Another Point of View. ROSH HASHANAH (by Yehuda HaKohen). Since the time of our liberation from Egypt, the Israeli Nation has sounded the shofar to inaugurate our new year. Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook explains that the order of the shofar blasts – tekiah, shevarim-teruah, tekiah – describes the inherent essence of all world events. From the perspective of man, the blasts actually parallel HaShem’s stature in the world as perceived throughout the annals of human history.
The initial shofar blast, the simple and constant tekiah, symbolizes how HaShem’s Divine Ideal was recognized before the sin of Adam and during the glorious periods when Israel reigned sovereign over our borders. The intermediate irregular shevarim-teruah blasts are broken sobs of weeping that represent the difficult intervals when Jews are in exile and must struggle for the political independence so vital to our national mission of revealing G-D’s sovereignty over all of Creation. In the period of Redemption, the era of tekiah will return and last forever, as the final tekiah during the New Year service is greater than all blasts preceding it. This great tekiah refers to G-D’s eternal hegemony over Creation and man’s recognition of Him through His chosen people. Therefore we pray that G-D “Reign over the entire world in Your glory” – elevate Israel among the nations so that the world will recognize the Divine Oneness of HaShem.
The shofar is intertwined with the concept of Redemption. In the daily prayers, we say “Sound the great shofar for our freedom, raise the banner to gather our exiles and gather us together from the four corners of the earth.” (Weekday Amidah)
The Shulchan Aruch code of Jewish Law teaches in Orach Chaim, section 586 (also the numerical value of the word shofar) that there are three types of shofarot that can be used for Rosh HaShanah. Ideally, one should use a ram’s horn but if this is impossible, we may draw on the horn from any kosher animal other than a cow. But if even this is unavailable, one is permitted to use the horn of an animal which is ritually unclean. Although it is acceptable to sound this third shofar, a blessing cannot be recited over it.
As the shofar is an integral theme in Israel’s Redemption, each of these shofarot has a parallel in how the Redemption can come about for both the Hebrew Nation as a collective and for the individual Jews within. The great shofar (which we yearn for), the medium shofar and the small shofar all represent driving forces behind the return to Zion.
The way in which the great shofar calls us back to Eretz Yisrael is through the awakening of a desire to be redeemed and to redeem. It is the ancient yearning to actively participate in G-D’s plan for the Redemption of mankind. This is revealed through a holy awakening that grows from deep connection to HaShem’s Will and the desire to restore Creation to what it was always meant to be – the goal towards which history has always been moving. Aliya motivated by the great shofar is the practical expression of Israel’s ancient Messianic yearnings.
The medium shofar has a different sound. It calls Jews back to our borders through feelings similar to the nationalism found among gentiles. It beckons us through patriotic nostalgia and the understanding that Eretz Yisrael is the land of our ancestors – where our forefathers lived; where our rich history unfolded and where our national culture developed. It is the soil where Israeli kings reigned and where holy prophets spoke. It is where our Temple majestically crowned our eternal city at time when the nations stood in awe of our glory. It is where we can live today as an independent nation-state with our own language and culture and where we can raise Hebrew children in a pure Israeli environment. This is the sound of the medium shofar. While it certainly cannot compare to the ideal great shofar, it is nonetheless also a positive sound.
Then there is the small shofar – the shofar over which one does not recite a blessing, although it must be sounded in the absence of the first two. This is the shofar that our enemies blow. It is sounded as a warning for us to return to our country while still possessing the opportunity to do so. It is a shofar that begins softly and grows louder as time escapes. It was this impure shofar which was sounded in Europe not too long ago and it is this shofar that can again be heard today in places throughout the world (albeit in some places louder than others). Those who are deaf to the first two shofarot are eventually forced to listen to the third. Thus even the horn of an unclean beast plays a crucial role in the Redemption of man.
We pray that HaShem “sound the great shofar for our freedom,” hoping that we not be subjected to the destructive sounds of the small shofar. Even the medium shofar is not entirely appropriate for the Nation of Israel’s epic role in human history. Rather, we ask for the great shofar – the shofar of true freedom and complete Redemption, bringing with it an all-encompassing kedusha that will revolutionize all of reality as we know it. A shofar must sound and we must strive for the ideal and not merely make due with less perfect alternatives.
The Redemption is unfolding in our generation. Those who are able to see it, understand it and desire to be a part of it merit to be awakened through the sound of the great shofar. Those that desire Redemption but possess only a limited vision will be drawn to the natural healthy calls of the medium shofar. And finally those who are blind to what is transpiring in our days and those disappointed with how the Redemption unfolds reject the call of the first two blasts. It was not long ago that our people witnessed the sound of the small shofar. There are countless books, movies, museums and memorials to remind us. History holds many valuable lessons. We must pray that the sound of the great shofar will become so loud and so obvious that none will be able to ignore it. This year, all Israel should be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year. We should all merit for our ears and our hearts to be opened to the sound of the great shofar so that we may respond in unity as the Nation of Israel, shining the light of HaShem’s Truth to all of Creation. Shanah Tova.
With Love of Israel,
-Yehuda HaKohen
Am Segula
