SPECIAL EDITION: ROSH HASHANA
"Shofar: A Means, Not An End "
"Let
us now relate the power of this day's holiness, for it is
awesome and frightening. On it your kingship will be exalted, Your throne
will be firmed with kindness and you will sit upon it in truth You will
open the Book of Chronicles- it will read itself, and everyone's
signature is in it. The great shofar will be sounded and a still, thin
sound will be heard. Angels will hasten, a trembling and terror will
seize them- and they will say, 'Behold it is the Day of Judgment, to
muster the heavenly host for judgment!' - for they cannot be vindicated
in your judgment. All mankind will pass before you like members of the
flock ."
The above words are without a doubt the most chilling,
penetrating and frightening words of the entire davening of Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur. This historic prayer known as 'Un'saneh Tokef' was
composed by Rabbi Amnon of Mainz about one thousand years ago. The prayer
delineates the terror that grips the heavenly courts who witness the
harshness of the judgments. Hakadosh Boruch Hu sits on his throne of
glory and every person in the world's actions are scrutinized, analyzed
and ultimately judged.
Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetzky zt'l points out that the Torah itself
makes no mention of any concept of judgment. There is not even an
allusion to the panic and terror that transpires in heaven during this
period. From reading the pesukim, one would understand this holiday to be
merely a 'Yom Teruah- A day of (shofar) blowing'. Hakadosh Boruch Hu
granted us a tremendous favor by endowing us with the knowledge of what
truly transpires on Rosh Hashanah. The judgment of Rosh Hashanah is not
limited to Klal Yisroel; rather it is upon the entire universe. The
nations of the world have no idea/knowledge of the powerful and
penetrating judgment of Rosh Hashanah, and therefore they conduct
themselves as if it were just another day. Hashem granted us the
opportunity to gain merits for ourselves so that we can be found worthy
of blessing and goodness. Hashem opens up the gates of repentance and
allows us the chance to prove to Him that we really want to be close to
Him.
Rabbi Elimelech Wachsman shlita (Tiferes Elimelech) adds that
perhaps this is the reason why we recite the chapter of 'L'Dovid Hashem
Ori" during Elul and Tishrei. The Medrash ( Yalkut Tehilim 27 ) explains
to us "Ori B'rosh Hashanah; V'yishee zeh Yom Hakkipurim- 'Hashem is my
light' refers to Rosh Hashanah; 'And Hashem is my savior' refers to Yom
Kippur'." Hashem is called 'our light' on Rosh Hashanah because he has
enlightened us to the aforementioned idea. By allowing us to understand
the judgment that transpires, we have the ability to daven and repent so
that we can be found worthy of blessing. If Hashem had not decided to
allow us to understand the whole idea of judgment, we would have been
'left in the dark', no different than the rest of the world who lack the
opportunity for repentance.
Chazal teach us that our avodah and responsibility on Rosh
Hashanah is to reaccept the kingship and undisputed monarchy of Hakadosh
Boruch Hu upon ourselves. On Rosh Hashanah we yearn for the day when
"Veyomar kol asher neshamah b'apo Hashem Elokay Yisroel melech umalchuso
bakol mashalah- And all that have a soul in their nostrils will proclaim
'Hashem the G-d of Israel is king and his kingdom dominates all.'" This
is our hope and prayer on this holy day. Living in exile, we are very
distant from the concept of being under the domain and rulership of a
higher authority. On Rosh Hashanah we state that we desire to feel the
yoke of Hashem upon us. We want to have the burden of the Torah and all
it expects and demands of us, on our shoulders. Most of all we want to be
servants of Hashem that bring glorification and sanctification to His
name.
I once heard a short but deep insight that gives a stronger
understanding to the meaning of accepting the monarchy of Hashem upon us
on Rosh Hashanah. The word 'melech' (king) is composed of the three
prefixes in the Aleph Bais: 'mem' means 'from'; 'lamed' means 'to';
'chof' means 'like'. One must understand that all he possesses is a gift
FROM Hashem; all he gives away is TO Hashem; and all his aspirations and
goals are to be LIKE Hashem.
