Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Netsavim / Rosh Hashana - Sound the Great Shofar of our Freedom

The Chumash lists the Jewish holidays twice. In the first listing Rosh Hashana is called זִכְרוֹן תְּרוּעָה (Zicron Teruah) (Leviticus 23:24), literally remberance blast, and in the second listing more simply as the day of teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה) (Numbers 29:1). The simplest translation of teruah is the blast of a horn, but the more general term is תקיע. Teruah denotes a herald and Israel is described as the herald of the king. One of the functions of a Jew is to trumpet the coming of the Holy One Blessed be He. A shofar is a specific type of horn, a ram’s horn as opposed to a metal trumpet. This is the distinctive practice of Rosh Hashana and it is reckoned as a mitzvah from the Torah to listen to the shofar on this day because it is literally called the day of the horn blast.

The shofar is played at various times during the service and the formal sounding follows the Torah reading of the holiday. At the conclusion of its sequence a verse from Psalms (89:16) is recited. “Happy is the people that knows the heralding of Hashem, in the light of Your face they will walk”. The context of the Psalm is the actions and sites in the physical world where the presence of the Creator can be sensed and his future deeds can be perceived. The use of the verse in the liturgy though is the actual sound of the shofar. Therefore it is appropriate for us to understand something about this sound.

The shofar is not really a musical instrument. At best it can be compared to a drum. The tone can be varied slightly but not enough to produce a melody. It can produce a long blast as well as a chain of short blasts, but even so it is not greatly rhythmic. It’s basically a little more than a noise maker. Children love it and will cheerfully blow this horn especially on Rosh Hashana. It has other functions, too, for example to sound an alarm, simple military type communications, and to dramatically focus attention. All of these are relevant to Rosh Hashana but the cheerful sound expressing joy is the most important one.

A section of the Musaf for the high holidays is about the shofar. It starts with how it was used to dramatically focus the nation’s attention during the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. It then brings various verses from the book of Psalms in which the shofar is an instrument of celebration before Hashem. “With trumpets and the sound of the shofar make a blast before the king Hashem”, (Psalm 98:6). “Blast at the start of the month the shofar, on the new moon, the day of our celebration”, (Psalm 81:4). The idea is to cheerfully start the new month. “Praise Him with the blast of a shofar” (Psalm 150:3). These psalms are musical as well but they do include the idea of a cheerful dramatic entrance.

It then describes the gathering of the exiles of Israel starting with the blast of the great shofar. The section “Shofros” ends with the section from the Chumash, “On the days of your celebrations, holidays, and starts of a new month, you will make a blast with your trumpets, as well as on your burnt offerings and peace offerings, and it will be for you a remembrance before the Lord”, (Numbers 10:10)

The idea is that we need to know how to properly make noise. At times music is too sophisticated. Cheering and clapping are also important, but sometimes we need something a bit more. This is the blast of a horn. It can be used to welcome a popular politician, favorite teacher, or a dear friend. It gives him a nice welcome and lets him make a strong entrance. In addition it rouses our memories of the past and our hopes for the future.


לע"נ הדוד מאיר בן חיים ז"ל נלב"ע כה בתשרי תשנ"ב
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