Return and Restore

The arrival of Rosh HaShanah near the Autumn Equinox invites us to take note of the remarkable harmony between the cycles of creation and the cycles of the Jewish year. At the equinox, day and night stand in perfect balance—an image that resonates deeply with the spirit of Rosh HaShanah.

The sages teach that Rosh HaShanah is hayom harat olam—the birthday of the world (Rosh HaShanah 27a). It is also the birthday of Adam. Author Gad Erlanger writes:

“Each year, on the day that man was created, a judgment takes place. At that time, on the very day that the Moznayim (Scales) constellation is ascending, it is determined whether man has lived according to the designs embedded in the word Bereshit, whose letters in Hebrew can also form the words alef b’Tishrei—the 1st of Tishrei. The weighing of one's existence on these scales of justice helps the individual not to become lost on the way or diverted from the path.” - Sign of the Times: The Zodiac in Jewish Tradition

Creation itself was founded on balance: the separation of light and darkness, waters above and below, heaven and earth. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch notes that these separations were not destructive divisions but life-giving boundaries, enabling the world to flourish in harmony. On a deeper level, when the earth arrives At the equinox, we revisit primal balance place where our planet was actually created.

Rosh HaShanah is also Yom HaDin, the Day of Judgment, when, in the words of the Mishnah, “all creatures pass before Him like sheep” (Rosh HaShanah 1:2). Our deeds are weighed on the scales of heaven. God is Judge and compassionate Father, eager for us to return to Him. The Rambam (Hilchot Teshuvah 3:4) describes each person as though equally balanced between merit and sin but a single act can tip the scale.

On the day when creation itself mirrors balance, we are called to examine which way our lives lean, and to restore symmetry through repentance and renewal. Rav Kook often wrote of teshuvah as returning to our deepest, truest selves. The equinox, marking the shift from summer’s outward vitality to autumn’s inward stillness, mirrors this process. Rosh HaShanah calls us to balance our inner life with our outer life: prayer with action, contemplation with responsibility, humility with courage. Just as day and night stand equal for a moment, so we pause to seek harmony in the soul.

The Sages suggest there are at least seven kinds of teshuvah, and Abarbanel believed each represents ascending levels of repentance fueled by the desire to become more fully observant of the commandments—in essence, perfecting teshuvah. This process is driven by history and current events that awaken us to return to the one true God of Israel.

Finally, the equinox teaches that time itself is not random but ordered. The Torah tells us: “God made the two great lights… to separate day from night, and to serve as signs for the appointed times, the days and the years” (Genesis 1:14).

The appointed time of Rosh HaShanah is aligned with the rhythm of the heavens. In this way, the covenant between God and Israel is inscribed in the very movements of the cosmos.

The words of Nitzavim ring in our ears, confirming the unfolding prophetic return of the Jewish people to: “The land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it” (Deuteronomy 30:5). Strikingly, this is the 5,708th verse in the Torah, corresponding to the Hebrew year 5708—the secular year 1948—when the modern State of Israel was founded. And returning to the Promised Land is so crucial to the Jewish people that Malbim teaches Israel cannot achieve complete return(teshuvah )unless they are living in Eretz Yisrael. And complete teshuvah, he says, will usher in the arrival of Moshiach.