As our Rosh Hashanah service draws to a close, we sing a lively song entitled “Hayom,” which means “today.” The prayer consists of a series of requests, asking G-d to give us courage, blessing, greatness, etc. It is an alphabetic acrostic, meaning that each wish begins with letters from the Hebrew alphabet in order. T’amtzeynu—aleph; T’varcheynu—bet; T’gadleynu—gimel. Mercifully, since this prayer comes right at the end of a 4 hour long service, the machzor omits many of the intermediate 17 requests, and picks up the acrostic again with T’shma—shin.
If we focus on the very first request, T’amtzeynu, “Today, give us courage,” it’s pretty unexpected. More common alternatives could have been t’ashreynu—make us happy; or t’asfeynu—gather us together; or t’arich yomeynu—give us length of days. So why t’amtzeynu?
The answer is to be found at the end of the special psalm for days of awe, Psalm 27, that we recite all the way through Elul: “Hope in the Lord, be strong and take courage [v’yaametz], hope in the Lord.” The whole point of the High Holy Days exercise, from an existential point of view, is to gain the courage to live in spite of the reality of loss: “Though my father and my mother leave me, the Lord will care for me.” There is a danger of nihilism in such thinking, the idea that life is meaningless. But the Psalm comes to tell us not to despair, that the combination of courage and hope can conquer all.