The Gemarah (Rosh Hashanah 16a) explains that the way we proclaim
the kingship of Hashem on Rosh Hashanah, is through blowing the shofar.
Rav Sa'adyah Gaon lists ten reasons for our blowing shofar on Rosh
Hashanah, one of which is: just as by the coronation of a new king
trumpets are blown signaling the commencement of his majesty's rule, so
too on Rosh Hashanah we blow the shofar to show our rededication to the
majesty and rulership of G-d in heaven- our eternal King.
Another aspect of the shofar is that it represents the 'sound of
teshuvah'. Just as war possesses certain distinct sounds (harsh shouts
and horrific screams) and a wedding possesses its distinct sounds
(blaring music and intense dancing) so too the shofar represents the
sound of teshuvah. When one hears the mournful wail of the shofar it is
supposed to awaken the person to the cries of his own soul, struggling to
reconnect itself with the monarchy and yoke of Hashem.
My Rosh Yeshiva (Rabbi Berel Wein shlitah) said over in the name
of Rav Yosher Ber Soloveitchik zt'l a beautiful idea that we see from the
actual mitzvah of blowing shofar. The Gemarah (Rosh Hashanah 33b)
explains that the source of the mitzvah of blowing shofar 100 times on
Rosh Hashanah comes from the 100 wails that the mother of Sisra cried
when her son died. Sisra was a wicked but powerful general, and waged war
with many countries and nations. He never lost a battle and his iron-clad
dictatorship dominated all the lands he conquered and no one could stand
in his way. When he came to Eretz Yisroel and sought to overcome the holy
land, his armies were destroyed by the prophetess Devorah and the prophet
Barak. Sisra himself was killed in battle and his sovereignty came to a
close. Meanwhile Sisra's mother anxiously waited for her son to return
home from battle, victorious as always. When she finally realized that he
was not going to be returning, she broke down and cried 100 times. The
question is why should our blowing of the shofar on such a holy day
symbolize/memorialize the cries of a wicked woman for her even more
wicked son?
The answer is that the mother of Sisra had never known defeat.
Her son had always come out on the winning side and she never knew the
feeling of walking away a loser. When she realized the end had come and
her days of glory were over, she broke down and cried. She realized that
she had nothing left, and in desperation she lost her composure and wept.
The sound of the shofar is the cry of desperation. Human nature
is to always think we are in control of our fate and we are in the
drivers seat of life. On Rosh Hashanah when we stand and proclaim the
awesome kingship of the infinite Almighty, we realize how insignificant
we are. We raise our eyes in desperation and admit that we have no one
to turn to other then Hashem himself. As the shofar sounds we must
reflect on this concept. We are (so-to-speak) merely pawns on the chess
board of Hashem. With a flick of the wrist we can be swept off, and with
another flick of the wrist we can dominate those that are far superior
to us. But we ourselves are fully in the hands of the Chess Master.
The Dubner Maggid relates a powerful parable that drives home the
real perspective we should have when we hear the shofar being blown:
There was once a simple man who lived in a small town. He had never been
to the big city and knew nothing more than the unsophisticated life of
his neighbors and friends. One day he had to travel to the big city for
business and ended up remaining there overnight. He found a cheap hotel
and retired there for the evening. However in the middle of the night,
the man was woken to the piercing sounds of loud drums and screams from
the street below. In a state of panic, the man jumped out of his bed, ran
down the stairs demanding an explanation from the overnight hotel
receptionist. The receptionist calmly explained to him that there was a
fire down the block and they were merely putting it out and there was no
reason to get excited. Only then did the man realize that the few people
in the lobby were staring at him as he stood there yelling in his
pajamas. Obviously to them it seemed natural for this kind of thing to
occur and they were bewildered by the commotion this stranger was making.
