Until Forty Years
On the final day of Moses' life, he gathered the Jewish people to reestablish the covenant with G-d. Up until that point, he said to them, although you have seen G-d's miracles in Egypt and in the desert, you have not yet experienced an internal transformation for the better. Only today, forty years after those events, would the Jewish people have the ability to internalize what they saw:
And Moses called all of Israel and said to them, "You have seen all that the Lord did before your very eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land;
the great trials which your very eyes beheld and those great signs and wonders.
Yet until this day, the Lord has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear. (Deuteronomy 29:1-3)
Based on these verses, the Talmud states:
Rabba said: Conclude from here that a person does not understand the opinion of his teacher until
Chassidic teachings explain that the covenant Moses established with the Jewish people on the final day of his life, is recreated every year on Rosh Hashanah, to reestablish our relationship with G-d, by refocusing our life and desire toward him. During the year, when we are involved and invested in material life, our passion is fragmented and dispersed in multiple directions. On Rosh Hashanah, all external desires fade as we rediscover the essence of our soul, whose desire and pleasure is to connect to G-d. When we refocus our desire toward G-d, He reciprocates by gifting us with awareness, sensitivity, awe, and love that is far more elevated than we could hope to achieve on our own. He gives us "a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear."
As the new year approaches, we often think about our aspirations for spiritual growth and personal betterment. We aspire to be a better person, child, spouse, parent and friend. Yet, we are sometimes discouraged because we don't think we will achieve our spiritual dreams. We may have tried in the past and not succeeded. The Torah tells us that if we do our part, invest our effort toward growing spiritually, then G-d will bless us with success beyond our ability. He will bless us with "a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear", allowing us to internalize and be transformed by the teachings of the Torah.
Adapted from Lekutei Torah, Ki Savo 43:3