Traditionally, we view Rosh Hashanah as the day when God sits on the throne of judgment and decides, based on our past actions, how successful our next year will be. However, there is a dissenting voice to this idea in the early Rabbinic tradition. Rabbi Yose ben Chalafta states that God does not judge us once a year but every single day (Tractate Rosh Hashanah 16a). Those of us who pray daily or weekly for healing on account of people who are sick are following Rabbi Yose’s view, hoping today our prayers will convince God to judge favorably. But, according to Rabbi Yose’s view, the choice of the first day of the month of Tishrei as Rosh Hashanah, as a day spent asking for forgiveness, feels arbitrary. Why is this day more significant than any other? 

The Ra’avan (12th century Rhineland) writes that for Rabbi Yose, every day we go before God to be judged as individuals. But on Rosh Hashanah, we go before God to be judged collectively as humanity. To improve our personal daily lives, we are capable of going in front of God alone. But to really make changes to the world takes the effort of an entire community or communities, an effort which cannot be achieved more than a few days a year. Therefore, our tradition sets aside two days a year where we are encouraged to come together to give one another the strength to pray to God for the opportunity to make next year significantly better than the year before.