BS”D
SHABBAT: SILENT
SHOFAR
Shira Smiles shiur
Rosh Hashanah 5081/2020
Adapted by Channie
Koplowitz Stein
When the first day of Rosh Hashanah
coincides with Shabbat, we do not sound the shofar on that day. The Gemorrah
explains that our Sages were concerned that perhaps a Jew would take the shofar
to learn how to blow it, and momentarily forget that he is carrying the shofar
in a public domain and thereby transgress the sanctity of Shabbat. To preclude
that possibility, however remote, our Sages ordained that we do not blow the
shofar on Shabbat Rosh Hashanah. Why are we so concerned with such a
remote possibility? Does not the effect of blowing the Shofar outweigh
such a far fetched fear?
The Gemorrah also teaches us that a
year wherein we don’t blow the shofar at the start of the year, and the Satan
is not confused, is a year we need to be wary of a negative outcome.
Although, the Rishonim note, this is not applicable to when Shabbat falls out
on Rosh Hashana, rather, when a person just neglects to blow, we still need to
examine, what is the replacement for the Shofar, so we can confuse the Satan,
and be blessed with a good year.
While one of the reasons for blowing the
shofar is to evoke the memory of the binding of Yitzchak, and Avraham and
Yitzchak’s willingness to sacrifice himself to do Hashem’s will, to coronate
Hashem as King over ourselves, perhaps that coronation can be achieved by other
means as well. While the blast of the shofar always heralded the coronation of
the King/king, and Rosh Hashanah is the day on which we declare Hashem’s
sovereignty, Rabbi Moshe Schwab z”l suggests that the same goal can be achieved
through zehirut, the careful, meticulous attention to the
wishes/mitzvoth of our Master. If we invest our speech and our actions with
deliberate thought on how to accomplish the wish of our Creator, we have indeed
crowned Him as King over ourselves. Chazal understood that if Bnei Yisroel
recognized the consequences in olam habo of transgressing the sanctity
of Shabbat, even accidentally they would automatically forgo blowing the shofar
on Shabbat. How much more so if one would deliberately transgress. But Hashem,
in His mercy, sends us messages through small frustrations in this world to
alert us that we need to reflect and improve.
If a person would realize how many
spiritual worlds he is creating or destroying with each symbolic flick of his
hand, he would be so consumed by fear that he would not be able to act at all,
writes Rabbi Scheinerman citing the Arizal. The shofar, then is meant to arouse
us from lethargy and rote actions. Being in a state of mindfulness and care
before we speak or act accomplishes the same goal. This awareness is our first
step in coronating Hashem as our King. So, Shabbat, which requires such
thoughtfulness and study to observe it properly, contains within it the element
of carefulness the sound of the shofar is meant to achieve.
Rav Schlesinger offers another
reason we do not need to blow the shofar on Shabbat. Rav Schlesinger
notes that blowing the shofar also arouses Hashem’s quality of compassion and
mercy. Shabbat itself has that same ability, for there is no judgment on
Shabbat. That Shabbat substitutes for shofar is alluded to by the initials of
Shabbat, Shabbat Bimkom Tekiyot/Shabbat [takes
the] place of the shofar blasts.
The sounds of the shofar, coming from the
inner depths of a baal tekiyah, contain a sanctity that words alone
cannot contain, writes Rabbi Hofstedter in Dorash Moshe. Since Shabbat
itself contains that sanctity, it elevates the prayers of Bnei Yisroel just as
the sound of the shofar would do. Therefore, on Shabbat we include the phrase zichron
teruah/remembrance of the shofar blast, a phrase not included on other days
of the week.
In his sefer Chikrei Lev, Rav
Heiman cites a medrash that proves the sanctity and power of Shabbat. Adam was
created on the sixth day of creation. He sinned at twilight, and was exiled
from Eden. Hashem had warned that on the day Adam would eat from the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would die and go to Geihinom. Shabbat came and
pleaded on Adam’s and on his own behalf. Shabbat asked Hashem why He should
introduce death into the world on no other day but a Shabbat, a day Hashem
Himself had declared to be holy. With this argument, Adam was saved. When Adam
witnessed the power of Shabbat, he composed the Psalm Mizmor Shir leYom
haShabbat.
But Adam’s sin was deeper than a personal
one. Had Adam not sinned, he would have unequivocally established Hashem’s
sovereignty over all creation. For not affirming this truth, Adam was worthy of
even more severe punishment than exile. Instead of Hashem’s sovereignty being
revealed in all its glory, it would now be concealed. Nevertheless, the
intervention of Shabbat kept the primal light glowing until the Shabbat was
over. Therefore, those who observe the Shabbat will rejoice in Hashem’s
sovereignty/Yismichu bemalchutcha shomrei Shabbat and will delight in
it.
