw down and unleash the mouth of paradise into this world. And so this year will be a year of tremendous Torah learning and tremendous Torah knowledge which will bring down to the world tremendous blessing. Vav also means connection. Therefore, this year will be a year of Israel, of brotherly love, of peace and tranquility. It will be a year that we continue to push for inclusivity and equality, fostering a more connected and understanding world. Furthermore, the letter V represents six. Six is the sixth day of creation, the creation of humankind. when God created Adam, man and woman in his image. And so it reminds us that we are here to bring perfection to the world. As it says in the kdush Friday night, God created the world for us to fix, for us to perfect. Each one of us is a partner with God in creation. Six. The number six also alludes to the sixth day of Sivon, the day that God gave the Torah and the ten commandments to the world, reminding us of our responsibilities to follow the Torah, the 613 commandments and the seven Noahide laws to make the world a more beautiful place. The number six also alludes to the number of the six millennia, which is the time of the days of Messiah when Messiah is going to come. And therefore this year is a very apppropo time for the Messiah to arrive and to reveal himself. Furthermore, if we go to 80 86, the number 86, last year was 85, this year 86. PV says Rabi Ginsburg is Peru urvu, a year to be fruitful and to multiply. And so this year we will see many births and many children. Even barren women will give birth to many children. Furthermore, the number 86 is the same as the word lanu. Lamid nun v lamemed is 30, non is 50, v is six. Lanu in our prayers on and we say open up the treasure house of good and open it for us lanu the good should be for us. In other words, not only will we see a world of general good but a personal personalized good. each one of us for our personal needs in a revealed way that we can put our finger on it and feel it and point to it and therefore a year that God will fulfill the desires of all of our hearts for good. So this is the concept of 5,786. But let's take it a step further to understand the significance of rash, what is the meaning of the new year and what is our participation in this transformation. The word roash, where is it found in the Torah? It's found in Deuteronomy 11:12. And there it says that the eyes of God are upon the land. Meash mess from the beginning of the year. This is the terminology ro. Now in truth miracious ash is not only the beginning of the year but rather mash the head of the year. And that is the difference between the Jewish new year and the secular new year. And that is the Jewish new year is not only the new year, it is actually the head of the year. In other words, just like the head is the mitochondria of the entire body, it directs the body and gives the body vitality. So to these two days of rashashana literally give vitality and direction for the rest of the year. Why don't use the day of rash? What is the mitzvah of the day of rash? So here we find in numbers 291. It says in the seventh month it shall be a day of the chauffeur blasts. That is what the Torah says. The mitzvah of the day of Rashashana is to blow the chauffeur. Why do we blow the chauffeur? Because this is the day we coronate God as our king. For each year on the eve of God ascends on high. And when we blow the chauffeur, God comes down crashing back into the world with new energy with new power for the year to come. And that is why in the word it is missing the letter alif. So is missing the letter alf in the Torah because alif alludes to aloam the master of the universe, the king of the universe who ascends on high right before the new year but then on the new year returns with tremendous energy and vitality to give us new life, new inspiration, new purpose and new encouragement for the year to come. So after all of this comes the question to mind what is the Torah why does the reading of the Torah that we do on Rashash we just read it a few moments ago on the first day of Rashana we speak about the peace treaty between Abrainu Abraham our forefather and Abi Melik the king of Gaza and there goes on to say that Abraham gave him seven sheep and And they made an oath. They made a shu. Why do we read this onash? Rashash is the day when God created humankind. It's the sixth day of creation. It's not the first day of creation. It's the sixth day of creation when God created Adam, Adam, and Eve. If so, we should read the story of the Torah dealing with the creation of the world. That would be more significant. That would be more appropriate. Why do we read a story with Abraham and a king and he gives him seven sheep? They make an oath. What do we read the second day of Rashashana? The famous aa the story of the binding of Isaac. God tells Abraham, "Take your only child and bring your only child up on the altar." What is the connection between that and rash? It's brought down in the medish that this story took place on Russash. But so what? There are so many other things in history that took place in Furthermore, why is Rosh the beginning of the year the seventh month of the year? If it's the beginning of the year, the head of the year, it should be the first month of the year. Yet the Torah says, "In the seventh month, on the first day, you shall blast the chauffeur." Now, the answer to this is simple. That is that when God took the Jews out of Egypt, he said now we are going to start the calendar. God took the Jews out of Egypt, the month of the sun. And so the month of the sun became the first month of the year on that cycle which is the beginning of creation for the entire universe happens to be the seventh month on the Jewish calendar. But this two needs further examination. Why is it that it's the seventh month? But if you look into the reading of both days of Rash, you see that there is a synthesis. You see that there is a theme. You see that there is a common denominator and that is both days talk about the concept of an oath. The oath between Abraham and Aimelik. And on the second day, we speak about the oath that God made with the Jewish people after Abraham was about to take his son and slaughter his son. And God said, "Don't do it." God says, "I swear that because