RABBI DAVID ETENGOFF: PARASHAT HASHAVUAH
  • Blog: Rabbi David Etengoff: Parashat HaShavuah
  • Sefer Bereishit 5784&5785
  • Sefer Shemot 5784&5785
  • Sefer Vayikra 5784&5785
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5784 &5785
  • Sefer Devarim 5784&5785
  • Sefer Bereishit 5782&5783
  • Sefer Shemot 5782&5783
  • Sefer Vayikra 5782&5783
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5782&5783
  • Sefer Devarim 5782&5783
  • Sefer Bereishit 5780& 5781
  • Sefer Shemot 5780&5781
  • Sefer Vayikra 5780&5781
  • Sefer Bamidbar 578&5781
  • Sefer Devarim 578&5781
  • Sefer Bereishit 5778&5779
  • Sefer Shemot 5778&5779
  • Sefer Vayikra 5778&5779
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5778&5779
  • Sefer Devarim 5778&5779
  • Sefer Bereishit 5776&5777
  • Sefer Bereishit 5774&5775
  • Sefer Bereishit 5772&5773
  • Sefer Bereishit 5771&5770
  • Sefer Shemot 5776&5777
  • Sefer Shemot 5774&5775
  • Sefer Shemot 5772&5773
  • Sefer Shemot 5771&5770
  • Sefer Vayikra 5776&5777
  • Sefer Vayikra 5774&5775
  • Sefer Vayikra 5772&5773
  • Sefer Vayikra 5771&5770
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5776&5777
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5774&5775
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5772&5773
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5771&5770
  • Sefer Devarim 5776&5777
  • Sefer Devarim 5774&5775
  • Sefer Devarim 5772&5773
  • Sefer Devarim 5771&5770

9/23/2014

Rosh Hashanah 5775, 2014: "The Meaning of the Shofar"

1 Comment

Read Now
 
Picture
Rosh Hashanah 5775, 2014

The Meaning of the Shofar

Rabbi David Etengoff

Dedicated to the sacred memories of my mother, Miriam Tovah bat Aharon Hakohen, father-in-law, Levi ben Yitzhak, sister-in-law, Ruchama Rivka Sondra bat Yechiel, sister, Shulamit bat Menachem, Chaim Mordechai Hakohen ben Natan Yitzchak, Yehonatan Binyamin ben Mordechai Meir Halevi, Shmuel David ben Moshe Halevy, Avraham Yechezkel ben Yaakov Halevy, and the refuah shlaimah of Yosef Shmuel ben Miriam, Devorah bat Chana, and Yitzhak Akiva ben Malka, and to the safety of our brothers and sisters in Israel.

The shofar is universally recognized as the symbol of Rosh Hashanah. Its piercing blasts reach the essence of our beings and bestir our souls to thoughts of teshuvah (returning to Hashem). In a well-known passage in the Mishneh Torah, the Rambam (Maimonides, 1135-1204) presented the inherent rationale of the kol shofar (sound of the shofar):

Even though the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a decree [of the Torah], it contains an allusion. It is as if [the shofar’s call] is saying: “Wake up you sleepy ones from your sleep and you who slumber, arise. Inspect your deeds; repent, and remember your Creator.” Those who forget the truth in the vanities of time and throughout the entire year devote their energies to vanity and emptiness, which will not benefit or save: [What, then, should they do instead?] “Look to your souls, improve your ways and your deeds and let every one of you abandon his evil path and thoughts.” (Sefer Maada, Hilchot Teshuvah III: 4, translation, Rabbi Eliyahu Touger with my emendations to enhance clarity) 

The Rambam wrote these words in the 12th century, yet they are as relevant today as they were when he first composed them. Unfortunately, year after year, we have a tendency to “forget the truth in the vanities of time” and “devote [our] energies to vanity and emptiness, which will not benefit or save.” Therefore, Maimonides teaches us that the shofar is a “wake-up call” that announces: “Look to your souls, improve your ways and your deeds and let every one of you abandon his evil path and thoughts.” This “wake-up call” motif is first found in the Torah proper (Sefer Shemot 19:16), and is prominently repeated in the Shofrot section of the Mussaf of Rosh Hashanah: “It came to pass on the third day when it was morning, that there were thunder claps and lightning flashes, and a thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very powerful blast of a shofar, and the entire nation that was in the camp shuddered.” (This, and all Bible translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach)

The sound of Hashem’s shofar, accompanied by voices and torches, and a smoking Mount Sinai, was so incredibly intense that we not only heard the sounds, we actually saw them: “And all the people saw the voices and the torches, the sound of the shofar, and the smoking mountain, and the people saw and trembled; so they stood from afar.” (Sefer Shemot 20:15) Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan zatzal (1934-1983) noted in his work, The Living Torah, that seeing sounds is a psychological phenomenon known as “synesthesia,” wherein the stimulation of one sense simultaneously triggers the response of another. While the coinage of this term is of relatively new vintage, Rav Kaplan notes that the unusual stimulus-response behavior found in our verse was already described in this manner by the Midrash Mechilta (circa 130 CE), Rashi (1040-1105), Ibn Ezra (1089-1167), and the Rambam (Moreh HaNevuchim I:46). It seems that the Sinatic revelation was so powerful that one sense alone was incapable of processing its content; instead, we needed to employ multiple senses in an attempt to apprehend the meaning of this never-to-be repeated moment. In sum, it was a gift from Hashem, as if He said to us: “Hear, see, and palpably feel My presence in your midst, for I am the L-rd your G-d who took you out of Egypt.”

