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On Rosh Hashanah God Rose From the Throne of Judgment Toward Mercy

The shofar (a ram's horn) still rang in their bones when the congregation rose for the standing prayer. The mystics counted every small shift of weight as a.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. From the Throne of Judgment
  2. Eyes That Do Not Wander
  3. The First Day That Is Not the First
  4. When the Shoes Are Still

The shofar (the ram's horn blown on the New Year) still rang in the bones when the congregation rose for the long standing prayer. Soles pressed the floor. Hearts pushed harder than feet. On the day of judgment, even walking became a petition, each small shift of weight a word the mouth had not yet formed.

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"How beautiful are your steps in shoes," the Song had said (Song of Songs 7:2). The mystics heard steps as prayers, shoes as the readiness of a people who refuse to stand barefoot and unprepared before the verdict of a year.

From the Throne of Judgment

When Israel pours itself into the New Year's prayer, the Blessed Holy One rises from the Throne of Judgment and moves toward the Throne of Mercy. The shift is not a trick of language invented to comfort children. It is the claim that heartfelt speech can move the seat from which the year will be written, that heaven is not locked into a single posture when a people stands together in fear and hope.

Exile sharpens the same cry until it scrapes. Standing with the Shechinah (the Divine Presence) in a hard world, the people say they are killed all the day for God's sake and counted as sheep for slaughter (Psalm 44:23). The prayer is not polite. It is a body leaning forward in shoes that have walked too many roads between ruined gates and temporary houses.

Judgment listens. Mercy leans closer. The steps continue.

Eyes That Do Not Wander

Another teacher read a road proverb as a rule for the lips and the skull behind them. "Let your eyes look straight ahead" (Proverbs 4:25). In prayer, that means fix your eyes on your Father in heaven. Do not let the mind run after every noise in the room, every face, every old grudge that wakes when the congregation goes quiet.

A mouth can move while the heart shops elsewhere. The midrash will not call that prayer. The beautiful steps fail if the eyes leave the road and the body only pretends to travel. Better a short plea with a locked gaze than a long service whose eyes wander the rafters.

So the day of judgment demands a double discipline: feet planted in the service, gaze locked above the fear of the decree, the way a walker on a narrow path watches the end of the road and not the drop on either side.

The First Day That Is Not the First

Weeks later the calendar offers another "first day," the fifteenth of the seventh month, when the four species are taken in hand (Leviticus 23:40). Is it the first? It is the fifteenth by the moon's count. The midrash answers with a merchant's clarity: first for the reckoning of sins. After Yom Kippur the slate is new. Sukkot (the autumn festival of booths) begins the count again like a ledger opened clean after a debt has been forgiven.

A parable walks beside the law. A province owed a heavy tax. The king came to collect, and the people crowned him with praise until he forgave what they could not pay. Then he said, from here the reckoning starts fresh. Do not waste the pardon on the same old thefts. So Israel, after atonement, takes the lulav as subjects who have just been pardoned and must not treat mercy as a license to sleep.

Rosh Hashanah's steps and Sukkot's first-day reckoning face each other across the season of return. One moves God from judgment to mercy. The other starts the year's moral math again under a fragile roof of branches where stars show through.

When the Shoes Are Still

The service ends. Shoes turn toward home along dust and stone. Children run ahead. Old men walk slowly, still hearing the shofar (a ram's horn) in the joints of their hands. The thrones, the eyes, the clean ledger do not stay in the synagogue like furniture left behind. They follow into kitchens and markets where the next sin or kindness will be written in a smaller hand.

Beautiful steps are only beautiful if they keep walking after the last amen. Judgment listens for the sound of those steps in ordinary rooms. Mercy waits to see whether the people who moved heaven for a day will move their own hands toward repair when no one is watching but the Father their eyes claimed to face.

The shoes come off at the door. The year does not.

Outside the hall a child practiced the shofar until his lips shook. An old woman tied her shoes twice, as if loose laces could break a prayer. The year opened like a gate that would not say which road lay beyond it. Only the steps, and the eyes, and the clean ledger after atonement, would write the answer in ordinary hours.

Rosh HashanahPrayerJudgmentMercySukkot
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From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Tikkunei Zohar 67:13Tikkunei Zohar

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Sefaria-hosted English translation · CC-BY

It’s an image of a God who is responsive, moved by our struggles, and ready to shift from judgment to mercy.It all hinges on a verse from the Song of Songs (7:2): "How beautiful are your steps in shoes..." Seems a bit odd at first. What do shoes have to do with anything?

Here, "steps" are interpreted as acts of prayer. Specifically, the prayers offered during Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, the Day of Judgement. The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar tells us that when the Jewish people stand in prayer on this solemn day, something extraordinary happens. Because of their heartfelt devotion, the Kadosh Baruch Hu, the Blessed Holy One, rises from the 'Throne of Judgement' and ascends to sit upon the 'Throne of Mercy'.

Pause and really consider that. God, in response to our prayers, shifts from a stance of judgment to one of mercy. It's a powerful idea.