Thus, Shabbat remains the advocate for
Bnei Yisroel and brings peace to the world. In this capacity, it takes the
place of the shofar. Its power is so intense that it is not worth jeopardizing
its sanctity even for a remote possibility of infraction. Shabbat plus the
first day of Rosh Hashanah combines the coronation of Hashem with the
protection of Shabbat.
One of the ways the shofar protects us is
through the creation of angels that emanate from the shofar as the breath of
the baal tekiyah goes through it and rises heavenward. However, notes
Rav Schlesinger in Eileh Hem Moadei, Shabbat also has special angels
whom we greet every Friday night before reciting Kiddush. These angels rise up
to in our defense just as the angels of the shofar do. But what of the Jew who
does not observe Shabbat appropriately; should he not invoke the sound of the
shofar in his defense? Unfortunately, many people transgress Shabbat simply out
of ignorance of its many nuances. It is a good idea to commit to learning the
laws of Shabbos for just a few minutes every day to keep us knowledgeable.
Proper Shabbat observance demands constant study.
If we are coronating Hashem as our King on
Rosh Hashanah, writes Rabbi Hofstedter, we are sublimating any personal benefit
to the greater purpose of Hashem’s glory. The fact that we forgo blowing the
shofar on Shabbat lest one man desecrate the Shabbat by carrying the shofar is
proof of our dedication to Hashem’s glory, to His word and the word of the
Torah scholars He commanded us to obey. We are truly accepting Hashem as our
King. In a sense, notes the Mesech Chochmah, this is our personal sacrifice to
obey Hashem’s will, reminiscent of the sacrifice of Isaac.
Each of us was created as an individual
with a unique soul and personal mission. When we pass under Hashem’s staff on
Rosh Hashanah, although we are members of the flock, each of us is being judged
individually, writes Rabbi Rotberg in Moadei Labinah. Have we maintained
our special identity, or, through sin, marred our image? Have I allowed my
special qualities to impact the group? As the Rambam notes, sin is not
isolated, but impacts my soul as well as the perfection of the entire flock.
The sound of the shofar pierces to my core, asking the question Hashem asked of
Adam, “Ayekah/Where are you [in relation to your essence]?”
We could raise the question why we are
allowed to carry on yom tov but not on Shabbat. If we would be permitted to
carry on Shabbat, we could also blow the shofar, since blowing the shofar
itself is not forbidden. We do not blow the shofar only for fear that one will
carry the shofar out of one’s private domain. Notes. Modah Lbinah, the melacha
of hotzah is specific to Shabbat, wherein we are commanded to not leave
our domain on this day. On Shabbat we are meant to quietly contemplate
who we are and return to our core essence, while “yetziah/going out”
always implies meeting a challenge, whether it is going out to war, or Dinah
going out in the streets of Shechem, suggests the Sifsei Chaim. Go
inward instead, and reconnect with the purity of Adam before the sin and before
his expulsion from Eden.
Rabbi Pincus takes us back to the
beginning, to the time when all creation was still a thought in Hashem’s mind.
Hashem created man in this pristine, pure thought of din/judgment/according
to Hashem’s original plan. Rosh Hashanah is referred to as zichron l’yom
rishon/a remembrance of the first day. This day is about all of creation,
not about ourselves. Our service on this day is to bring us back to the
concept, the thought and idea that Hashem had in creating the world and Man.
How do we reflect God’s plan for creation? Our mindset on Rosh Hashanah is to
strive to bring ourselves back to that pure state within Hashem’s mind before
creation. Are we worthy of being created?
Like the shofar, Shabbat prods us to look
within ourselves rather than outward, to find the deepest part of ourselves
concealed in creation. And on that day of Shabbat Rosh Hashanah, Hashem Himself
blows the shofar, says the medrash, for, since all the world belong to Him,
there is no fear that He will go out from His private domain to the public domain.
Certainly, Hashem’s shofar blowing will confuse the Satan even more then the
shofar blowing of a human being
We know that we are not permitted to speak
from the time of the blessing on the shofar until the completion of the mitzvah
when all the blasts have been sounded at the end of Mussaf. Because of the
aforementioned medrash, many include the custom of not speaking on Shabbat Rosh
Hashanah during the entire time that we would hear the shofar in shul, even
though no baal tekiyah is blowing the shofar. After all, Hashem Himself
is blowing the shofar. Are we bending our inner ear to hear the sound, to judge
ourselves? Are we living up to the perfect image Hashem has of us? Are we at
least working toward perfecting that image?
May the coming year mark the creation of
our new and improved selves as we hear our inner shofar on the first day of
Shabbat Rosh Hashanah and the blasts of the physical shofar on the second day.