The sound of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, while initially appearing to herald G-d’s presence amongst us as the Judge on the Day of Judgment, is, in reality, representative of Hashem’s beneficent and merciful kindness. David Hamelech (King David) gave voice to this concept in Sefer Tehillim 47:6: “G-d (Elokim) shall be exalted with the trumpet blast; the L-rd (Hashem), with the sound of the shofar.” Herein, trumpets depict the manifestation of G-d (Elokim) among us, similar to the sound of these instruments announcing the arrival of an earthly king. Yet, when the Creator searches for and relates directly to the Jewish people, we find that He appears in the guise of Hashem, the ba’al harachamim, the ultimate master of compassion and mercy. King David recapitulated and reinforced this concept in a later verse in Sefer Tehillim 98:1: “With trumpets and the sound of a shofar, raise your voices before the King (Melech), the L-rd (Hashem).” A careful reading of this verse reveals that there is a direct one-to-one correspondence that obtains between “trumpets” and “the King,” and “the sound of the shofar” and “the L-rd” (Hashem), that is, they form a parallel pair. Once again, the shofar is inextricably tied to the middat harachamim (quality of mercy), i.e. Hashem.

Our encounter with the pasukim (verses) from Navi (the Prophets), within the Shofrot section of the Mussaf of Rosh Hashanah, while simultaneously underscoring the theme of Hashem’s mercy, introduces us to a new theme, namely, the fulfillment of Judaism’s eschatological vision. The onset of this time is described by the prophet Yeshiyahu (18:3) in these terms: “All inhabitants of the world and dwellers of the earth, when a standard of the mountains is raised you shall see, and when a shofar is sounded you shall hear.” In a later verse, he proclaims that the “great shofar” will sound on that day, and once again, the middat harachamim is front and center:

And it shall come to pass on that day, that a great shofar shall be sounded, and those lost in the land of Assyria and those exiled in the land of Egypt shall come and they shall prostrate themselves before the L-rd (Hashem) on the holy mount in Jerusalem. (27:13)

Let us now briefly summarize the essential concepts we have explored on our journey to understand the meaning of the shofar and the Shofrot section of Mussaf Rosh Hashanah:

·      The shofar is a wake-up call to engage in teshuvah

·      The shofar at Mount Sinai was both heard and seen

·      The shofar is ultimately the representation of Hashem’s merciful kindness

·      The shofar heralds the fulfillment of Judaism’s Messianic vision for all mankind

With Hashem’s help, may this be the year “when a shofar is sounded and we shall all hear,” and see the realization of Hashem’s kingdom on earth. As Zechariah the prophet declared so long ago: “And the L-rd shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall the L-rd be one, and His name one.” (14:9) V’chane yihi ratzon.

Shanah tovah u’metukah

 

Tizku l’shanim rabot

 

Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org

The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email [email protected].

*** My audio shiurim for Women on “Tefilah: Haskafah and Analysis,” may be found at: http://tinyurl.com/8hsdpyd

*** I have posted 164 of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. They are available here: http://tinyurl.com/82pgvfn.

** Follow new postings on my Twitter accounts: @theRavZatzal and @Torahtech613.

*** Interested in 21st Century Jewish Education? See my blog and Scoopit.com Pages:

http://21stcenturyjewisheducation.org

http://www.scoop.it/t/educational-technology-yeshiva-edition

http://www.scoop.it/t/great-digital-judaic-studies-resources

Share

1 Comment
naomi's life link
6/22/2023 12:59:54 pm

Very nnice blog you have here

Reply



Leave a Reply.

Details

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Author

    Talmid of Rabbi Soloveitchik zatzal

    Categories

    All
    Parashat Hashavuah

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Blog: Rabbi David Etengoff: Parashat HaShavuah
  • Sefer Bereishit 5784&5785
  • Sefer Shemot 5784&5785
  • Sefer Vayikra 5784&5785
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5784 &5785
  • Sefer Devarim 5784&5785
  • Sefer Bereishit 5782&5783
  • Sefer Shemot 5782&5783
  • Sefer Vayikra 5782&5783
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5782&5783
  • Sefer Devarim 5782&5783
  • Sefer Bereishit 5780& 5781
  • Sefer Shemot 5780&5781
  • Sefer Vayikra 5780&5781
  • Sefer Bamidbar 578&5781
  • Sefer Devarim 578&5781
  • Sefer Bereishit 5778&5779
  • Sefer Shemot 5778&5779
  • Sefer Vayikra 5778&5779
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5778&5779
  • Sefer Devarim 5778&5779
  • Sefer Bereishit 5776&5777
  • Sefer Bereishit 5774&5775
  • Sefer Bereishit 5772&5773
  • Sefer Bereishit 5771&5770
  • Sefer Shemot 5776&5777
  • Sefer Shemot 5774&5775
  • Sefer Shemot 5772&5773
  • Sefer Shemot 5771&5770
  • Sefer Vayikra 5776&5777
  • Sefer Vayikra 5774&5775
  • Sefer Vayikra 5772&5773
  • Sefer Vayikra 5771&5770
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5776&5777
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5774&5775
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5772&5773
  • Sefer Bamidbar 5771&5770
  • Sefer Devarim 5776&5777
  • Sefer Devarim 5774&5775
  • Sefer Devarim 5772&5773
  • Sefer Devarim 5771&5770