From the walls they could see the men circling around, not with swords drawn or spears raised but instead with ram’s horns, shofarot, whose piercing sound shattered the hot mid-day stillness. Seven times they circled, the walls shook with greater ferocity, and the haughty defiance of the defenders faltered with each resounding blast. Finally with one final unified blast the shofar’s sound like thunder from heaven fulfilled its God given mission to break down the walls, and indeed they submitted and came tumbling down. – my creative adaptation of Joshua 1:2
Ah, the hustle and bustle of living in our fast paced world. In a New York minute (or Bethlehem minute as the case may be) the connectivity of cell phones, text messages, I.M., twitter, and email only add more to the already full plates for so many of us. We are over programmed and indeed many would suggest our children are over programmed as well. We can get so bogged down in the speed of life that we can forget to live. And yet just as we are about to be consumed by the blur of our schedules, there is a great miracle that we are blessed with each year which I believe helps us remember what life is all about. The clarion call for deeper meaning which our soul’s seek. This is the miracle of the shofar blast which jolts us out of our daily routines and prepares us for the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe.
Beginning with the 1st of Elul, Jews throughout the world listen to the blasts of the shofar each day, signaling the coming of Rosh Hashanah and a new year. This ancient alarm clock with its three varied notes somehow is capable of making us stop and listen. All of a sudden we want to be quiet enough to hear it. It captivates us without the use of words, either written or spoken, spontaneous or established. The mitzvah is only to hear it. It is precisely the antidote to over intellectualization, over complication, and over programming. The shofar’s beauty lies in the way it can touch our most genuine feelings in the simplest, most human of ways. The Rabbi’s looked at the shofar as the ultimate prayer without words, which had the capacity of stirring God’s deepest emotions from judgment to compassion, from anger to love.
The prospect of change, teshuvah, doesn’t require a doctorate in Jewish spiritual renewal or a fluency in Hebrew liturgy. What it does require however, is the ability to look deep inside ourselves in an honest and genuine way. The shofar holds up that big red stop sign, which allows us to free ourselves from all of the distractions which inundate us, and allows us to connect to our visceral spiritual selves. We stand quietly, listening, as the shofar blasts carry us to a different place within ourselves. God commanded Joshua to use the shofar’s power to topple the strong walls of Jericho, how much more so can it have the power to penetrate the walls of our own hearts, knocking down apathy, hubris, and misplaced values.
Rabbi Meir taught that we should blow the shofar one hundred times, corresponding to the one hundred blessings which are recited each day. As we stop to listen to the shofar blast, may its ancient call hold blessing for us and the entire Jewish people for a new year filled with life, joy and sweetness.
L’shana Tovah Tikateivu v’Tichateimu! – May you be inscribed and sealed for a good new year!
