How does the shofar blast on Rosh Hashanah transform a regular day into a holy occasion?
Table for Five: Emor
In partnership with the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles
Edited by Nina Litvak & Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist
Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first of the month, it shall be a Sabbath for you, a remembrance of [Israel through] the shofar blast a holy occasion.- Lev. 23:24
Rabbi Tal Sessler, Temple Beth Zion
The Vietnamese Buddhist sage Thich Naht Hanh instituted a mindfulness practice in his monastery. At regular intervals, a bell would sound in the monastery, and everyone would desist from their mundane tasks, rise, breathe inwardly and outwardly, and reconnect in cosmic stillness with their inner core.
The Medieval English poet John Donne was also sensitized to the sound of the bell. For John Donne, the bell is sounded to re-sensitize us to our sheer finitude and looming mortality.
Unlike engaged Buddhism and medieval Christianity, Judaism does not make use of the bell as a meditative tool for soulful introspection and existential contemplation. In Judaism, we have the shofar, which we sound, according to Maimonides, to awaken us from our dogmatic slumbers, shake off the sleepiness of the trivial and the mundane, and ponder the brevity and fragility of human existence. The purpose of the shofar, to borrow from Alan Seeger, is to remind us that we have “a rendezvous with death.” Rosh Hashanah is called a “Day of Remembrance,” also because the shofar blasts implore us to remember, in the words of the psalmist, that a human lifespan is akin to “a fleeting shadow” on the face of eternity. Much of our life is spent in frantic denial of what Heidegger called our “being-toward-death,” and we desperately seek to repress the ticking clock of our temporality. But the sound of the shofar summons us to embrace our mortality and lead a dignified and benevolent existence.
Yehudit Wolffe, Founder Bais Chana of California, & KosherSofer.com
Why are we commanded to blow shofar? How is it connected to the power of transforming a regular day into a Sabbath (Rosh Hashana), a holy occasion?
Shofar is narrow at the opening where we blow/ wider at the end where the sound blasts.We can learn from hostages & soldiers who “blew the shofar”:
The shofar is narrow where we put our efforts. This represents difficult moments, which offer us the opportunity to make a blast, to change ordinary into holy. When we use our free choice, as hostages and soldiers did at the hardest times, to overcome difficulties, we persevere, give our inner strength to see and do good, with even a smile, (as Agam Berger did), we create the sound of the shofar which makes a day holy and brings the ultimate Redemption’s “shofar of Moshiach”, the symbol of our efforts throughout the generations of G-d hiding; we bring the true, complete Redemption which is the eternal Sabbath, where all the world will recognize G-d as the Almighty king! The Rebbe Maharsh said: “The world says that if you have obstacles, go around them… I say immediately leap over them!” When we are connected to G-d’s truth, G-d’s will which is revealed in Torah, we can leap over obstacles immediately. The power to transform is within us!
Dr. Erica Rothblum, Head of School, Pressman Academy of Temple Beth Am
This pasuk refers to Rosh Hashanah, and two words stand out: zichron (remembrance) and teruah (the shofar blast). While they can be read together—as remembering the day through the sound of the shofar—perhaps we understand them better when first understood separately. Sforno teaches that zichron calls for inner spiritual preparation as we approach the day of judgment. Ramban interprets teruah as a crying or sobbing sound, expressing human brokenness. Read together, the verse becomes a call to reflect not only on our own lives, but on the state of the world. Preparing for judgment means not just personal repentance, but asking: How have I responded to the brokenness around me? The sound of teruah echoes wherever people are in pain—in our communities, in our cities, in Israel, and across the world. As Rabbi Tarfon said: “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” Rosh Hashanah reminds us that spiritual preparation is not abstract—it’s rooted in compassion, justice, and repair. There are four and a half months until we again hear the shofar’s cry. What will each of us do between now and then to help heal a fragment of that brokenness—and to truly be ready for the day of remembrance?
Kylie Ora Lobell, Community editor, Jewish Journal
This quote is describing Rosh Hashanah, when Hashem created the world. The shofar blast we hear on this holiday is meant to stir our souls, to wake us up to repent for our misdeeds and try to become better people in the year ahead… and beyond. While Rosh Hashanah is when we focus on self-improvement, the truth is that to be a Jew means to constantly be working on ourselves. Every Torah class we attend, every shiur at synagogue we listen to, every session we have with our chavruta, our study partner, is an opportunity to grow as a person. Rosh Hashanah is when we make these big, lofty goals, but every day, we must put in the time for self-reflection and growth. This can also be a little more abstract: perhaps you learn patience by waiting on hold for a customer service representative, or you hug your child instead of getting angry at them when they’re acting up. Figure out a character trait you hope to fix and then work on it. We are not put on this planet to be idle; we are put here to better ourselves and the world around us. Come up with your yearly goals at Rosh Hashanah, but also your daily ones. Ask yourself: What can I do to improve now? Hear that shofar blast in your mind and make that radically beautiful change today.
Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, Congregation B’nai Torah, Springfield, MA
This verse, of course is a reference to Rosh Hashanah, which we know today as beginning the Jewish year, as the Day of Judgement, but listed here as the beginning of the Seventh Month, counting from Nissan -using the calendar of the Pilgrimage festivals which begin with Passover.
Where do we see this idea of a Judgment Day in the text?
The key word here is “Zichron” – Remembrance. It is the Day where G-d “retrieves from memory” all the past year’s doings and sets the stage for the opportunities and parameters of the choices we will make, thereby creating the future memories we will have of the coming year.
At the beginning of the book of Job we have the following dialogue:
“1:6-8 Now it was The Day, that the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD… And the LORD said unto Satan: ‘Whence comest thou?… And the LORD said unto Satan: ‘Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a whole-hearted and an upright man, one that feareth God, and shunneth evil?”
The translation of the Hebrew is indeed “The Day” with the definitive article -according to our Sages this means – a day of consideration of the past year -Rosh Hashanah. So, the term remembrance in our verse means just that -the day at which the memories we have created by our choices come before G-d for analysis and creation of our destiny in the coming year.
With thanks to Rabbi Tal Sessler, Yehudit Wolffe, Dr. Erica Rothblum, Kylie Ora Lobell, and Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe.
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