Rosh Hashana and the beginning of the year brings: Celebration — we were blessed with life the past year, and for this we celebrate and give thanks; Hope — we hope and trust that Hashem will accept our tefillos, and the new year will be one of blessing and redemption for our nation and land; Awe — we feel trepidation and reverence as we stand before the King on Coronation Day, and we recognize that our lives depend upon Him; Repentance — we cherish the opportunity to repent and return in purity and wholeness to Hashem, Who awaits our teshuva and takes us back with love; Strengthening — we feel strengthened as we stand on the cusp of a new year, looking ahead with resolve and determination, accepting the challenge to make the coming year one of productivity and success in avodas Hashem; Silence — we bow our heads, standing silently, as the blast of the shofar pierces our minds, hearts and neshamos, its powerful call stirring feelings deep within us, as we yearn for closeness with our Father in heaven.

The theme of the Shofaros section of Mussaf is the powerful call of the shofar and its eternal message. The shofar is so important to the essence of Rosh Hashana that the pasuk tells us: 

And in the seventh month, on the first of the month, a calling of holiness it shall be for you, all work of labor you shall not do, י֥וֹם תְּרוּעָ֖ה יִֽהְיֶ֥ה לָכֶֽם - a day of the teruah blast it shall be for you (Bamidbar 29:1).

Interestingly, the bracha that is recited prior to the shofar blasts is “lish’mo’ah kol shofar”, to hear the sound of the shofar. Thus, it behooves us to ask: What does lish’mo’ah mean? It must mean more than to just “hear” — as in the biological process of hearing — if it is so important to our avodah of crowning Hashem as Melech on this day.

In regard to the mitzvah of shofar, Rambam states: 

אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁתְּקִיעַת שׁוֹפָר בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה גְּזֵרַת הַכָּתוּב, רֶמֶז יֵשׁ בּוֹ, כְּלוֹמַר: עוּרוּ יְשֵׁנִים מִשְּׁנַתְכֶם וְנִרְדָּמִים הָקִיצוּ מִתַּרְדֵּמַתְכֶם וְחַפְּשׂוּ בְּמַעֲשֵׂיכֶם וְחִזְרוּ בִתְשׁוּבָה וְזִכְרוּ בוֹרַאֲכֶם

“Even though the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashana is a decree of the Torah, nevertheless, there is an allusion in it. It is as if the shofar is saying: Wake up you sleepers from your sleep! Arise you slumberers from your slumber! Examine your ways and return in repentance and remember your Creator” (Hilchos Teshuva 3:4).

On this Rambam, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt’l teaches, “These words constitute not only a moral message, but they bear halachic implications as well. By introducing the above “allusion,” the Rambam suggests a new understanding of the shofar obligation. While mitzvos such as eating matzoh on Pesach do not contain any subjective component and demand no reaction to the significance of the physical act, the Rambam emphasizes here that aside from the auditory experience of hearing the shofar, there is also a kiyum she’ba’lev, an aspect of the mitzvah whose fulfillment requires a subjective emotional response… Even though there is an aspect of the mitzvah that is external and objective, “there is an allusion in it,” i.e., an inner, emotional fulfillment, without which one has not truly and completely addressed the obligation inherent in the mitzvah” (Soloveitchik, Rabbi Joseph B., Machzor M’soras Harav Rosh Hashanah, ed. Dr. Arnold Lustiger and Rabbi Michael Taubes (K’hal Publishing, 2008), p.447).

Hence, the inner fulfillment means that we must not only biologically hear, we are to emotionally “hear” the shofar as well.

It must pierce our essence and become part of who we are. 

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z’l writes, “In Judaism faith is a form of listening – to the song creation sings to its Creator, and to the message history delivers to those who strive to understand it. That is what Moses says time and again in Deuteronomy. Stop looking; listen. Stop speaking; listen. Create a silence in the soul. Still the clamour of instinct, desire, fear, anger. Strive to listen to the still, small voice beneath the noise. Then you will know that the universe is the work of the One beyond the furthest star yet closer to you than you are to yourself — and then you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might. In God’s unity you will find unity, within yourself and between yourself and the world, and you will no longer fear the unknown” (Sacks, Rabbi Jonathan, Covenant & Conversation, Deuteronomy (Maggid Books, 2019), p.69).

The blast of the shofar cries out to the deepest recesses of our soul, to hear the voice of Hashem in our lives, to recognize His handiwork in all of creation, to crown Him as King over ourselves every day of the year. The shofar reminds us to focus on what is important in life and to live mindfully, where we pay attention to Hashem, our Father and our King, daily. The shofar blast teaches us that to accept the unity of Hashem, we must first be prepared to listen to Him. 

When we appreciate His malchus by integrating Torah and mitzvos into our daily lives, it is then that we can build a relationship with Hashem, for it is then that we are truly listening.

For the voice of God is heard — not in a great, strong wind that splits mountains and shatters rock, and not in an earthquake that shakes the earth, and not in a blazing fire, rather — in the still small sound, בקול דממה דקה (The phrase is part of the U’nesaneh Tokef prayer - cf. Melachim I 19:11-12).

And when we learn to still the noise of the world around us, and we learn to hear the voice of Hashem, we can then truly build a stronger, deeper, lasting and powerful relationship with Him. And it is this relationship that will sustain us through all times, and become our beacon and guide as we enter yet another year of life, in order to serve Him.

זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בחיים וכתבנו בספר החיים למענך אלקים חיים

בברכת שנה טובה ומתוקה

This article was written for the OU Women’s Initiative and originally appeared in their Ideas & Inspiration publication, Tishrei 5786. https://ouwomen.org/