“Sons of G-d” (Job 1:6) and Rosh Hashanah

Question: Who are the “sons of G-d” in the verse Job 1:6?

Answer:

The verse Job (Iyov 1:6) says, “Now the day came about, and the sons of G-d came to stand beside the L-rd, and the Adversary [“Sotahn” in Hebrew], too, came among them.”

In this context, the “sons of G-d” means angels. Rashi explains that this verse is describing an event in the Heavenly court. It took place on the New Year’s Day in the Hebrew calendar, which is Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is G-d’s appointed day of universal judgment for the entire year. Sotahn (“Satan”) is the leading angel of those that come before the Heavenly court to accuse people for their sins.

Significantly, Adam and Hava (Eve) were created on the day of the first Rosh Hashanah.

The explanation:

When a person observes one of his Divine commandments or does a good deed in general, this merit comes to the person’s defense in G-d’s Heavenly court on Rosh Hashanah. Conversely, when a person violates one of his Divine commandments or does something bad in general and has not yet repented to G-d, that is brought up for the person’s prosecution on Rosh Hashanah. G-d’s judgment of the case determines what blessings He will grant and what blessings He will withhold for the person in the year ahead.

The judgment on Rosh Hashanah applies even for angels, and for animals, birds, etc. in this world. They are all judged by G-d for their degree of culpability. This sounds mysterious, because the  angels above, and animals, etc. below, do not have free will. However, it is understood somewhat by the fact that only G-d is perfect. In some way, even those creations that lack free will are also judged for undesirable actions they do that arise from their imperfections. In regard to angels, see, for example, Rashi’s explanation on Genesis 19:22, about a punishment for the angels who were sent to save Lot.

The only creations who have the ability to remove their culpability in G-d’s judgment are human beings. This is achieved through doing correct repentance.

A story from the Talmud

The extension of G-d’s judgment to animals is illustrated by this story in the Jerusalem Talmud (Shevi’it 9:1 25b):

[The great sage] Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai … saw a hunter catching birds. When Rabbi Shimon heard a voice from Heaven say, “Dimus, dimus!” (“Pardoned, pardoned!”), that bird escaped. But when he heard the voice say, “Spekula!” (“Sentenced!”), that [other] bird was caught and trapped. He said, “A bird is not caught except with the will of Heaven, [so] all the more so for a human being.”

– By Dr. Michael Schulman, Director of Ask Noah International