Shoftim 5759Volume 20 · Issue 1

Seeking Refuge

Sounding the Shofar

Behar 5760Volume 20 · Issue 30

Keeping the Sabbaticals

The Jubilee Year also required the sounding of the shofar. “Sound the shofar of blowing in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month. On Yom Kippur, you shall sound the shofar throughout your land” (Vayikra 25:9).

Shoftim 5762Volume 23 · Issue 1

Parallel Endings

Beginning the Shofar

Shoftim 5754Volume 17 · Issue 1

Cosmic Shift

One is well known—and well understood. “Although the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a Biblical decree, it contains an allusion, as if to say, “Awake from your sleep, you who sleep, and arise from your slumber, you who slumber. Search your deeds, and return with repentance and remember your

Ki Savo 5761Volume 22 · Issue 3

Prayers of Forgiveness

There is an allusion to this in our Rosh Hashanah Prayers. By the Verses of Shofar, we describe the Event of Mount Sinai and say, “With sounds and flashes, You were revealed upon them, and with the shofar sound, You first appeared upon them,” hopha’ta. The root word hophaah always references the initial revelation, such

Rosh Hashanah 5769Volume 6 · Issue 3

Greatness of Man

…the month, there shall be a cessation of work for you, a remembrance of shofar-blowing.” He asks, what is unique about this day? Why is it different from any other day? He answers that this month is the one in which…

In Days of Repentance · Chapter 27View Sefer

Yom Kippur 5775Volume 11 · Issue 5

Seal of Life

…He notes that no explanation is offered as to why we must sound the shofar on this day or why it is a call for sanctity. How does it differ from other days? To answer this, he writes that since Rosh…

Ki Seitzei 5749Volume 14 · Issue 1

Fearful Alertness

The most obvious outward act during the month of Elul is the sounding of the shofar. As the Tur cites from the sages (Orach Chaim chapter 581; Pirkei D’Rebbi Eliezer chapter 46), “The sages therefore instituted to sound the shofar on Rosh Chodesh Elul every single year—and throughout the month,” as indeed is our custom

In On the Torah V · Chapter 187View Sefer

Nitzavim 5761Volume 22 · Issue 4

Exalted Exclusively

Among the ten reasons cited from Rabbeinu Saadiah Gaon for the sounding of the shofar is that we are to remember the words of the prophets, which are compared to the shofar.

Ki Savo 5774Volume 11 · Issue 3

The Longing of Israel

It must be so, for as we know, the shofar of Rosh Hashanah is primarily the shofar of the Giving of the Torah. The prayer where we recite the Verses of Shofar begins, “You were revealed in Your Cloud of Glory over Your holy people to speak with them,” which

Nitzavim-Vayelech 5774Volume 11 · Issue 4

New Year New Life

As all know and as stated often in the Talmud and in our prayers, we prevail in judgment on Rosh Hashanah in merit of Yitzchak. “Sound before Me the shofar of a ram so that I may recall for you the Binding of Yitzchak and I consider it as though you bound yourselves before Me” (Rosh Hashanah 16a). “And the binding of Yitzchak remember with mercy this

Nitzavim 5762Volume 23 · Issue 4

Mercy Without Limit

In other words, if we are members of God’s covenant, all the promises of Rosh Hashanah are fulfilled in us. Even the forgiveness of Yom Kippur is rooted in the shofar of Rosh Hashanah. It reveals the shofar that was sounded at the Giving of the Torah.

Bamidbar 5752Volume 15 · Issue 31

Engraved Portion

Of Sinai, it says (Shemos 19:13), “When the shofar is sounded, they may ascend the Mountain.” This translation follows the plain meaning of the verse, where the sounding of the shofar signals the expiration of the Mountain’s sanctity and restrictions, and enables anyone to approach it at will

In On the Torah IV · Chapter 132View Sefer

Haazinu 5761Volume 21 · Issue 6

Embrace the Moment

“Rabbi Yehoshua opened with the verse (Tehillim 89:16), ‘Fortunate are the people who know the blast of the shofar, they stride by the light of Your face, God.’ And Rabbi Avahu interpreted it in reference to the five elders who convened to establish a leap year.”

Ki Savo 5772Volume 9 · Issue 3

Additional Covenant

Rosh Hashanah indeed begins the Torah Acceptance of Yom Kippur. In fact, the shofar of Rosh Hashanah is the shofar of the Giving of the Torah. The entire essence of the Verses of Shofar revolves around this. In the Musaf Prayer of Rosh Hashanah, we say, “You revealed Yourself in Your cloud of glory upon

Ki Seitzei 5774Volume 11 · Issue 2

Awakening to the Self

The Talmud states (Rosh Hashanah 26a), “A prosecutor cannot become a defender.” This is why the horn of cattle—of a cow, of a calf—cannot be used for the shofar; it is reminiscent of the Golden Calf, which caused prosecution.

Shoftim 5770Volume 7 · Issue 1

A Word to the Wise

Similarly, one opinion among the earlier commentators, cited by the Roke’ach (Hilchos Rosh Hashanah chapter 207), is that the shofar of Elul continues until Yom Kippur. This is not our custom; we cease sounding the shofar on the day prior to the eve of Rosh Hashanah and we do not resume sounding it after the shofar of Rosh Hashanah

In Days of Repentance · Chapter 7View Sefer

Ki Seitzei 5757Volume 19 · Issue 2

The Shell of a Pomegranate

This is the aim of the shofar.

Nitzavim-Vayelech 5757Volume 19 · Issue 4

His Children His Servants

The Sephardim begin from Rosh Chodesh Elul and continue until Yom Kippur. The Ashkenazim, however, have another custom. They sound the shofar after the Morning Prayer from Rosh Chodesh Elul but only begin rising early to plea for pardon on the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah. If the festival is on a Tuesday or Wednesday, they begin on the previous Sunday (Orach Chaim

Beshalach 5762Volume 22 · Issue 17

Doorway to Heaven

This is precisely his wording by the shofar (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4), “Although the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a Biblical decree, it bears an allusion, as if to say, ‘Awake from your sleep, you who sleep, and arise from your slumber, you who slumber