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deeply-held beliefs and conceptions, it is that you can’t win. Yet that was exactly “The Concept” remains an eternal warn-
difficult to change our actions. what President Sadat did! ing to always challenge our thought pro-
cesses, perspectives and presumptions.
This is exactly the spiritual focus of Rosh According to Sadat’s wife Jehan, her hus-
Hashanah, the first of the Days of Teshuva. band needed a war to restore honor and It beckons us never to be victims of our
The Hebrew word our Sages have chosen dignity to Egypt after it had devastatingly victories, to always be grateful in the face
for the New Year is Rosh Hashanah the lost three major wars to Israel (the War of of grace, to be unassuming and never pre-
“head of the year” and not the more obvi- Independence, Sinai Campaign, and the tentious, and to never stand with hubris
ous term Reishit Hashanah, the “beginning embarrassment of 1967). Whereas Syria but always remain humble before G-d.
of the year.” 4 wanted to destroy Israel, as it was in close
The reason our Sages picked this specific proximity to Israel’s mainland positioned 1. Thus termed by the Agranat Commission, the
term of the head is because the head and high up in the Golan Heights, Sadat’s aim National Commission of Inquiry set up in the
mind are the keys to understanding the was to surprise and humiliate Israel, espe- aftermath of the Yom Kippur War to investigate
essence of the day. cially on its holiest day, in order to gain a the mistakes in the prelude to the war.
restitution of honor so as then to negotiate 2. Abraham Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 36–37.
Rosh Hashanah is a time of deep cognitive a peace from a position of strength. 7 3. American pressure on Israel from President
reflection, not a time of action. We exam- Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger not to
ine our spiritual and mental paradigms Kissinger summed up the mistaken “Con- preemptively attack was immense. Defense Min-
and thought processes in preparation cept” well: “Our notion of rationality did ister Dayan and Prime Minister Meir decided
against a major mobilization or any preemptive
for the year ahead. It’s a time for big pic- not take into account the possibility of strike in order not to be seen as the aggressor, as
ture mind mapping, not for meddling in fighting an unwinnable war just to restore had happened in 1967, and not to risk losing US
minutiae or in specific actions. It is for self-respect.” This presumption almost support should there be a war. Howard Blum,
this reason we do not focus whatsoever cost the Jewish state its very existence. The Eve of Destruction – the Untold History of the Yom
Kippur War, 143–144.
on individual actions nor any mention of 4. Reishit is the obvious word as it is not only the
sin or confession throughout the lengthy What causes us to be so pompous so as not first word in the Torah, Bereishit, but it is also
prayer service. Although part of the to doubt our presumptions? mentioned in Devarim (11:12) as “the beginning of
essence of teshuva is confession – as we the year, reishit hashanah.” It is from here that the
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do throughout the selichot prayers of pen- More often than not, it is hubris and arro- Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 17b) learns the concept
of annual judgment on Rosh Hashanah. Never-
itence and hundreds of times throughout gance. We become too full of ourselves. theless, our Sages chose Rosh Hashanah as the
Yom Kippur – we astoundingly do not Israel had fallen victim to her own victory name of the festival and the talmudic tractate.
utter one word of confession on Rosh of 1967. Israel’s miraculous lightning vic- 5. In his introduction to the Laws of Teshuva,
Hashanah! We dare not get lost in detail, tory of biblical proportions gave the coun- Rambam considers the source of the mitzvah of
lest we fail to distinguish the forest from try’s leadership a feeling of invincibility. teshuva to be יּו ּ ד ִו – confession.
the trees. It’s not time “to rearrange deck Israel believed its military to be brilliant 6. Rabbeinu Tam supports this view of Rosh Hasha-
nah, stating that the world was created in thought
chairs on the Titanic,” but rather to ensure and powerful and the Arabs’ military to in Tishrei and physically in Nissan (Rosh Hasha-
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that we are heading in the right direction. be clumsy and weak. nah 27a). This is how he resolves the rabbinic
Rosh Hashanah is an intense exercise in Instead of exhibiting profound gratitude statements that describe both Tishrei and Nissan
systematic strategic spiritual thinking. and humility, the leadership displayed as times of creation (Rosh Hashanah 10). First the
world was created in thought, through a vision
It is a time to challenge the very way we arrogance and forgetfulness of our Heav- of the world and its ideal potential. Thereafter,
in Nissan, it was created in reality. Clearly, the
see the world. Just as “seeing is believ- enly blessings. As Rabbi Norman Lamm focus of Rosh Hashanah is the realm of thought.
ing,” so too “believing is seeing” – what reflected regarding the war: “My mind, 7. Dr Noam Weissman, Unpacking Israeli His-
we think and believe causes us to see during this period, inevitably turned to the tory Podcast, The Yom Kippur War – A National
our reality in a certain way. If we cannot powerful passage in Devarim 8: “Beware Catastrophe.
conceive of ourselves differently then we lest you forget the L-rd your G-d... when 8. Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 6–8.
cannot chart a different course of action. you have eaten and are full and you say in 9. Rabbi Norman Lamm, Remembering the Six-Day
How we examine ourselves in thought on your heart, ‘My power and the might of my War, Tradition 40, 2 (Summer 2007), 7–13. With
Rosh Hashanah will determine the type hand have gotten me this success.’” Self thanks to Rabbi Aviad Tabory, who quotes this
in State of Halakha, 76.
of atonement in action on Yom Kippur. If confidence morphed into arrogance, and 10. Chaim Herzog, Milchemet Yom HaDin, 250.
we remain trapped in false conceptions, arrogance into unforgivable carelessness. 9
we can never escape the consequences of
the erroneous “Concept.” 6 Conclusion

Presumptuous and arrogant Thankfully, the tide of the war turned
on both fronts over Sukkot, and the war
Why did Israel fall prey to such a mistaken ended after three weeks of heavy fight-
“Concept”? How did they get it so wrong? ing. Despite tragically heavy losses, Isra-
The answer it seems lies in two factors: el’s incredible courage and bravery came
presumptuousness and hubris. through. The Yom Kippur War has been Rabbi Doron Perez
For Israel and the Western mindset, it described as perhaps the most miraculous is the Executive Chairman
of World Mizrachi.
didn’t make any sense to initiate a war of all of Israel’s wars. 10

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