This concept is also echoed in Pesiqta d-Rav Kahana (Pisqa 23, Ot 3), which reinforces the notion of God's compassion being stirred by our sincere supplications. It's as if our prayers act as a catalyst, prompting a divine transformation.

But there's more. The Tikkunei Zohar doesn't stop there. It connects this idea to the experience of exile, the galut. When the Jewish people stand with the Shekhinah – the divine feminine presence – in exile, enduring trials and tribulations, their suffering becomes a poignant cry to the heavens. We proclaim, as (Psalm 44:23) says, "Because for Your sake we are killed all the day, we are considered as sheep for the slaughter."

This isn't just about physical suffering; it’s about the spiritual pain of feeling distant from God, of witnessing injustice, of yearning for redemption. According to various sources, this collective suffering also moves the divine.

Our actions, our prayers, our suffering, all have a profound impact on the divine realm. We’re not just passive recipients of God's will; we are active participants in shaping the divine response.

Remember the Kadosh Baruch Hu rising from the Throne of Judgement. Remember the Shekhinah in exile. Remember that your voice, your tears, your devotion – they matter. They have the power to move the very heavens. What a hopeful idea that is.

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Midrash Mishlei 4:3Midrash Mishlei

Translation of the source text.Midrash Mishlei (Buber) · CC-BY

(Proverbs 4:25): "Let your eyes look straight ahead", at the time when you stand in prayer, direct your eyes and your heart toward your Father in heaven. If you have done so, "and let your eyelids look straight before you."

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Midrash Tanchuma, Emor 22Midrash Tanchuma

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Townsend 1989 translation of Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension · CC-BY

(Lev. 23:40:) “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day.” Is it the first [day]? Is it not the fifteenth day? So how is it the first? It is simply the first for the reckoning (heshbon) of sins. R. Mani and R. Joshua of Sikhnin in the name of R. Levi said a parable, “To what is the matter comparable? To a province which owed back taxes to the king. [When] the king sent to collect [the sum], they did not hand it over, because the bill was large. So it happened the first time, and a second time; when he sent [for it], they did not hand it over. What did the king do? He said to his courtiers, ‘Arise and let us move against them.’ While they were traveling about ten mil [away], the people of the province heard [what was happening]. What did they do? The nobles of the province began to go to a meeting with the king. He said to them, ‘Who are you?’ They said to him, ‘We are people of such and such a province where you sent to collect our taxes.’ He said to them, ‘So what do you want?’ They said to him, ‘If you please, show us kindness, because we have nothing to hand over.’ He said to them, ‘I will remit half for you.’ While he was [still] coming, the ruffians of the province went out and greeted him about five mil [away]. He said to them, ‘Who are you?’ They said to him, ‘We are people of such and such a province where you sent to collect our taxes, but we don’t have the ability to stand [up to the demand]; if you please, have mercy upon us.’ He said to them, ‘I have already remitted half [your debt], but for your sake I am remitting half of [the remaining] half. While he was [still] coming, all the people of the province came out to him, [both] large and small. He said to them, ‘What do you want?’ They said to him, ‘Our Lord king, we don’t have the ability to remit what we owe you.’ He said to them, ‘I have already remitted half plus half of [the remaining] half, but for your sake I am remitting everything. However, from now on there [begins] a new account (heshbon).’ This king is [the supreme King of kings], the Holy One, blessed be He. The people of his province? These are Israel, who acquire sins during all of the whole year. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He says, ‘Do penance at the beginning of the year.’ So they come in submission on the Day of Atonement, when they humble themselves and do penance. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, forgives them. And what do they do? The eve of Rosh Hashanah, the great ones of the generation fast, and the Holy One, blessed be He, relinquishes [Israel] a third of its sins. And from Rosh Hashanah to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), individuals fast, and the Holy One, blessed be He, relinquishes [another] third of their sins. And on the Day of Atonement, all of Israel fasts and requests mercy, men, women and infants. And [so] the Holy One, blessed be He, relinquishes everything; as it is written (in (Leviticus 16:3)0), ‘As upon this day, there will be atonement for you….’ What does Israel do [then]? They all take their lulavim on the first day of the festival and render praise to the Holy One, blessed be He. Thus He is reconciled to them and forgives them. He says to them, ‘See, I have relinquished all your former sins for you. However, from now on there is a new account (heshbon).’ Thus it is stated (in Lev. 23:40), ‘And you shall take for yourselves on the first day.’ [It is] first for the reckoning (heshbon) of sins.’” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them, “In this world I have told you to make a sukkah in order to pay me my remuneration for what I have done for you. It is so stated (in Lev. 23:42-43), ‘You shall dwell in sukkot (the Festival of Tabernacles) for seven days […]. In order that your generations may know that I had [the Children of Israel] dwell in sukkot.’ So I reckon it to your credit, as if you are rendering payment to Me. But in the world to come I will appear over you like a sukkah, as stated (in Is. 4:6), ‘There shall be a sukkah as a shade from the heat by day.’”

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