We will begin with the paradoxical nature of judgment and compassion which forms one of the main cornerstones of Rosh Hashanah. Although Rosh Hashanah commemorates the sixth day of creation, in a more global sense it also celebrates the genesis of all creation, as it states in the Rosh Hashanah prayers:
“This day is the anniversary of the start of Your handiwork, a remembrance of the first day…”
Based on the fact that the Name of God used exclusively in the Torah’s first account of creation is Elokim, the name associated with God’s attribute of judgment, the Sages assert that initially God wanted to create the world based solely on the aspect of judgment, but, realizing that creation could not continue to exist under such strictness alone, He decided to add in the complementary aspect of compassion. The Sages learn this from the Torah’s second account of creation, wherein the four-letter Name of God (Hashem), which is associated with compassion, is used in conjunction with the Name Elokim: “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the day that Hashem Elokim made earth and heaven” (Genesis 2:4).
A basic belief that pervades all Jewish thought is that “there is a judge and there is a judgment” (Vayikra Rabbah 30). This Divine judgment is in no way negative nor vindictive, but is part and parcel of the very fabric of not only the spiritual worlds, but the physical world as well, and therefore must be acknowledged and understood. As mentioned, the name Elokim, which has the same numerical value as hateva, the all-inclusive word for nature (86), is the Name of God associated with judgment, law, strength, discipline and the sefirah of gevurah. This aspect of creation is manifest in the consistent and dependable laws of nature that rule every aspect of physical reality. Just as the material universe operates according to set laws, so too, there are laws that regulate the spiritual worlds. In fact, it is taught in Kabbalah that these two sets of laws are mirror images of each other.
In truth, it is actually God’s great kindness, represented by His four-letter Name, which is the ultimate motivating dynamic behind nature’s strict laws and the aspect of judgment. The verse in Psalms states (84:12): “The sun and its shield, [is comparable to] Hashem Elokim.” God, in His aspect of mercy is like the sun, the source of light, while Elokim is the shield, the medium or interface through which that infinite light is, by necessity of its inestimable luminescence, perceived and received.
The realization that the name Elokim, which connotes constriction, judgment and retention, is, at its source, unified with the name Hashem, which represents expansion, mercy and giving, surprisingly reveals that these two seemingly contrary forces are in fact one and the same.
This paradoxical marriage of opposites goes even deeper when we consider that the first two letters of the name Elokim, E-l, are in themselves a Name of God. For this two-letter name, embedded within the larger name Elokim that expresses strict judgment, is associated with chesed, loving-kindness, based on the verse: “The kindness of God, all the day,” Chesed E-l, kal Hayom (Psalms 52:3).
Another verse in Psalms (89:3) — “A world of chesed did God build [create]” — further posits that the quality of chesed was in fact one God’s primary inner motivations for creating the world. By incorporating the name E-l, expressing loving-kindness, within the larger construct of Elokim, expressing strict judgment, we see that God created the world in such a way that balanced and integrated these two opposing forces.
From this energetic inter-inclusion of creation’s constituent elements, we see the primordial and ongoing interdependence that exists between chesed and gevurah, judgment and mercy, within the fabric of both material and spiritual reality. From our time-bound perspective, it appears as a case of the proverbial chicken and the egg dilemma as to which came first; or whether they came into existence together as one, and only later became individually identifiable, similar to the initial creation of Adam and Eve, as discussed previously.
An interesting idea to contemplate is: When exactly did God decide to include compassion in the plan of creation? One way to approach this conundrum is that it was following Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden that God “understood” that without compassion, humanity, as responsible representatives of all creation, would not be able to stand up to the strict rigors of pure judgment alone. However, we also have the statement of the Sages quoted above that teshuvah, which has the power to overrule the strict laws of ‘measure for measure,’ precedes the world! Thus, we see the paradoxical nature of how the forces of judgment and law, upon which the world is founded, sometimes include chesed; and furthermore, that chesed, in many cases, is expressed through the guise of gevurah. Related to this, it is fascinating to note that the numerical value of the Hebrew names Adam and Eve (Chava) when added together equals 64, the same as the word for judgment, din! We can now appreciate, based on the above teachings, the profound and paradoxical poetics of the prayers recited throughout the Ten Days of Repentance, as we continually appeal to God to move from His throne of judgment to His throne of compassion.
