About the Shofar

.

The Torah is infinitely deep. Unlike what the so-called modern “Rationalists” imagine, the mitzvos have no simple explanation. When we look at the myriad details and halachos, the vast majority of mitzvos cannot be given straightforward practical or cultural rationales, but contain vast depth waiting to be uncovered. I do not deign to claim that I have uncovered anything, and what I am about to say is probably either not accurate or not a chiddush, but perhaps I can at least start a discussion:

You may have wondered about the halachos of Shofar. Specifically, what is the idea of the Tekiah Teruah Tekiah? The Torah states that Rosh Hashanah is a day of Teruah (a wailing blast), and the Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 34a) learns that every Teruah must be both preceded and followed by a Tekiah (a straight, clear blast).

But what is the rationale for such a rule?

Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank in the Mikraei Kodesh brings HaGaon Rav Eliyahu Romm (I don’t know who this is) who explains that a Tekiah is a blast of rejoicing, as the pasuk states (Bamidbar 10:10) “On your day of rejoicing…you shall blow a Tekiah blast with the chatzotzros…” whereas the Teruah is a blast of despair, as the Targum and Gemara call it a wailing, crying blast. The message of placing the Teruah in between two Tekios is that on Rosh Hashana, we should internally feel despair (or perhaps trepidation), and outwardly, we should display joy. This would be consistent with the theme of גילו ברעדה, rejoicing with trembling, that Rosh Hashana is all about.

However, I think we can expand on that concept, based on an idea I saw in the Maharal. Another question that has always bothered me was that the Tekiah Teruah Tekiah is not just blown on Rosh Hashana and Yovel, but was also the blast used to alert the Bnei Yisrael in the desert that they were about to travel (Rashi Bamidbar 10:5). Indeed, this is the source the Gemara uses to derive the halachos of the Rosh Hashanah Tekios. Why was this desert blowing exactly the same as the one on Rosh Hashanah? It would seem that there ought to be a connection.

I wanted to propose as follows: The Torah says that in the desert, a single or double Tekiah blast, with no other blast, was to gather the Nesi’im or all the people, whereas a Tekiah Teruah Tekiah sound was to alert them that it was time to travel. A straight Tekiah sound represents gathering and focus, whereas the broken Teruah sound represents separation and fragmentation. The Teruah is to remind the people to separate and travel, but it is sandwiched between the Tekios to remind them that even when they separate, the focus should be firmly grounded in gathering and unity.

So too it is on Rosh Hashanah. On this day, we are supposed to feel extremely concerned since we are on trial for our lives. A worried man’s thoughts are scattered, he is plagued with doubt and cannot focus. Whereas a man who is sure of himself has a single-minded focus and can gather his thoughts. The Shofar teaches us that even with all our doubts and distress, we still have an overriding focus on the crowning Hashem as King, and we have faith that He will save us, as the Tur brings from the Medrash.

But it more than that. The Shofar represents not just the ingathering of our personal fragmentation, but the ultimate rectification of the fragmentation of the world with Hashem’s Kingship. The focus of the prayer is on Hashem openly manifesting as King of the world, bringing the Geulah, the universal recognition of Him, and the final victory of good over evil.

I found the Maharal says a similar idea about the Shofar, in Chiddushei Aggados Rosh Hashanah 11b (although he doesn’t say what I said about the Teruah representing fragmentation).

הרי לך כי השופר הוא הגאולה, וזה כי השופר הוא משמיע הקול לאסוף הפזורים כדי שישמעו אותם הפזורים ויבאו למקום אחד, וזהו הגאולה, כי השעבוד אשר נשתעבדו תחת רשות אחרים, ויבאו יחד, והקבוץ יחד הוא הגאולה, לפי שיוצאים מרשות אחרים...

You can see that the Shofar is Redemption, because the Shofar sounds to gather the separated, so that they should hear and come to one location. And this is what redemption means, for slavery is when one is bound under the dominion of others, and then (after the Shofar), they come together as they are released from the dominion of others.

I think there is one other remez of the Shofar, along these lines, that is specifically relevant to Irrationalist Modoxism. From what I can tell, most of us here have been plagued by doubts from time to time (I talked about that here). And that is a normal, unavoidable consequence of openness to the world (which is why we should limit that) and/or intellectual curiosity. This is a “Teruah”, that could c”v threaten to break those who are weakminded. But we learn from the Tekios sandwiching the Teruos that even if/when such doubts enter our thoughts, our mind must be firmly planted in the Torah, which is חיינו ואורך ימינו, our life and the length of our days, and eventually the doubts will either be answered or become insignificant in the scale of the much greater Truth.

Kesiva v’Chasima Tova.

In case you haven’t noticed, Mecharker who started this blog and wrote many valuable posts, has taken an extended, indefinite leave of absence from writing and participation. We miss him dearly, but such is life. Meanwhile, I am getting tired of all this writing to keep the blog going, and would be interested in guest contributions or even regular contributions. Of course, they must follow the general hashkafa of the blog (which we like to think is pretty close to the true Torah hashkafa, as close as we can get), the purpose of the blog, and pass our rigorous peer review process. If you are interested, please contact me at happygoluckypersonage@gmail.com