The holiday Rosh Hashana is
mentioned twice in the Chumash. The first time is in the book of Leviticus (23:24)
basically in connection with the duty of the priests to officiate during the
Jewish holidays. Here it is called "שַׁבָּתוֹן זִכְרוֹן תְּרוּעָה". Shabbaton is the language of an
ultra-Shabbos. The idea seems to be that the ceremony and meals should be more resplendent
then that of an ordinary Shabbos. Zichron is the language of remembrance and
reflection. Teruah is the language of sounding the shofar and heralding.
The second time the Chumash
mentions Rosh Hashana is in the book of Numbers (29:1) in connection with the
sacrifices that are offered in honor of the Jewish holidays. Here it is simply
called “Yom Teruah” (יום
תרועה) literally a day of teruah. Teruah has two intertwined meanings
in this context. It is a herald and the Chumash calls Israel the herald of the
king (ibid 23:21). It also refers to the type of shofar blast that is a series
of broken beats. It is the nature of these staccato beats to draw attention.
Therefore if one is announcing the arrival of the king a teruah is the
appropriate sound.
The word generally used for a
shofar blast is תקיעה
(tekiah). Broadly speaking it refers to all shofar blasts; however its narrow
technical meaning is a long single blast. It is also the language of implanting
as in, “I will implant him in a secure place”, (Isaiah 22:23). The idea is that
the Torah should be embedded in the heart of Israel. The nature of the extended
blast is to penetrate the heart. While the teruah broadcasts to the outside, the
tekiah reaches the depths inside to stimulate internal introspection. This is
the concept of remembrance.
The concepts of Rosh Hashana
are often expressed in pairs that are like triplets. The catchphrase of the
prayer ונתנה תוקף (Unasanah Tokef) is “,repentance, prayer (תפילה-tefila),
and charity banish the badness of a decree”. Tefila is basically a personal
reckoning by means of external standards in this case Torah standards.
Repentance is a return to these values. This is the tekiah. What really makes a
Jew into a Jew is the national mission to teach Torah to mankind. This is the
teruah.
The additional prayers for Rosh Hashana are called
malchuyos מלכויות,
zicronos זכרונות,
and shofaros שופרות . Prayer is generally understood to
be a request from G-d and words in the liturgy like צלותהון ובעותהון (tsaloschon uvauschon) are pure expressions of that idea. The
word tefila תפילה is a little different
in that a person justifies his request based on his value as a human being.
This is an aspect of Zicronos where the petitioner remembers his past
deeds and evaluates himself before the holy one, blessed be He. Malchuyos are
generally considered as coronating Hashem as our king. More particularly it is
espousement of the Tanakh as a system of values. This is the inner meaning of
teruah. Shofaros is the sounding of the shofar which is the prescribed way of
making these declarations.
The Chumash uses the words זִכְרוֹן remembering and תְּרוּעָה teruah in regards to Rosh Hashana. The
idea is to meld the message and its proper expression into one. If remembering
and heralding was used, one may think that there are any number of good ways to
express this idea including the shofar. If the terms tekiah and teruah were
used, one may incorrectly thing that an inchoate feeling for these ideas is
sufficient. The Torah is coming to teach here that both the ideas and the form
of their expression must be right.
The shofar is a
musical instrument with both pitch and rhythm. Words reach the mind and the
intellect. Music reaches the heart and the emotions. The use of the shofar adds
love and fear to the moral lessons. It’s possible that if one is missing then
everything is missing.
The sound of the
shofar is an expression of crying. One can shed tears over the pain from their
personal failings and indeed this is one of the messages of Rosh Hashana. However
the holiday is also called teruah, heralding, referring to the coronation of a
king. This is because the wish of the holiday is that we should shed tears of
joy over seeing the materialization of our highest hopes and dreams.
לע"נ, הדוד ,שמואל
בן נח ז"ל נלב"ע ט"ו אב תשס"ט,
Acknowledgements to websites:
תורת אמת, וויקיטקסט, http://dictionary.reference.com/,
http://hebrewbooks.org/,
וגם בדואר אלקטרוני
ניתן באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il
Blogger Hebrew
http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com/2014/09/87.html
YouTube http://youtu.be/EQUhFZme63c
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