BS”D

CONNECTING TO THE CORE: ROSH HASHANAH

Shira Smiles shiur 2016/5777

Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein

            The Gemarrah Rosh Hashanah states: “Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, Recite before Me [verses of] Sovereignty, Remembrance, and Shofar blasts. Sovereignty to make Me your King, Remembrance so that your memory will rise up before Me. And how? Through the shofar.”

            The Sefas Emes raises an interesting question. Why does the Gemarrah ask how to do this instead of just including the shofar blasts as part of the recitation? How do the shofar blasts change the dynamics of the rituals?

            Perhaps by examining another mainstay of the season we can gain some insight into our question. From the beginning of the month of Elul until Hoshanah Raba it is customary to recite Psalm 27, “Of David, Hashem is my light and my salvation...” Our Sages explain that “my light” refers to Rosh Hashanah while “My salvation” refers to Yom Kippur. Rav Moshe Schwab contrasts this verse with the verse in Psalm 81 that states, “Blow the shofar on the New Moon, on the day, on the day of the concealment for the day of our festival, for it is a statute for Israel, and the God of Jacob sits in judgment.” Obviously, the day being referred to is Rosh Hashanah. How could a day of concealment also be a day of light?

            Rav Saadia Gaon raises further questions. While the shofar was sounded at Sinai and will be sounded again at the arrival of Moshiach, and the shofar is also a reminder of Avraham Avinu’s binding his son Yitzchak, how do these relate to Rosh Hashanah itself? What should we be thinking as we internalize the sounds of the shofar?

            The Sefas Emes begins our discussion by clarifying the Gemarrah’s words. He explains that the Gemarrah’s question is not referring to the shofar blasts, but rather how can one come before Me. In this context, blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is similar to when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur.  Just as the high priest could not wear the golden clothes when entering into the holy of holies, so as not to remember the sin of the golden calf; similarly, we don’t use the horn of a cow to blow the shofar. It is along these lines that Rav Eliyahu Roth cites Rav Yisroel Salanter who writes that when we hear the shofar we should imagine ourselves coming before God into the Kadosh Kodoshim. And we should be in this mindset not only while we are in shul, but for the entire 48 hours of Rosh Hashanah, for we are standing before Him hayom, this day, all day (and indeed every day). We are standing before Hashem this day in truth, as individuals, unable to hide or blame society. Just as the Priest entered alone, so do we enter into our judgment as individuals, as the sheep each passing individually beneath the shepherd’s staff. We pass unadorned and naked, visible in our truth, in the essence of our being.

            Let us now return to our first question, how can the Day of Light also be a Day of Concealment. Rabbi Roberts in Timeless Seasons cites a parable to illuminate this dilemma. An ignorant villager heard that in the city there is someplace called a cinema where one can see wondrous things. When he had saved enough to buy a ticket, he went to the cinema and was truly enthralled by what he witnessed. However, he was disturbed that the entire room was dark. Impulsively, he stood up and turned on the light, at which all the images disappeared. That is truly how the Satan entices us. He lures us with material things and physical pleasures that appear to be real. But they are only an illusion. When we turn on the light, when we face the truth Rosh Hashanah should awaken us to, we realize that all that is illusion, and true happiness lies only in spiritual achievement. When we “turn on the light” on Rosh Hashanah, we realize that we are not the center of the universe, and that we are guests in a home in which Hashem has graciously allowed us to reside, writes Rabbi I. Bernstein in Teshuva.

            Rabbi Dov Yaffe in Letitcha Elyon shines further light on the essence of Rosh Hashanah by quoting one of the verses from The Remembrance portion of the liturgy, “This day is the anniversary of the start of Your handiwork, a remembrance of the first day.” If we accept the premise that man was created on Rosh Hashanah, we further accept the premise that on each Rosh Hashanah Hashem renews the world and provides it with new energy and light to help us move forward. This light awakens our neshamot to their true purpose, to serve Hashem and coronate Him as our King.

            Illusions are also present when we sleep, in our dreams. We often go through life as sleepwalkers, writes Rabbi Bernstein. While we focus on external, physical, material pleasures and convenience, in our inner core we are aware of Hashem’s presence and our desire to serve Him. On Rosh Hashanah, we should not be thinking so much about what we should doing or refrain from doing, but rather we should wake up from the alternate reality of our “sleepwalking”. This is the purpose of the shofar, to sound the alarm and wake us up.

            The shofar is uniquely suited to this task, continues Rabbi Bernstein. If we go back to Creation, we will note that Man became a living being when Hashem blew the breath of life into the inert form from the earth. Every breath we take is a continuation of that first breath. Blowing the shofar, then, has the ability to connect body and soul, and by blowing the shofar, we are proclaiming that we are dedicating our lives to our King.

