Why is Yom Kippur after Rosh Hashanah and not before it?

Hello,

You asked well, and see in the book Kochvei Or (article 83), quoted in the name of Rabbi Y.Y. Blazer, of blessed memory, that his teacher, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, of blessed memory, had already raised this point. On the face of it, this is difficult: it is well known that Hashem is attentive to the good of Israel and desires their success, and Yom Kippur is a day of pardon and forgiveness - a day on which the sins of Israel are forgiven. Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment, when all who come into the world pass before Him like sheep, and the books of life and the books of death are open before Him, and all a person's sustenance is fixed for him from Rosh Hashanah. If so, why did Hashem not command that Yom Kippur come first, and after they have been purified of their sins, they should observe Rosh Hashanah, and then they could merit a good and blessed year on the Day of Judgment?

There he explained that certainly Hashem desires the good of Israel, and on the contrary, for that very reason He commanded Israel to observe Rosh Hashanah first and only afterward Yom Kippur. For Hashem knows the hearts of human beings, that they are very far removed from spiritual matters such as forgiveness of sins and the World to Come, and the like, since they are here in the lowly world, and all their feelings are only for physical matters - such as children, life, and sustenance - and they cannot suddenly rise to a high level and feel the spiritual aspect of Yom Kippur, the atonement of their sins. Therefore, He commanded them to observe Rosh Hashanah first, on which a person is judged concerning physical matters - matters in which he has great feeling - and when his heart is stirred in asking for children, life, and sustenance, then perhaps they can go on further to Yom Kippur, which stands for exalted matters - spirituality, forgiveness of sins, and the like. See there.

With blessings,

Hillel Meirs