The holy fellowship of the Baal Shem Tov had a special house outside the city, where they would gather after every teaching the Baal Shem Tov gave, to discuss and delve into his holy words. Once, on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Baal Shem Tov taught about "Sound the great shofar for our liberty," and immediately after the teaching, he went to his room and closed the door behind him. The fellowship, as was their custom, went to the house outside the town.
In the Baal Shem Tov's house, there was then a young man of sixteen, the son of Rabbi Yitzchak Dov, brother of the author of Meir Netivim. Due to his young age, he did not go with the fellowship to their special house. When he remained alone in the Baal Shem Tov's house after the teaching on that Rosh Hashanah, he began to imagine that Mashiach would come that day. With each passing moment, the thought in his mind grew stronger and stronger that Mashiach would soon arrive in the town. His spirit was greatly agitated by the intensity of this imagination, and there was no one in the house to calm him down, until he was almost breathless. He decided to run to the fellowship and tell them, hoping they might dispel his imagination.
He immediately ran from the Baal Shem Tov's house in great panic through the town streets. Passersby asked why he was running, but he gave no answer, until he reached the place where the fellowship gathered. He rushed into the house and saw all the fellowship sitting around the table, speechless, for they all clearly imagined that Mashiach would soon arrive. He, too, sat among them until the time came for the stars to appear on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. Immediately, the thought ceased from all of them, and they returned to the town.
What caused the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov to feel this way? And why did the imagination cease immediately when the stars appeared in the sky?
To answer this, let us begin with the essence of imagination in general: Imagination is connected to blood. The Torah states that "the blood is the soul" – imagination is the will (as in the verse "if your soul desires" – which means if your will desires). When one strongly desires something, the imagination depicts it with great clarity, and the stronger the imagination and will, the harder it is to break free from them. In our story, the imagination was so strong and sudden that the young man sought a way to free himself from it.
Now, the Arizal wrote that the Ten Days of Repentance are in the secret of "nesira" (sawing): According to the Gemara, Adam and Eve were created attached back to back, as one persona called "Adam". But for a true encounter to occur between them, the Holy One, Blessed be He, sawed them into two and turned Eve into an independent persona. In Kabbalah, it is explained that this also occurs in the upper worlds: Every year, the process of nesira, in which the Holy One, Blessed be He, and the Shechinah are sawed and separated – and unite face to face on Shemini Atzeret. – is repeated. On each day of the Ten Days of Repentance, one sefirah of Malchut (kingdom) is sawed from Ze'ir Anpin (the small countenance) and built as an independent sefirah, until "malchut of malchut" is built on Yom Kippur.
Hence, on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the keter (crown) of malchut is built: Keter represents will, and when it comes to malchut, this means the will for the Kingdom of Heaven – the desire for the Messianic King. The first day of Rosh Hashanah, consequently, should be dedicated to will and imagination about the Mashiach – as the Baal Shem Tov aroused in his disciples.
Regarding the intensity required for this will and vision, we can interpret the words of the prayer "Sound the great shofar for our liberty" – we must blow the great shofar of Mashiach deeply into the heart,. But what is this shofar?
In the words of the sages, the shofar is interpreted as improvement – "Improve your deeds!" The great shofar, the great improvement that prepares for the coming of Mashiach, is when the awakening to improve comes from above. This is how the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov worked on that Rosh Hashanah, and this is how it will work, with God's help, this year as well – until the coming of Mashiach immediately and in our reality.
