A ‘Blow Out’ New Year?

In this high octane time of year, both for Jews and for the world, we anxiously await the one time on the calendar when we hear a sound that can lift us up from our angst – that mesmerizing sound of the shofar. But low and behold, we learn that when Rosh Hashanah comes out on Shabbat, the Shofar is not traditionally blown. We at first seek some mystical reason for restricting this beloved and multi-meaning laden mitzvah. However, the ‘first responder’ is a seemingly mundane teaching to prevent someone who has a shofar, and wants to blow, but doesn’t know how, may come to carry it outside in the public domain to find an expert blower.

We can’t help being somewhat mystified and rather disappointed. Yes we know that the early Talmudic sages had some clout even over some explicit aspects of the written Torah, but to deprive an entire nation from this beloved mitzvah because of a remote ‘what if?’

After much research, I came across some connections that made the most sense to me, so I will share a few of them. One is from the beloved Hassidic master, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev. He reminds us of the scenario where G-d sits on his throne of Judgement on Rosh Hashanah to decide the fate of the world, but when He hears the Shofar and the people’s heartfelt response, he moves over to the throne of compassion. In addition, the rabbis tell us that the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are provided with the chance to do Teshuva and thereby be written in the book of Life. There is usually no guarantee that will happen. However, we recall that on Shabbat, one of the 39 forbidden activities is writing, unless it is a matter of saving a life. Therefore, even G-d, so to speak, cannot write on the day when Rosh Hashanah comes out on Shabbat, unless it is to save a life, in other words to inscribe us in the book of Life. So on Shabbat, according to the Berditchiver, G-d doesn’t need the shofar to evoke his mercy, since the Shabbat prohibition to write, kind of ‘forces his hand.’

The above is a pretty clever response. And it reminds us how important our connection to Shabbat for the entire year is. In fact, the sages tell us that it was the ‘spirit of Shabbos’ that saved Adam and Chava from being wiped off the earthly map when they ate from the forbidden tree on the first Friday of creation. The ‘spirit of Shabbat’ protested on Friday night, saying something like ‘Why should such a punishment be associated with such a holy day?’ G-d conceded and when the first human couple experienced their first Shabbat, their regret for transgressing gave them somewhat of a reprieve. Thus they were relegated to exile from the Garden of Eden instead. So one lesson for us in a year like this is to be more conscious of the power and practices of Shabbat than we should be in a year where shofar IS blown on a weekday. The word ‘Rosh’ means both head and beginning. If we start the year from a Shabbat perspective, it will give us a head start on the ‘Air Force One’ of holiness throughout this year. (If you need a weekly booster shot to help understand the relation of each weekly Torah portion to Shabbat, please read my previous ‘A Taste of Shabbos’ postings in the Boulder Jewish News).

Moreover, it’s important to recall that the word ‘Shabbat’ shares its root with the word, ‘Tashev’ meaning to return to our better nature- i.e. the key focus of all these forty days between the new moon of Elul and Yom Kippur. This focus helps us understand another purpose of the shofar- to confuse the Satan- the adversary blocking our mazal, meaning our FLOW of blessings for the New Year. In other words, we attempt to ‘block the blocker.’ How is the Satan confused each year? Because the more he tries to bring accusations about transgressions, he realizes that the power of the shofar (and this year through Shabbat) is to bring about MORE REPENTANCE, which translates into transforming sins into merits!

Still, there is a glitch in this shofar vs Shabbat reasoning; in the days of the Beit Hamikdash, the holy Temple in Jerusalem, the Mishnah tells us that the shofar WAS blown, even on a Shabbat. Why should this be so, if Shabbat can replace the power of the shofar to elicit divine mercy instead of harsh judgement? There is a rather deep and esoteric reason given. It has to do with the contrast between Teshuva out of Awe (Hence the term ‘Days of Awe) rather than the Teshuva of Shabbat, which ideally is out of love and happiness. I will try to summarize this response (If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.) If something comes from a place of Essence, then even the emerging paradoxes can be transcended and unified. For example, it is our human limitation that doesn’t let us perceive a wave and a particle at the same time, even though their source is one.

A simpler example: in a classroom where the teacher is absent, the students can tend to be rowdy since each acts from a different and individual nature.  But when the teacher shows up in an authoritive manner, (hopefully) the students align their wills to that of the teacher, without losing their personal identity. (Compare/contrast to the book/film “Lord of the Flies“) The holy Temple contained such a powerful presence of the Divine that those who came into the Temple’s ‘limitless space,’ could simultaneously access the contractive humility caused by the shofar, together with the expansive and joyful celebration of Shabbat

May such a confluence and resolution of both the individual and collective paradoxes in our lives be manifest with the promises of our prophets, through the great shofar of Mashiach, speedily in our days!