            This point becomes even more clear if we refer back to a verse that seems out of place in the Remembrance section. “He has made a remembrance of His wonders, Compassionate and Merciful is Hashem.” This verse focuses on reminding us of Hashem, rather than reminding Hashem of us, as the other verses do. However, that is the point. In order for us to expect Hashem to remember us, we must remember Him, writes Rabbi Bernstein. Rabbi Rothberg in Moda Labinah explains the connection. At Sinai, the people saw the sounds, enabling them to look deep within themselves and see with their inner eye that Hashem runs the world. The sound of the shofar helps us regain that clarity. The light the shofar provides is meant not only for Rosh Hashanah, but also as a remembered guide for the entire year.

            Just as each member of Bnei Yisroel passed before Moshe as an individual with honor when Moshe took the census, so does each of us pass before Hashem Rosh Hashanah, each as an honored individual, with our inner holy core connected to Hashem, writes Moda Labinah.

            Rabbi Moshe Schwab goes into greater depth in explaining how the darkness and veiled day of Rosh Hashanah, bakeseh liyom chageinu, interfaces with the light of Rosh Hashanah. We are meant to find the light in spite of the darkness and concealment. Even when we don’t understand, we must choose to follow Hashem in full faith. The classic example Rabbi Schwab presents is Avraham Avinu bringing his beloved Yitzchak to be bound as an offering to Hashem. Although Hashem’s command here goes counter to everything Avraham believed, everything he had preached, and even everything Hashem had promised him, Avraham still responds to the Satan who is trying to stop him with these arguments. Avraham’s response is, “Va’ani betumi elech – I will still go [and follow God’s command] in purity and wholeness.” Even in this darkest time of Avraham’s life, he will follow God’s command in full faith, without understanding. And it is this same faith that must be our guiding light through the challenges and darkness in our lives, even in the darkness of Auschwitz, for all the Torah is a chok, a law beyond our understanding. And we will do so as the bent shofar, submitting ourselves completely to His will, writes Sichot Eliyahu. In fact, says Zvi Meir Silberberg in Sichot Hitchazkut, the shofar is our cry to Hashem to help us withstand the lure and arguments of the yetzer horo. Be the Light to help me walk with You even when I find it dark and I do not understand.

            We have entered our inner world as the High Priest has entered into the Holy of Holies. We are also trying to connect with Hashem in intimacy. Hashem is judging us now, in this moment of closeness. True judgment, notes the Chatam Sofer, would be judging us by the disparity of how we should have acted in contrast to how we have actually acted and lived. But we are asking Hashem to judge us based on our inner world, on the concealed essence of our inner sanctum.

            On Rosh Hashanah, as the shofar awakens our inner neshamah, we should be especially aware of our thoughts and behavior. The Tallelei Chaim explains that if we truly focus on our inner world we will be connecting to our Source, to where the very breath of our life comes from. If we focus on our holiness, Hashem will also judge us based on our pure and holy neshamah; if instead we focus on our physical surrounding, Hashem will also judge us on our physical actions.

            And so the shofar forms the bridge that helps us make all the connections we need to bring us closer to Hashem. As Rabbi Bernstein explains, the shofar that was sounded at Sinai was from the ram of the Akeidah, when Avraham followed Hashem’s will even in darkness. But the breath we blow into the shofar is a bit of the breath Hashem breathed into Man at creation. Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of that day, the time of purity before Adam’s sin. At Sinai, we reached that stage again, and each year on that day, we attempt to reach that level of perfection again. The breath that sounds the shofar is the breath from my inner being, from the pure place where my soul is connected to Hashem, writes the Tallelei Chaim.

            Rabbi Dov Yaffe provides a beautiful insight. The world was created for Man, and thus, says Hashem, “bishvili nivra haolam – the world was created for me/you” Have you created enough to justify sustaining the world?  Can the world exist upon your prayers, blessings and personal interactions alone? I as an individual must be worthy of the world, for it is dependent on me. We ask Hashem to grant us another year to bridge the gap between my lowly, physical and material self and my upper spiritual soul, so that Hashem can address both facets of our being to do his bidding, as He called to our ancestor doubly, addressing both the physical and spiritual component of his being, “Avraham, Avraham.”

            We pray that Hashem give us another year not only of physical life, but a year of Hashem be’or

Panecha.  As we stand and listen to the shofar, as we imagine ourselves in the holy of holies close to Hashem; we need to be awakened to the truth of one’s purpose in this world.  Likewise, we commit ourselves to complete obedience to Hashem, and His mastery of the world.

 Paehach panecha yehaleichu – a year in which we walk in the light of His countenance.