Monday Motivation with Rabbi Garfinkel
Sep 7, 2026 · 21 min · 10 segments
What are we actually celebrating on Rosh HaShanah? Find Out! Warning: it could be life-changing! Wishing everyone a very good & sweet New Year 5787. Lots of love, Rabbi Garfinkel of Olami 613
5787 from when? Now, this is the big misnomer, urban legend.
You will hear rabbis on Rosh Hashanah, wherever you may be, saying, and it's 5,787 years since the creation of the world.
And they would be wrong.
They would be wrong because it's not 5,787 from the creation of the world.
It does go back to the seven days of creation, but it actually goes back to the sixth day of creation.
So really all those people who are probably about three people out there, I think on planet earth are still bothered by the, how old the universe is versus the Taurus 5,787.
How can you reconcile that? I think there are probably three intellectually curious people out there still.
I have not gotten that question in years, probably more than a decade.
We are the, the generations we have now are insane.
interested in meaningful, purposeful living.
But the whole cold, hard facts of resolving science and religion controversies is not top on their list, nor mid, nor low on their list.
So I haven't had to answer this in a while, but I like throwing it out anyway.
It's really because 5-7-8-7 is from the creation of Adam and Eve on day six.
And the liturgy, though, does say, Hayom Harat Olam, or that's Sephardic pronunciation, Harum Haras Olam, today is the creation of the world.
Really what that's talking about is the day of the creation of the world, the Olam of Adam and Hava, of humanity.
That is when the world really got its mission and its purpose.
All of the stage was being set up throughout the creation, the entire universe and all the galaxies, for Adam and Hava, Adam and Eve, to be created.
It is like, you know, imagine a theater where there's lots of tickets that are sold in the theater and everything is, the props are put up there and finally the curtain is drawn and the purpose for which all of that effort goes in is the actors on the stage.
That is exactly what the theme of creation is, that everything that was created first was a stage and And Shakespeare, I don't know what he meant, all the men and women are merely players.
I would take out the merely.
All the men and women are the players.
They are the purpose.
The world is a stage and all the men and women are the purpose of that stage.
5787 from when? Now, this is the big misnomer, urban legend.
You will hear rabbis on Rosh Hashanah, wherever you may be, saying, and it's 5,787 years since the creation of the world.
And they would be wrong.
They would be wrong because it's not 5,787 from the creation of the world.
It does go back to the seven days of creation, but it actually goes back to the sixth day of creation.
So really all those people who are probably about three people out there, I think on planet earth are still bothered by the, how old the universe is versus the Taurus 5,787.
How can you reconcile that? I think there are probably three intellectually curious people out there still.
I have not gotten that question in years, probably more than a decade.
We are the, the generations we have now are insane.
interested in meaningful, purposeful living.
But the whole cold, hard facts of resolving science and religion controversies is not top on their list, nor mid, nor low on their list.
So I haven't had to answer this in a while, but I like throwing it out anyway.
It's really because 5-7-8-7 is from the creation of Adam and Eve on day six.
And the liturgy, though, does say, Hayom Harat Olam, or that's Sephardic pronunciation, Harum Haras Olam, today is the creation of the world.
Really what that's talking about is the day of the creation of the world, the Olam of Adam and Hava, of humanity.
That is when the world really got its mission and its purpose.
All of the stage was being set up throughout the creation, the entire universe and all the galaxies, for Adam and Hava, Adam and Eve, to be created.
It is like, you know, imagine a theater where there's lots of tickets that are sold in the theater and everything is, the props are put up there and finally the curtain is drawn and the purpose for which all of that effort goes in is the actors on the stage.
That is exactly what the theme of creation is, that everything that was created first was a stage and And Shakespeare, I don't know what he meant, all the men and women are merely players.
I would take out the merely.
All the men and women are the players.
They are the purpose.
The world is a stage and all the men and women are the purpose of that stage.
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