you are willing to sacrifice your child, I will bless you with many, many offsprings, a blessing for children and grandchildren for all generations to come. What is this concept of an oath and how does this connect with rash?" We explained a few moments ago rash is the day when God created humankind and Adam and Eve. The Talm tells us before a soul is born, before a child is born, each one of us takes an oath. We take an oath with God. You shall be a sadic. You shall be righteous. You shall do the right things. The alihidra should do not be wicked. Do not do bad things. You should be righteous. You should follow the Torah. Do all the mitzvah. And don't sin. Don't violate the Torah. Don't hurt each other. Don't steal from each other. This is the oath that every single human being makes before they go into the world. And being that Adam was the first human being, Adam made this oath on Roashan the day he was born. And being that we are created in the image of Adam, we are a copy of the first human being. In reality, all of us are born on Roashana. So happy birthday. It's your birthday. Each year we are reborn. The soul of Adam comes back into the world and the soul of each one of us because Adam was a he was a general soul. All the souls of all humankind were within the soul of Adam. So in reality rash is the birth of each and every one of us. And because that we are reborn each year Rashashana once again we take this oath. And to remind us of this oath, we speak about the oath in the Torah between Abraham and Aim. We speak about the oath that God says, I swear on myself, on my essence. Now, what is the meaning of oath? Tells us that oath has three meanings. The word means number one, which is an oath. number two which means to satiate and number two seven and therefore rash is in the seventh month of the year to remind us of this oath. Now how does this work? We all have a great question and that is God you want me to follow your Torah. God, you want me to be good. God, you don't want me to be bad. You tell me I made an oath. I don't remember that oath. Who here remembers that oath? How can I be liable for something I don't remember that I did? What is the purpose of the oath if we forget it or don't remember it or don't know about it? And the answer is the concept of an oath is not only to take a verbal oath but by taking the oath it is soa it satiates us. It's like eating at the table and feeling full and because of this we now have energy. So you all have this energy. Every year God once again renews that energy and gives us the potential to overcome all the temptations, to overcome all our challenges, to make sure that we are going to be good and we're not going to violate the Torah and we're not going to, God forbid, be bad. Furthermore, the oath comes from God says, "I swear within myself." In other words, it's an oath beyond all time and space. It's beyond the world of tik, beyond the world of to the world of chaos. It comes from the level of which is the essence of God's crown. And therefore, we have within us infinite powers to literally overcome every challenge that comes our way. And this is also the meaning of number seven. Number seven means every single day of the week, all seven days of the week, not only on holidays, not only on Shabas, not only on on Mondays, but every single day of the week, we have the power to overcome these challenges. Furthermore, Cheva represents the attribute of is the attribute of bonding which connects the level of bina to malus which means it takes the potential of this oath and it brings it down into reality that we could literally taste it and feel it and have within us that satiation of power and energy to overcome all of these challenges. So is in the seventh month of the year to remind us that it is a time of oath. It's the month of the oath. It's the month that we re renew our responsibilities to almighty God. It's a time we renew our responsibilities to humankind. That we are here for a reason. We are here for a purpose. Each one of us is endowed with his strength and mission to transform the world to make the world a beautiful place, a better place and to prepare the world to receive the countenance of almighty God. It says in the end of the reading of the first day that Abraham was there in the land of many days. Why is it important for us to know this? It's interesting to note that the words yim equal 352 plus the two words is 354. 354 represent the lunar year, the lunar calendar. In other words, on the day of we take an oath which is in the seventh month. Why? For this oath gives us strength for the entire year 354 days until the next rash when once again we get a new oath and once again we are satiated with new powers. Furthermore equals 352. If you take the six words of that verse 6 plus 352 is 358 equals what? Mashiach. In other words, with this oath, God gives us the strength not only to do the right thing, not only to be good and overcome the challenges, but this oath is so strong that it gives us the power to literally bring about the coming of the Messiah. And so to end with the following story told by Rabb Zakaria Wallstein, he says that he spoke to this person and he heard it from this person directly. There was a boy by the name of Michael. Michael was not a religious man. He was in high school looking to go to a great college. He was a fantastic basketball player. Michael went to Hebrew school and became friendly with the rabbi and so therefore every year on he would come to the rabbi's house and the rabbi would make kdish in the afternoon and then they would blow chauffeur and he would hear the blowing of the chauffeur every year rash one of eve of rashash he shows up the rabbi says why are you here it's supposed to come tomorrow it's early says says, "Rabbi, I know I know Rashashana is tomorrow, but tonight I came instead because tomorrow there's going to be this allstar basketball game and I'm hoping to get to get chosen. They're going to be many scouts there and I'm a fantastic basketball player and I really really want to have a career. So, I'm going to have to skip tomorrow the blowing of the chauffeur. But tonight, I'm here. We'll make kdish. I'll have you know some apple and honey and I'll do the thing." The rabbi wasn't going to argue with him. He says, "You know, it's