Taamei Hamitzvos - Shofar
by Rabbi Shmuel Kraines
“Study improves the quality of the act and completes it, and a mitzvah is more beautiful when it emerges from someone who understands its significance.” (Meiri, Bava Kama 17a)
Mitzvah #405 (Vayikra 23:24; Bamidbar 29:1)
“Praiseworthy is the nation that knows how to blow the trumpet” (Tehillim 89:16).The Sages ask about this verse: Do not all nations know how to blow trumpets?! Rather, the verse means to praise the Jewish people for knowing how to appease Hashem by means of the shofar (Vayikra Rabbah 29:3).
Rashi explains that the Jewish people know to accompany the shofar-blowing with verses about Kingship, Shofar, and Remembrance. Thereby, we coronate Hashem as our King, we echo the awesome shofar-blowing at the time of the Giving of the Torah and in the future, and we recall that this awesome King remembers and judges every one of His creatures on this day of Rosh Hashanah. He remembers the smallest sins, He remembers the smallest merits and deploys them mercifully, and He remembers the Redemption and moves the world a step closer to that goal of perfection.
The sound of the shofar is directed toward us as well. Rav Shalom Sharabi writes (cited in Avodas Rosh Hashanah ch. 8): “The sound of the shofar does not have an effect in Heaven unless its sound rises with the awakening of the heart in repentance. Otherwise, it is like blowing a musical instrument.” As to the nature of this awakening, Rambam writes that the shofar calls to us:
Awaken, slumberers! Examine your deeds, remember your Creator and return to Him! You who have forgotten the truth amidst the temporal vanities of this world and have spent the year in worthless pursuits, consider your souls, rectify your deeds, and abandon your improper thoughts!Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4
Sefer HaChinuch elaborates on the need for a reminder: Since a person is earthly, he does not awaken to matters [of the spirit] unless by means of some awakening device, as sound has a great influence on emotion. This is the idea behind the battle cries and trumpet blasts of soldiers when they want to awaken their spirits in order to maximize their performance. We are in similar danger on Rosh Hashanah, when our lives are on balance. The broken shofar sounds (i.e., teruah)shake our hearts and awaken repentance, and they remind us to “break” the evil inclination that urges us to pursue earthly pleasure and sins.
We specifically use a ram’s horn because it recalls the merit of the binding of Yitzchak and signifies that we submit ourselves to Hashem’s kingship the same way. Its bent shape reminds us to bend our hearts into submission to Hashem (Sefer HaChinuch).
TEMPORARY CONFUSION OF THE SATAN
The Gemara explains that we blow multiple sets of shofar blasts on Rosh Hashanah to confuse the Satan (Rosh Hashanah 16b). Ran (3a in Rif pgs.) writes that “Satan” in this context is a reference to the evil inclination within each person, based on the well-known idea that “the evil inclination and the Satan are one.” In other words, the shofar shakes and subdues the evil inclination of our hearts, as explained above (see also Rashi,Aruch, Maamar Hachachmah, andTargum Yonasan to Bamidbar 29:1). We may suggest that the Gemara is referring to both the Satan and the evil inclination, as follows:
When we become stricken with fear upon hearing the shofar blasts and repent with all our hearts, part of our repentance will remain permanent throughout the coming year, but much of it is temporary and will fade along with the dread of the Day of Judgment. Indeed, repentance is a lifetime’s work. Even so, our complete repentance is highly effective at the time of shofar-blowing and throughout Rosh Hashanah, when we coronate Hashem, for He then judges us to see if we are worthy of this lofty status and its accompanying blessings — and the Satan stands to accuse. Our evil inclination then becomes confused: on the one hand, we have repented fully and are on our best behavior, but on the other hand, we know deep down that we still require much work. And the Satan becomes confused as well: on the one hand, he knows that most of this repentance will fade, but on the other hand, he has no right to prosecute about something that someone may or may not do in the future. The prosecutor is silent, and Hashem tilts the stalemated scales in our favor. Thus, although much of the repentance inspired by the shofar-blowing may be temporary, it is greatly effective in holding back decrees regarding the previous year and allowing us another year of blessings and opportunities to prove ourselves.
PERMANENT REPENTANCE
Be that as it may, Hashem most desires repentance that translates into action. In this vein, the Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 29:5 with Radal) relates the word “shofar” to “shippur,” meaning “beautification” (Radak in Sefer HaSharashim). The Midrash expounds as follows: In this month of Tishrei, beautify your deeds and adopt a new conduct. Hashem says, “If you beautify your deeds, I will be for you like a shofar; just as air enters the narrow side of the shofar and exits through the wide side, so too, I will stand up from My Throne of Justice and sit on My Throne of Mercy, transforming the Attribute of Justice into the Attribute of Mercy.” Just as childbirth entails a hundred cries, with the hundredth bringing new life (Tanchumah to Tazria §4), every cry of the shofar brings us toward repentance, with the hundredth bringing us to complete repentance and a new year of good life (Meshech Chachmah to Vayikra 23:24).
