Tehillim 87 – New Year of the Nations – a Time for Jewish Prayer

Tehillim 87 – New Year of the Nations – a Time for Jewish Prayer

Tehillim 87:6 - “Adonai yispor bikhtov amim, ze yulad sham selah” – (The L-rd will record it forever in the census of nations: “This one was born there.”). It is told of Rabbi Meir of Premishlan, may the memory of the righteous be a blessing, that he would be joyful on the night of Nittel (the night from December 31 to January 1), because on Rosh Hashanah the Holy One, blessed be He, judges humanity, and the leaders of the nations complain that only the Jews know about the holiness of this day, while the nations of the world do not. But when the night of Nittel arrives, which is considered holy by the nations of the world, yet they sin and engage in debauchery, the judgment of the Almighty is affirmed: “Who is like Your people Israel, the one nation on earth?” Therefore, he rejoiced on this night. It is also related in the book Rabbi Yaakov of Husiatyn, Ohaley Yaakov, p. 120, may the memory of the righteous be a blessing, in the name of the Holy Rabbi of Apta, may his merits protect us, that he taught: “Regarding the beginning of the year according to their (Gregorian) calendar, it is written in Tehillim: ‘The L-rd will record it forever in the census of nations: “This one was born there,”’ and that from this day a good year for Israel will begin. It is explained there that sometimes, because of the prosecutors, the prayers on Rosh Hashanah are not accepted. But when the New Year of the nations arrives and the difference becomes apparent—that on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), the people of Israel reverently proclaim, ‘The world belongs to the L-rd, and all that is in it,’ while the nations of the world celebrate their New Year with drunkenness and debauchery, and the Jews, by comparison, are the epitome of perfection—all the prosecutors disappear on their own. Therefore, we ask that all the prayers that were not accepted on Rosh Hashanah be accepted and bring about good, or at least that from this day a good year begin for the Jewish people.  (Rabbi Avraham M. Alter, translated by Zoya Hai Tigai)