When Rosh Hashanah is ushered in, we are excited about the greeting of our Melech, the King of Kings. It isan opportunity for us to be close to royalty. Yet when we think of Hashem’s ability to see us inside and out, we become frightened as we realize that He will see our shortcomings and faults and thereby, maybe, not accept out tefillos. As we sway and pray, to the onlookers it may look as if we are doing well, but He sees those lapses in our concentration and inadequacies.
How can we be successful when Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows the truth?
On Rosh Hashanah during the Chazaras Hashatz we say the following piyut:
ליודע מחשבות ביום דין – לכובש כעסו בדין
The Koshenitzer Maggid explains it as follows: Hakadosh Baruch Hu is yoda’a machshavos (knows thoughts) meaning he knows our innermost thoughts. However, He is also koveish ca’aso (suppresses His anger), meaning that he understands the frailty of human nature and suppresses His anger, opting to judge us based on our external pose. This definitely gives us hope. If we do the minimum of at least going through the motions of davening properly, we should merit to not only that He will be koveish ca’aso badin, but we should also merit to לרחם עמו ביום דין—that Hashem should have mercy on His people on the Day of Judgment.
