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Bamidbar 5747Volume 13 · Issue 31
Unbreakable Link
In his translation of this verse, Onkelos states, “God was revealed on Mount Sinai.” In our Rosh Hashanah Prayers, by the Verses of Shofar, we also say, “You were revealed in Your cloud of glory upon Your holy people to speak to them.”
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Bo 5750Volume 14 · Issue 18
Cry of the Heart
One who cries words is not emitting a cry but merely raising his voice. A cry emanates from the heart. “Their heart cried to God.” Elsewhere, the sages even equate it with the sound of the shofar, which is clearly beyond all verbal expression (cf. Taanis 14a). It is not specific. It expresses what only a cry can express.
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Nitzavim-Vayelech 5749Volume 14 · Issue 3
Monumental Occasion
On this note, the Talmud states (Rosh Hashanah 16a), “God said, “Sound the shofar of a ram before me so that I may remember for you the binding of Yitzchak son of Avraham, and I consider it as if you had bound yourselves before Me.” In other words, to evoke the binding of Yitzchak alone
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Naso 5750Volume 14 · Issue 30
Sheath of Light
On this day, we were given the Torah and the commandments. As we say in our Evening Prayer, “You have taught us Torah and commandments,” or as we say in the Prayer of Shofar, “You revealed Yourself, our King, at Mount Sinai, to teach your nation Torah and commandments.” To teach Torah and commandments means to teach Torah, to reveal commandments, and to integrate them.
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Vayeira 5750Volume 14 · Issue 8
Hand in Hand
…hey call for a unique order of fasting, of prayer, even of sounding the shofar, as it says (Bamidbar 10:9), “When you go to war in your Land against an oppressor who oppresses you, you shall sound the trumpets, and…
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Beshalach 5752Volume 15 · Issue 18
Fearful and Faithful
Similarly, in our High Holidays Prayers, by the Verses of Shofar, we say, “When You, our King, were revealed upon Mount Sinai to teach Your people Torah and commandments….” We also say this in our daily Evening Prayers by the blessing immediately prior to the Reading of Shema, “With eternal love
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Shelach 5752Volume 15 · Issue 34
War of Profusion
Ours is the culture we received at the Giving of the Torah, and there, “The entire people were seeing the sounds and the flames and the sound of the shofar and the mountain smoking” (Shemos 20:15). To see the sounds means to see form, to see meaning.
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Bamidbar 5754Volume 16 · Issue 28
Planted Firm
The Ramban (Vayikra 23:24) asks what the significance of Rosh Hashanah is. What happened on this day? Why is it special? The Torah does not explain the reason for the commandment to sound the shofar on this day. Why are we required to evoke remembrance on high on this day more than on any other day? Why does it call for judgment?
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Yom Kippur 5754Volume 16 · Issue 5
Sealed and Atoned
This is where we reach at the end of our Yom Kippur service—aside from the sounding of the shofar and saying, “Next year in Jerusalem,” where we express our hopes and wishes. The actual service of the day culminates with these words. “God is the Lord.” It is where we reach when we reach the end of Yom Kippur
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Yisro 5756Volume 17 · Issue 19
Wisdom of Faith
The subject is Mount Sinai long after it was said, “When the shofar is sounded, they may ascend the Mountain” (Shemos 19:13), long after its holiness was rescinded. Nonetheless, its concept remains. But it is unapproachable due to the white scorpions the size of donkeys that surround it.
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Ki Seitzei 5754Volume 17 · Issue 2
Head of the Year
The regular order of time affects anyone under its influence. It places him in a realm of existence with no beginning—no head—and no end, no purpose. As the Rambam states, the sounding of the shofar comes against those who forget the truth in the futilities of time (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4).
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Acharei-Kedoshim 5756Volume 17 · Issue 25
Creates and Governs
Of these three facets, we pray, “Sound the great shofar for our freedom,” to prevent the enslavement of kingdoms and release us from subjection to another master. “Raise a banner to gather our exiles,” eliminating dispersion. “And gather us together from the four corners of the earth,” to return
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Vaeira 5757Volume 18 · Issue 17
Monumental Transition
And by the Giving of the Torah, this was the law. It was forbidden to approach, “Set boundaries for the people around, saying, “Beware of ascending the Mountain or touching its edge…. Once the shofar is sounded, they may ascend the Mountain” (ibid. 19:12-13). The ground truly became sanctified for the duration of the Giving of the Torah.
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Mishpatim 5757Volume 18 · Issue 20
Mysteries of the Universe
“And fortunate are those who stood at that place at that time, as it says, “Fortunate are the people who know the cry of the shofar—they walk by the light of Your face, God” (Tehillim 89:16). By the light of God’s face, they walk.”
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Nitzavim-Vayelech 5756Volume 18 · Issue 3
Keeping the Covenant
Our only means to traverse the Day of Judgment is the shofar (Rosh Hashanah 16a). It comes from a ram, which was offered by the Binding of Yitzchak in his place, so that that event would be remembered on our behalf and it would be considered as if we had bound ourselves
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Bechukosai 5765Volume 1 · Issue 12
Shavuos: Festival of Weeks
During the Jubilee, the Torah states (Vayikra 25:9), “On Yom Kippur, sound the shofar in all of your lands,” for just as Yom Kippur is the Sabbath of Sabbaths (Vayikra 16:31), so is the Jubilee the Sabbath of Sabbaths. When the Jubilee was in effect, the entire year was like Yom Kippur
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Korach 5765Volume 1 · Issue 17
Self-Sufficiency: The Antithesis of Being
His wording bears a striking resemblance to the wording he uses to describe the meaning of the shofar blast, as he writes (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4), “It contains an allusion, as if to say, “Awake, you that slumber, from your slumber etc.” There, the power to awaken is understandable. But the mezuzah is silent. How does it cause
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Pinchas 5765Volume 1 · Issue 20
Destruction of the Self
…the people were seeing the sounds and the torches and the sound of the shofar and the smoking mountain,” so also, we will realize that everything we see is not objects but utterances. Then, with our eyes of flesh…
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Nitzavim-Vayelech 5759Volume 20 · Issue 4
Together Forever
asks further (Kisvei HaRamban 1:220; Vayikra 23:24). Unlike all other festivals where the Torah states or hints the reason, no reason is said of Rosh Hashanah, not for the festival and not for the sounding of the shofar.
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Haazinu 5760Volume 20 · Issue 6
Book of Originality
The Turei Evven finds this difficult. In their opinion, what is special about Rosh Hashanah? Surely, all agree that it is the Day of Judgment. They too sounded the shofar.
