Does HaShem only judge us on Rosh Hashanah? (6 minutes)

0:02It says in the Gemara, Masechet Rosh Hashanah and also Masechet Beitzah, that Hashem judges us on Rosh Hashanah. What parnassah we're going to get and everything else we're going to get from Rosh Hashanah to Rosh Hashanah. We show up to Rosh Hashanah, we do teshuvah, we get serious, we already start preparing the whole month of Elul, we get to Rosh Hashanah, we do teshuvah, whatever we're supposed to get, is going to be decided on Rosh Hashanah. To make sure that in case, because we don't know what the decisions of Shamayim are, we have ten days to appeal whatever decision was already made, which is Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is Judgment Day; Yom Kippur is the appeal, meaning to make whatever decision you have even better. Hopefully better. Hopefully it's already good and you're making it better. Or if it was bad, you could turn it around during those ten days. And Yom Kippur is the last day. But anyway, the point is that it's decided already at that time what's going to happen, how much money you're going to make, and everything else from that year to the next year. But then he says, but the Mishnah, which is even before the Gemara, says that Hashem actually judges us every day. Why does He have to judge us every day?

1:23If you already judged it on Rosh Hashanah, same question you asked. So the Baal Shem Tov says, I now know. On Rosh Hashanah, He decides what we're going to get. But every day, based on our actions, He decides how we're going to get it. On Rosh Hashanah, He decides, oh, you're only going to get a million dollars. But every day, based on my actions, He's going to decide, oh, he's either going to get it through donations, or he's going to get it through a car accident. Someone can get fired a day after Rosh Hashanah, or a month after Rosh Hashanah, thinking that he lost the world that he had, and a week later he wins the lotto. So Hashem still gave him the money, just in a different way. How he's going to get it is decided every day. This is the reason why, if you want to explain it in a physical way, in a natural way, you wake up in a bad mood, who's a liar and says no? Everyone woke up in a bad mood one day. What happened? Why are you in a bad mood? Do you ever wonder? Nothing happened. You went to sleep. Why are you in a bad mood? You can't be in a bad mood because of something that nothing happened. You went to sleep. Because when you go to sleep, part of your neshamah goes upstairs.

2:51And it reports everything you did for the day. I made this sin, I made this mitzvah, I did this, I did that, and you sign your name on it. So the Day of Judgment comes one day, b'ezrat Hashem, after 120, they're going to show you everything you signed off on. So you can't say, I didn't know. So now, they say, oh, based on your actions today, tomorrow is going to be a good day. You made some mitzvot, tomorrow is going to be a good day. You're going to get some of your reward for the mitzvot you made on a certain day. Tomorrow. So already your neshama comes back excited because you know today is going to be a good day. You don't know because you don't know your neshama 100%, because your body is covering part of it. But that's why you wake up in a good mood. But then sometimes you show up over there with a bunch of sins. Oh, okay, listen, we like you. So we're going to make sure that you have some suffering here instead of there because there it's much hotter. It's even hotter than Arizona. So, we're going to give you some suffering here. Today, on the way to work, you can get a flat tire. You're going to be late to work by three hours. You're going to miss the appointment, you're going to lose the contract, and you're not going to be able to pay the bills this month. Your neshama already knows this ahead of time. That's why you wake up on Tisha B'Av. That's why you wake up in a bad mood. Because you already know you've got bad news. Now, a smart person wakes up in a bad mood, and now that he knows this, now that she knows this, you have a way to repent.

4:19This is where teshuva comes in. If I already woke up in a bad mood, that means that my neshama knows something I don't know. I need to fix something today. I have two choices. I can either exercise aveira goreret aveira, one sin leads to another, and make more sins today, make tomorrow even worse. Continue in a bad mood. When you're in a bad mood, you make sins. Or, I can say, okay, you know what? I don't want to get any more bad news. Let me actually put a jacket on today instead of wearing a t-shirt. Let me cover myself. Let me eat kosher today instead of eating McDonald's. Let me think about what's going on in my life. Let me start doing teshuva. Do something. Something. No one's going to do teshuva in a second. It's a process. You don't just keep everything in one day. Number one, you don't know everything to keep. And number two, you have to get used to it. But the very basics, like Shabbat, like kosher, like being modest, don't take that long. It's a decision, really. It's really a second. It's either you're going to keep it or you're not.

5:35How are you going to keep it? That takes maybe a little longer. You have to get new clothes. You have to prepare your house for Shabbat, buy a hot plate, maybe arrange a place to go to and learn how to keep Shabbat. It's a process. But the decision to do it, it's a second. Do you want to be righteous with HaShem? Or do you want to be His enemy?