The man quietly slipped back to his room for the duration of the night.
The next morning as the man prepared himself for his trip home, he made a
quick stop in a store to purchase a pair of large drums. When he came
home he announced an immediate meeting for the whole town. Everyone
quickly gathered in the town hall and the simple man climbed to the
platform and cleared his throat. "My friends I have some wonderful news!
I have returned from the big city and I will now show you how we can
solve the major problem we have been having with raging fires breaking
out all over town. I watched what they do in the big cities and I have
brought back this large drum. The next time we have a fire all we need to
do is gather together and bang on the drum and the fire will go out." The
people all shouted in bewildered excitement. At long last this major
problem would be taken care of.
A few nights later a small fire did break out in someone's basement. The
owner of the basement ran to get a pail of water to quickly extinguish
the fire. However before he had a chance to extinguish the flames he was
stopped by the townspeople. "That is not the way we put out fires in our
town anymore! You must come with us to the town square and we'll all put
it out together." They all ran to the town square and began banging
wildly on the drum. For a few hours they continued to bang with all their
might but to no avail. The fire continued to rage on, becoming bigger and
stronger as it engulfed the town in flames. When they finally realized
their work was not accomplishing anything, it was too late. All they were
able to do was watch their town burn to the ground.
When they found the man who had given them the advice originally, they
demanded an explanation. But he himself had no idea what had gone wrong
and he could not answer them so he traveled back to the big city. When he
told someone there what had transpired, the man shook his head sadly. "My
ignorant and foolish friend. Do you really think banging on the drums put
out the fire? The drums merely got the Fire Department's attention. Then
they would rush down with their expensive equipment and put out the fire.
But the drum itself is nothing more than an alarm system to notify
everyone of the impending danger and that they should assist in putting
out the fire."
The point of the shofar is to awaken us to do teshuvah and
extinguish the raging fire of passion that burns within our hearts.
However the shofar itself does not accomplish anything. [ Of course
the
actual mitzvah of shofar is very important and even if one has completely
improper intentions when hearing the shofar, they have fulfilled their
obligation. However the blowing itself doesn't accomplish anything as far
as teshuvah is concerned.] The shofar is an alarm system to awaken us
to
understand the seriousness of the day. When we hear the shofar, we are
supposed to jump up to accept the kingship of the Almighty and reconnect
ourselves to Him. We have to retie the severed bonds that were destroyed
through sin over the duration of the year. But if one merely hears the
shofar and thinks all is forgiven, he is no better than the simple
townspeople who stood banging on their drum as their town burned to a
crisp in front of their eyes.
This concept is very important not only on Rosh Hashanah but
throughout this whole time period on the Jewish calendar. Often people
become too caught up in the symbolisms and exterior customs, and forget
what's really important. If one hears the shofar, runs to a river for
tashlich (throws in some bread), twirls ten chickens over his head Erev
Yom Kippur, and bangs the aravos on the floor with all his might on
Hoshanah Rabbah but does not improve himself in any way, he will walk
away from the month of Tishrei having completely missed the boat and not
gaining anything.
When we hear the shofar let us rise to the occasion. Let us seek
to aspire for new levels of greatness through an understanding of the
meaning of the great and holy day of Rosh Hashanah. In this merit, may
Hashem inscribe us all in the book of life for a healthy and prosperous
new year. May all our aspirations and dreams for the coming year come to
fruition and may we merit the glorious day when ALL will rise and
proclaim the kingship of Hashem over the entire universe with the coming
of Moshiach and nechamas tzion, u'binyan Yerushalayim- Amen!
K'siva Vachasima Tova!
A sweet, healthy, and meaningful new year to all my dear friends!
If anytime over the course of the year I may have wronged/slighted
anyone in any way, I hope he/she will be mochel me. In that merit may
Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant you a complete mechilla and inscribe you in the
book of eternal life!
