The Jewish holiday of Rosh haShana is perhaps the one in which the universal dimension is most emphasized. Indeed, it celebrates the anniversary of the creation of the human species. We know that in the biblical account the creation project is expressed in this way: "Let us make the human being ..." [Gen. 1:26].This is a complex and controversial passage, because the Divine Transcendence there announces the creation of the human species by apparently speaking in the plural. A rabbinic midrash [Bereshit Rabbah 8:5] poetically suggests that the plural refers to the hosts of the divine emissaries who, upon the announcement of the imminent creation of humankind, would have divided into two factions. One group cried, "Let him be created!" while the second one dissented exclaiming, "Let him not be created!" Transcendence would interrupt the heated debate while announcing, "Why do you continue to debate? We have already made the human being."
The debate between the two groups refers to whether or not it makes sense to create an entity with strong potential, but structuring it in a way that makes it effectively impossible to realize it. In this reading, the human being is seen as the product of this discussion, so he is not generated despite the opposition of "Let him be created!" and "Let him not be created!" but because of and through this conflict. As if to say that human being is at the same time worthy and unworthy of being created, and indelibly bears within himself the marks of this nature.
The creation of the human being, which occurred according to tradition at Rosh haShana, is the foundation of the holidays that open the Jewish year, Rosh haShaná and Yom Kippur. These moments are in fact held under the banner of Teshuva, "return," because every individual is called to return to that moment of birth, in which humanity emerged from this friction between the worthiness and the unworthiness of his own being. This leads us to the second meaning of the word Teshuva, which is "response". For every human being, by his or her choices of life, constitutes a living reaction and response to these two positions, "Let him be created!" and "Let him not be created!" It will be this response that will justify or not his existence and thus the existence of all humanity, thus allowing the continuation of a constant process of creation of the human, a creation that is thus not located in the past, but in a dimension of rebirth and potential becoming.
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