A Simple Sound To Bring Down Walls

      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 1^st 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!

The Hidden Meaning of the Year

One of the special features of the Hebrew language is that when it was first developed in ancient times, the language itself did not have any vowels or punctuation. While any other people might see this as a weakness, our tradition saw this as giving every word layers of possible meaning.  So for example the three letters – shin, lamed, mem can mean:  hello, goodbye, peace and completeness - each deriving its layer of meaning from the context within a sentence.  Also each letter in Hebrew is also a number, leading to even more paths of interpretation. In the end our Sages loved to take the roots of words and find deeper and deeper meanings to speak to our lives. They strove to uncover these hidden meanings, and believed they were gifts of the Divine.

One word we hear a lot of during the High Holiday season is the word: Shana as in L’Shana Tova (literally: For a Good Year). In its simplest form, the root shin, nun, hey translates to mean year. But interesting enough the same three letters can also mean to change, and to learn.  Herein illustrates the beauty of the Hebrew language.  In essence, whether we like it or not, our lives are filled with changes, as we grow from year to year.  We are continually in new places within our lives, presented with new challenges and opportunities and most importantly the potential to learn. Our tradition encourages us to strive to learn to confront, appreciate, and hopefully make the best of these changes. We hope that as we grow older and wiser we learn to make better decisions, learn to live more meaningful lives, and work harder toward changing those parts of ourselves which don’t live up to the best of who we know deep down inside we are. The word shana (year) therefore becomes not just a passive noun but, instead a verb, always in motion beckoning us to continue to learn, change and grow.

On Rosh Hashanah we take stock of what we did last year. We try to remember and reflect on the significant deeds, moments, and times we had with an eye towards what we can learn from them, and how we can change our lives for the better in the upcoming year. Sometimes confronting the year is a daunting task. It may have been a year of insecurity, loss, or disappointment. In looking at a year like this, the Hebrew language helps us by reminding us that we have untapped potential for learning and change. During the High Holiday service, we pray for a year of health, happiness and peace. We fill ourselves with hope, the comfort of our family and friends, and the belief in new beginnings. We can also reflect upon the blessings we have enjoyed, the thankfulness of another year of life, and the dreams we still hope to bring to fruition.  

Finally, just as the beauty of the word shana goes beyond the simple meaning of year but challenges us to peel away the many layers of meaning; the flow of the High Holidays themselves from beginning to end calls us to a journey of deepening meaning. At its best, we start out in one spiritual place and in the end hopefully find ourselves in a new and better spiritual place. This takes effort for sure but the reward can be life affirming and transformative. I hope that this new shana of 5773 is one filled with the best learning, change, health and happiness for you and your family. And as we traditionally say,  “L’shana Tova Tikateivu v’Tikhateimu! May you be written and sealed for a good new year! “