Based on the teachings of The Lubavitcher Rebbe, ZT'L

Rosh Hashanah, the start of the year, is not observed on the day when G-d began to create the universe. Rather, it marks the anniversary of the sixth day of creation, the day when He made man. This is because man, rather than the rest of nature, is the focus of G-d's creation. Man is the vehicle through which all forces and elements of the universe achieve fulfillment and realization.

Without man, the universe is a mere machine, a construct whose operation is predetermined and predictable. Every mineral, plant, and animal behaves in accordance with an ironclad set of laws dictated by its inborn nature; it has neither the inclination nor the ability to behave otherwise.

Only man reflects his Creator in possessing free will. Only man can choose to act contrary to his nature. Only he can make of himself other than what he is, transcending the very parameters of the self into which he was created. Therefore, of all the creations, only man's deeds are truly significant.

The industry of the ant or the faithfulness of the dove is no more "moral" than the cruelty of the cat or the deviousness of the snake. The majesty of a snow-capped Alp is no more virtuous than the stench of a putrefying swamp. But when man acts virtuously, rising above his instinctive selfishness to aid his fellow and serve his Creator, something of true transcendent significance has occurred. The same is true when he acts sinfully — corrupting his nature in a manner that an animal cannot — and subsequently repents. Man thereby breaks free of the "programmed" universe G-d created, and improves it. In the terminology of our Sages, man becomes a partner with G-d in creation (Talmud, Shabbos 10a).

Thus the entirety of creation achieves fulfillment through man. When a human being writes a check to charity, that is a moral act, an act embodying his transcendence of his instinctive selfishness in order to observe a mitzvah. But he has many partners to this deed: the grain and meat of his dinner, which provided him with the energy to do it; the paper and ink with which the deed was facilitated; the natural resources and forces he enlisted to earn the money he is now giving; even the mountain out of which the marble in the facade of the bank that processes his check was quarried. These and innumerable other morally "neutral" elements have been elevated to inclusion in a creative, transcendent human act, thereby fulfilling the purpose of their creation.

Hence, the annual cycle relates not to the day on which G-d brought time, space, and matter into being. Neither does it commemorate the day on which He created vegetable or animal life. Instead, it marks the day on which He formed man, "in His image, after His likeness," and imparted to him the capacity to choose and create. With the creation of man, the purpose of every other component of creation — mineral, vegetable, and animal — could finally be actualized.

The Human Universe

"Man," states the Midrash, "is a small world." What is true of the macro-universe is also true of the universe-in-miniature that is man. The life of man, too, is comprised of "mineral," "vegetable," and "animal" elements along with the human element. In man, the entire stratum of his existence attains fulfillment and realization through its human element, via the man in man.

A man on occasion engages in activities wherein he exhibits "mineral" characteristics. He may be asleep, on vacation, at play, or involved in some other mode of repose and recreation. He is physically alive at these times, and may even be greatly exerting himself and employing his keenest talents. Yet in the spiritual sense he is an inanimate stone. Life in its ultimate sense is the endeavor to transcend one's present state — to grow and achieve beyond what one is — while the function of man's "mineral" pursuits is to conserve rather than produce, to rest rather than create.

There are also times when a person is in a "vegetable" mode of being, when his focus is on his personal growth and development. With these activities, a person exhibits signs of spiritual life, as opposed to the inertia of his "mineral" hours. However, because these activities are confined to the betterment of self, they represent a limited, botanic vitality. The person is growing upwards, blossoming and bearing fruit, but he remains rooted to the "spot" where nature has planted him.

A far more dynamic vitality is exhibited by the "animal" in man: the instincts, passions, and sensitivities by which a person roams his environment free of the roots of individuality. With his "animal" hours and endeavors, man transcends the merely vertical growth of his vegetable self to relate to others and to experience realities outside the narrow spectrum of self.

But human life entails more than its mineral, vegetable, and animal moments — more than repose, growth, and feeling. The man in man — his quintessentially human qualities — is comprised of his intellectual and spiritual prowess. With his unique capacity for independent thought and discriminating intelligence, man can transcend the subjectivity of instinct and feeling to view himself from the outside and to change himself accordingly.

The intellectual self is truly alive, constantly transcending and redefining its perceptions and sensitivities. And even more transcendent than the intellect is man's spiritual self, the Divine "image" and "likeness" that make him the apex of G-d's creation. The intellect's freedom is defined and confined by nature and the laws of reason. But the Divine essence of man, which is a spark of G-dliness, knows no bounds, and surmounts all constraints that might inhibit his relationship with his Creator.

It is when man engages his intellectual and spiritual faculties that he is truly man. At those moments he employs his mind to re-create himself, with critical self-examination and character and behavior refinement. He transcends all inhibitions of ego, affection, and even intellect to serve the A-lmighty without restraint or equivocation. In doing so, he rises to his role as G-d's partner in creation, as one who possesses the freedom to originate and create.

Rosh Hashanah carries a double lesson for us. On the macrocosmic level, Rosh Hashanah teaches us that "the entire world was created to serve me, and I was created to serve my Creator" (Talmud, Kiddushin 82b). We have the privilege to exploit nature's resources to serve our needs. Yet this is not merely a privilege, but a duty. It is only through their involvement in human endeavor that the elements of creation transcend the limitations of their function.

When man is equal to his task, he not only rises above his created state, but also raises the entire universe with him. When he fails to choose wisely and morally, he not only debases his own humanity, but also drags down his non-human partners.

The same applies to the microcosmic universe, the four-tiered life of man. Our "mineral," "vegetable," and "animal" endeavors are indispensable components of our lives, but we must remember that this world was created to serve the human in us.

When the goal of our recreational, growth-oriented, and experiential activities is to better our intellectual and spiritual lives, those activities also become partners to our endeavor to re-create ourselves in the Divine image.

From Week in Review, by Yanki Tauber, based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. To order or for more information, call 718-774-6448.