‘Parsha Growth Spurts’
Rabbi Dani Staum
Rosh Hashana 5773
“Who sanctified us with His mitzvos and commanded us to hear the sound of the shofar”
Why isn’t the vernacular of the beracha “to blow shofar” (as we say on Purim “about the reading of the megillah”, not “to hear the megillah”)?
The Rogotchover Gaon zt’l quotes the Rambam (Teshuvah 3:4) who explains the significance of blowing shofar is to serve as a spiritual wake-up call. “Awaken all who sleep from their slumber… introspect your ways, repent, and remember your Creator…” Thus, the primary goal of blowing shofar is so that the listeners will hearken to its clarion call. Blowing the shofar without hearing its message does not accomplish anything, as the gemara states (R’H 3b) that one who blows shofar into a pit doesn’t fulfill his obligation, because he cannot hear it.
There is no point in giving mussar if no one is listening to the message. Therefore, the beracha is that we “hear the sound of the shofar”. We hear its sound by hearing its message that we do not flitter our lives away with the nebulous passage of time. The shofar adjures us to take stock of our lives and rededicate ourselves to our aspirations and spiritual pursuits.
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“The great shofar is sounded…The angels… seized by fear and trembling, as they proclaim: Behold the Day of Judgment!” (Mussaf – Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur)
Why don’t we feel the sense of dread and fear for the awesome judgment that we cognitively know is taking place during Rosh Hashanah?
Rav Avrohom Schorr (Halekach V’halibuv) explains that our lack of fear is rooted in our lack of faith in our abilities to effect a genuine change in ourselves, and subsequently in our celestial judgment. When a criminal knows his fate is sealed for incrimination, he no longer fears the court case, because he knows the outcome. He may be angry and belligerent but he is not afraid. One fears the unknown, and to that criminal there is no unknown.
As we approach the yimei hadin we lack faith in our abilities to accomplish real teshuvah. We view ourselves as failures and lost causes, and therefore we feel that we have no reason to fear the judgment because we are doomed anyway.
If we appreciated the power of our tefillos, how much we can accomplish in our avodas hateshuvah, and that Hashem awaits our tefillos and teshiva with love, we would indeed be more concerned about the precision and meticulousness of the celestial judgment.
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“A day of shofar-sounding for you” (Vayikra 29:1)
Chazal reveal to us that on Rosh Hashanah when we blow shofar, Satan becomes frightened that the shofar blowing may be the shofar of Moshiach, heralding the final redemption. When Moshiach comes the Satan will no longer have any purpose and will be destroyed.
Rav Yitzchak Blazer zt’l wonders how the Satan could be fooled every year. Does he not know that there is a mitzvah to blow shofar on Rosh Hashanah every year? If Klal Yisroel blew shofar last year and Moshiach did not come, why should Satan think this year will be any different?
Rav Blazer answers that each year Satan is afraid that perhaps this year Klal Yisroel will hearken to the call of the shofar and pay heed to its poignant message. Perhaps this year they will repent properly and will indeed be worthy of the ultimate redemption. Therefore, each year the Satan is still afraid that this year may be THE year.
Rabbi Blazer continues that there is a tremendous lesson to be gleaned from the Satan’s apprehension. We ourselves have lived through many Rosh Hashanahs and Yom Kippurs. We have made numerous resolutions and may not have fulfilled many of them. Year in year out, we have made commitments to transform ourselves and live the lives we truly want to live. And yet we have squandered many of those hopes and aspirations. We have heard the cry of the shofar so many hundreds of times and yet we have allowed its call to go unheeded. And so we become despondent. We allow ourselves to live the life that happens instead of the life we truly desire. Yet the Satan still fears that this may just be the year when we pull ourselves together and actually live up to our potential. Shouldn’t we have at least the same confidence as the Satan that perhaps this year will be the year!?
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