Blot Me From Your Book and the Three Books of Rosh Hashanah

"And if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your book" (Exodus 32:32). "Out of Your book" — this is the book of the wholly righteous. "Which You have written" — this is the book of the in-between people. Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah: that of the wholly righteous, who are written and sealed at once for life; that of the wholly wicked, who are written and sealed at once for death; the in-between remain suspended and standing from Rosh Hashanah until the Day of Atonement. If they are found worthy, they are written for life; if not worthy, they are written for death. Rabbi Avin said: What is the verse? "Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous" (Psalms 69:29). "And in the day when I visit, I will visit upon them their sin" (Exodus 32:34). Rabbi Yitzchak said: You have no calamity that comes into the world that does not contain within it part of an ounce — twenty-four parts in the balance — from the first calf, as it is said, "And in the day when I visit" and so on. Rabbi said: This verse refers to a span twenty-four generations later, as it is said, "And He cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause those that have charge over the city to draw near" (Ezekiel 9:1). "And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments" (Exodus 33:6) — this is written elsewhere by way of allusion. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai taught: Israel had a weapon at Sinai, and the Ineffable Name was engraved upon it, and when they sinned it was taken from them. Rabbi Aivu said: It peeled away of itself. And the Rabbis said: An angel would descend and peel it off.