really important, but okay, I understand. I respect you." So, they sit down during dinner. And the next morning, Michael gets up, goes on his bicycle, and he's now traveling to the high school. As he's traveling to the high school, he gets hit by a car. He's now on the floor, and he can't move his legs. And in the meantime, people around him, "Michael, get up. Get up." He goes, "What do you mean get up?" "I am up. I am up. Oh my god. Don't look at him. Looks terrible. What do you mean? I feel great. Oh my goodness. He's not even breathing. Of course I'm breathing, guys. I'm here. Hello. A few minutes later, the ambulance comes, takes him to the hospital, and they pronounce him dead. Goes, "What do you mean? I'm dead. I'm right here. Hello, guys. I have to go to a game. Get me out of here. Get me up." They put this white sheet over his head. A short while later, his parents come. They open up the sheet. They're crying. They're bowling. Oh, my Michael. My Michael. My Michael. What do you mean my Michael? I'm right here, ma. I'm here, Dad. They put back the sheet. What's going on over here? What's going on, guys? Don't you hear me? They pick up Michael. They put him into the freezer. Oh, it's getting cold over here. Why am I in the freezer? I'm not a piece of meat. A few minutes later, it goes black. All of a sudden, he wakes up. And he's sitting in front of three rabbis. They told him, "Stand up, Michael. You're in court." "C court? What kind of court?" "Michael, you know you died. You're now in heaven. We are the three judges." And there were three rabbis with a talis over their head, fiery eyes, with a beard. The center rabbi said, "Michael, you know why you're here?" He says, "No, today is your day of judgment. We're going to decide if you go to heaven or you go to hell. What does it mean? How do I do this? You do nothing. You sit and watch. There's going to be a big scale right next to you. And on the scale, we're going to put all your good deeds and all your bad deeds. If your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you go to heaven. If not, you go down there to the dark place, to the fire. You go to hell. Now, Michael's getting scared a little bit. What's going on over here? I know I wasn't a religious person. I I didn't study Torah every day. I didn't put on film every day. I'm nervous. Says, "Don't worry. Let's see what happens." So the rabbis say, "All the good angels, come on in." Now, every time we do a mitzvah, we create an angel. And this angel is our defender. Every time you utter one word, an angel is another angel. Hashem, another angel. Every word you say, you create an angel. Every mitzvah you do, you create an angel. When you do a mitzvah with gishmak with enjoyment, you create a hefty angel, a strong angel. When you do a mitzvah reluctantly, the angel is like fetching meek hunchback. If you do a mitzvah without heart, you have an angel missing a heart. If you do a mitzvah without brains, you're missing a head. So you have all these angels. Some are crippled, some are strong, but they eventually come onto the scale. And he has a nice size scale because, you know, he was a good kid. He helped people with homework. He listened to his grandma. He cleaned up his room once in a while. So, it's pretty good. All of a sudden, this big black humongous monstery angel walks in. Good afternoon, Michael. You know who I am. I'm the angel of death. I'm the devil. I'm the Satan. And you're going to come with us. What do you mean? Yes. I'm going to prove my point. We're going to bring in all the black angel of all your sins that you did all your life and we're going to bring it down there to the dungeon. No, don't do it. Sit down, Michael. Relax. And he begins to call in all the black angels. All the sins. Every time he didn't listen to his mother, every time he didn't clean his room, every time he cheated on the test, every time he ate without making a bra, every time he watched things on the internet he shouldn't be watching, all these angels came. Now, you have to realize when you do a mitzvah, you do it because you have to. You do a sin, you're into it, like you're eating the steak, you know, a gishmak. When you do the mitzvah with pleasure, and he has these big giant Gishmaka angels walking in on the scale. And finally, the scale is 50 50 good, 50 bad. A tie. This doesn't usually happen. What's going to be? Does it go up there or does it go down there? They're watching. They're looking. All of a sudden, hey, there's one more angel coming. Oh my goodness. One more angel. Oh, look. Who is it? Who is it? Michael stands on the chair. He's trying to see who the angel is. They're looking. The rabbis say it's a good angel. The Satan says it's a bad angel. And he comes through the dark tunnel and walks out. And the angel appears. And the angel is half white, half black. Wow. We never saw such a thing. Unbelievable. And the angel walks right up to Michael and says, "Michael, you know who I am?" "No. Who are you? I'm the angel for the chauffeur. I'm the angel of Roshashana. I'm the angel that you're supposed to create when you hear the blowing of the chauffeur." And all of a sudden, the angel starts to turn black. The white part of the angel now becomes black. It's fully black. And the devil screams out, "Okay, Michael, you come with me." And he grabs Michael. He starts to shle him. Says, "No, no." And then Michael wakes up. He's sitting at the rabbi's table. He fell asleep after the kidish. He was practicing so much for the game tomorrow. He was so tired. and he fell asleep. But you know what? Michael went to shul the next morning and he heard the blowing of the chauffeur. Phenomenal. My dear friends, every day we create angels. It's up to us to create those white angels. And we are sure that this year 5,786 will be the year that we create the ultimate angel, the final angel. As my manes tells us, we should always view the world. That the world is on a scale of 50% good deeds and 50% bad deeds. It's up to us to make the final mitzvah, to make the final angel, to bring the ultimate to bring salvation to us and the entire world to wish everybody to be written and sealed for a happy and healthy sweet new year, a year of health, a year of joy, a year of happiness, a year of success, and a year of redemption with the coming of Messiah. Amazing.