Setting the Alarm

There is a custom to begin sounding the shofar in the synagogue a month before Rosh Hashanah, the New Year.  The idea is that we have to start the process of change well before Rosh Hashanah to avoid a last minute, panicked rush.  During the month before Rosh Hashanah, known as Elul, the shofar is blown every day after the weekday morning services in order to wake us up from our apathy gradually, in the hope that we will not press the “snooze” button.

The central commandment of Rosh Hashanah, and the defining feature of this festival in the Torah is the sounding of the shofar.  A hollowed-out ram’s horn is blown on Rosh Hashanah to produce sounds known as tekiah, shevarim, and truah — a long blast, three shorter blasts and a number of very short blasts.  The most obvious idea behind this commandment is that the shofar sounds a piercing wake-up call for us to begin an accounting of our lives, to become aware of our responsibilities and to make positive commitments for the future. Maimonides writes:

Even though the blowing of the shofar is a decree of the Torah, there is nevertheless a hint within it.  That is, ‘Wake up… from your sleep… Search through your actions, return in repentance and remember your Creator…  Look into your souls, improve your ways… and abandon evil…”

Abraham, the ancestor of the Jewish people, was subjected to one of the most severe tests imaginable.  G-d asked him to take his beloved son, Isaac, and bring him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah.  Even though this request contradicted everything that Abraham had known and believed until that moment, he maintained his total trust in G-d; he took Isaac, put him on the altar and held the knife to his throat.

At the last second, an angel of G-d told him not to harm the boy. G-d then showed Abraham a ram whose horns were entangled in a bush nearby and Abraham brought that ram as an offering to G-d instead of his son. Blowing the horn of a ram reminds us of this event – known forevermore as “The Binding of Isaac” — and of Abraham and Isaac’s tremendous devotion to G-d. (It should be noted that Isaac’s willing submission, despite the fact that he had no direct commandment from G-d as his father had, showed at least equal devotion to G-d.) The sound of the ram’s horn challenges us to dedicate ourselves totally to G-d, with the same faith, trust and devotion as Abraham and Isaac.  If we are sincere in this dedication, G-d considers it as though we actually performed the same act as Abraham.

In ancient times, the shofar was blown on occasions other than Rosh Hashanah as well.  The famous verse from Leviticus is inscribed in part on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia:

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][…blow the shofar throughout your land…] כי תצאProclaim freedom throughout the land for all its inhabitants…

The Biblical context of this verse is the release of indentured servants every jubilee (50th) year, which was proclaimed by the blowing of a shofar.  The Sages of the Mishnah explained that the primary significance of the shofar, including the shofar of Rosh Hashanah, is a proclamation of freedom.

The freedom proclaimed by the shofar is within our power to achieve.  It is the freedom from our past, from our sins and failings.  It is the freedom to change ourselves and the entire world through the power of free-will and repentance.   The shofar reminds us that we are always free to choose what is right and good, and that our lives are not pre-determined, no matter how many obstacles appear to stand in our way.  We believe that when people take this lesson to heart and really change for the better, we will merit the ultimate shofar of freedom that will herald the time of the Messiah.

It shall be on that day that a great shofar will be blown and those who are lost in the land of Assyria and those cast away in the land of Egypt will come [together], and they will bow down before G-d on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

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