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18 | Harav Ron Yitzchok Eisenman Harav Michoel Fishman | 19

Refoel looked at me and said, “Last week as I sat with my mother, she told me Harav Micho e l Fi s hm an
after she leaves this world, I should look for the envelope in the bottom drawer
of her desk. She said, ‘Open it during shivah, and you will know what to do with Rav, Chabad of Passaic - Clifton
it.’ I did not question her mysterious request; however, I opened it after she
was nifteres, when we began shivah.”
The Purpose of Creation
Refoel handed it to me, saying, “Here, read it for yourself.”

Carefully, I unfolded the brittle sheet of paper and read the following: “Dear Today the World was Born
Refoel, during my shivah, Ron Yitzchok Eisenman will come to be menachem avel. osh Hashanah recalls the creation of the world, as we say in our
When he comes, give him this money. It is payment for the time at Bildersee Davening, "םלוע תרה םויה” “Today the world was born”. According to
1
Playground he lent you money to buy a snack when I could not come. I clearly R Chzal, however, the world was created on the 25th of Elul, so that Rosh
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remember I did not pay him back and I wanted him to be paid back, so I have Hashanah actually marks the sixth day of creation, the day on which Hashem
no outstanding debts when I leave this world.
created man.
“When you return the money, I can go to the next world with a clear conscience, Why do we commemorate the creation of man and not the creation of the
as I know that the real Day of Judgment is when you leave this world.”
whole world?
At the bottom of the envelope was one dollar and forty-three cents.
This is especially strange, given that the creation of the world demonstrates
I had not seen Rafi in over 35 years. Hashem‘s absolute power in His unique ability to create something from
nothing. Only the Ain-Sof, free of all limitation, can bring about being from
3
I had not seen his mother in over 40 years. utter void. 4
How she knew I would come to be menachem avel remains a mystery to me. The 25th of Elul, the first day of the world’s existence, is further distinguished

5
However, I never experienced a greater lesson to prepare me for the Din of by being referred to in the Torah as דחא םוי (“one day”), rather than yom rishon
Rosh Hashanah than seeing the $1.43 left for me by Mrs. Feinberg to settle (“the first day”). The Torah thus indicates that on the first day of creation,
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her outstanding debts before the ultimate Day of Judgment. Hashem was “alone in His world.” Though the entire created world already
existed, it was not separate from its Creator; the world was one with its maker.

1 Mussaf of Rosh Hashanah, based on Rosh Hashanah 27a.
2 Vayikra Rabbah 29:1; also Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 8:1.
3 Ramban on Bereishis1:1. Creation of this nature took place only on the 25th of Elul. As Rashi (on
Bereishis 1:14) explains, on the first day of existence Hashem created the entire universe ex nihilo,
bringing all the components of heaven and earth into being from absolute nothingness. On the
following days, the days on which the Torah describes various entities as coming into being, Hashem
merely "formed” them, making new
entities from existing substances by giving them distinct characteristics and locations.
4 Cf. Tanya, Iggeres HaKodesh, Epistle 20.
5 Bereishis 1:5.
6 Rashi, loc. cit.; Bereishis Rabbah 83:8.

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