(כג) וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר ה' אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ (כד) דַּבֵּ֛ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ יִהְיֶ֤ה לָכֶם֙ שַׁבָּת֔וֹן זִכְר֥וֹן תְּרוּעָ֖ה מִקְרָא־קֹֽדֶשׁ׃ (כה) כָּל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֥ם אִשֶּׁ֖ה לַה'׃ (ס)
(23) God spoke to Moses, saying: (24) Speak to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts. (25) You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall bring an offering by fire to God.
Rabbi Abbahu said: Why does one sound a blast with a shofar made from a ram’s horn on Rosh Hashana? The Holy One said: Sound a blast before Me with a shofar made from a ram’s horn, so that I will remember for you the binding of Isaac, son of Abraham, in whose stead a ram was sacrificed, and I will ascribe it to you as if you had bound yourselves before Me.
שיעור תרועה כג' יבבות: והתניא שיעור תרועה כשלשה שברים? אמר אביי בהא ודאי פליגי דכתיב (במדבר כט, א) יום תרועה יהיה לכם. ומתרגמינן: יום יבבא יהא לכון. וכתיב באימיה דסיסרא (שופטים ה, כח) בעד החלון נשקפה ותיבב אם סיסרא. מר סבר גנוחי גנח, ומר סבר ילולי יליל.
The mishna [compilation of Jewish law] states: The length of a teruah [one kind of shofar sound] is equal to the length of three whimpers.
The Gemara [Talmud, a subsequent compilation of law and homilies] asks: Isn’t it taught that the length of a teruah is equal to the length of three shevarim [another shofar sound], i.e., broken blasts, which presumably are longer than whimpers?
Abaye said: In this matter, the tanna’im [earliest generation of rabbis] certainly disagree. As it is written: “It is a day of sounding [teruah] the shofar to you” (Numbers 29:1), and we translate this verse in Aramaic as: It is a day of yevava [crying or whimpering] to you.
And to define a yevava, the Gemara quotes a verse that is written about the mother of Sisera [mother to a Canaanite general, enemy of the Israelites who was defeated in the Book of Judges]: “Through the window she looked forth and wailed [vateyabev]” (Judges 5:28). *Sisera's mom was waiting for her son to return home from war and cried at his delay.
One Sage holds that this means moanings, broken sighs, as in the blasts called shevarim. And the other Sage holds that it means whimpers, as in the short blasts called teruot.
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Shofar, Sukkah and Lulav 3:2
This teruah that the Torah discusses, due to the many years of exile, we are unsure what it is. It may be the wail that women wail amongst themselves whilst crying. It may be the sigh that one does, one after the other, whilst they are worried about a great stress. It may also be both together, the sigh followed by the cry, as it usually comes afterwards. This may be called teruah, as this is the way of a worrier, to first sigh, and then cry. We therefore do all options.
Questions for Discussion:
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What are the sounds of the shofar reminiscent of according to these texts? What do you make of these interpretations? How do they differ? What do they tell us about the meaning(s) of the shofar and what it’s supposed to do for or within us?
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How might these interpretations impact the responsibility, connection and intention of the person blowing shofar?
(ג) רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בְּרַבִּי נַחְמָן פָּתַח (תהלים מז, ו): עָלָה אֱלֹקִים בִּתְרוּעָה ה' בְּקוֹל שׁוֹפָר, בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יוֹשֵׁב וְעוֹלֶה עַל כִּסֵּא דִּין, בַּדִּין הוּא עוֹלֶה, מַאי טַעַם, עָלָה אֱלֹקִים בִּתְרוּעָה, וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁיִּשְׂרָאֵל נוֹטְלִין אֶת שׁוֹפְרֵיהֶן וְתוֹקְעִין לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, עוֹמֵד מִכִּסֵּא הַדִּין וְיוֹשֵׁב בְּכִסֵּא רַחֲמִים, דִּכְתִיב: ה' בְּקוֹל שׁוֹפָר, וּמִתְמַלֵּא עֲלֵיהֶם רַחֲמִים וּמְרַחֵם עֲלֵיהֶם וְהוֹפֵךְ עֲלֵיהֶם מִדַּת הַדִּין לְרַחֲמִים, אֵימָתַי בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי.
(3) Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Nachman opened and said, "God ascends in acclamation (lit. in truah), The Lord in the call of the shofar" (Psalms 47:6). In the moment when the Holy Blessed One sits on the Throne of Judgement, God ascends with judgement. What happens? At the time when Israel takes their shofarot and sounds them before the Holy Blessed One, God stands up from the Throne of Judgement and sits on the Throne of Mercy, as it says, "Adonai in the call of the shofar," And they are filled with mercy and God has mercy on them, and switches their treatment from the attribute of judgement to the attribute of mercy.
Questions for Discussion:
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What does Leviticus Rabbah say about the impact of the shofar on God? What is the difference between judgement and mercy? What is this metaphor about? Do you believe that sounding the shofar can have such tangible effect on God? On us?
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How might this interpretation impact the role, responsibility and intention of the person blowing shofar?
אמר ליה ר' זירא לשמעיה: איכוון ותקע לי אלמא קסבר משמיע בעי כוונה
With regard to the intent required in order to fulfill the mitzvah of shofar, Rabbi Zeira said to his servant: Have intent to sound the shofar on my behalf and sound it for me. The Gemara [Talmud] infers: Apparently, Rabbi Zeira maintains that the one who sounds the shofar for others is required to have intent to discharge the hearer’s obligation.
(ח) המתעסק בתקיעת שופר להתלמד לא יצא ידי חובתו וכן השומע מן המתעסק לא יצא וכן התוקע לשורר ולא נתכוון לתקיעת מצוה לא יצא נתכוין שומע לצאת ידי חובתו ולא נתכוון התוקע להוציאו או שנתכוון התוקע להוציאו ולא נתכוון השומע לצאת לא יצא ידי חובתו עד שיתכוון שומע ומשמיע:
(8) Someone who is engaged in blowing a shofar in order to practice doesn't fulfill their obligation. Similarly, someone who hears shofar from someone such a person doesn't fulfill their obligation. Similarly, someone who is blowing the shofar to make music and doesn't intend for the mitzvah of blowing the shofar doesn't fulfill their obligation. If the listener intends to fulfill the mitzvah but the blower doesn't have intent for them or if blower has intent for them but the listener does not; they doesn't fulfill their obligation until the two of them have intent, the listener and the blower.
Questions for Discussion:
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What or who should the ba’al/at tekiah (shofar blower) have in mind when blowing shofar? Why?
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What do these sources say about the intentionality of the one blowing and hearing shofar? How are they connected?
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Do either of these resonate with your experience blowing or hearing shofar?
(ג) אשה פטורה משום דהוי מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא:
(3) A woman is exempt [from the mitzvah of shofar] as it is a positive time-bound mitzvah.
(ו) אף על פי שנשים פטורות יכולות לתקוע וכן אחר שיצא כבר יכול לתקוע להוציאן אבל אין מברכות ולא יברכו להן: הגה והמנהג שהנשים מברכות על מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא ע"כ גם כאן מברכות לעצמן אבל אחרים לא יברכו להן אם כבר יצאו ואינן תוקעין רק לנשים אבל אם תוקעין לאיש המחוייב מברכין לו אע"פ שכבר יצאו כמו שנתבאר סי' תקפ"ה סעיף ב' בהג"ה א' (ד"ע):
(6) Even though women and exempt, they are permitted to blow...However, [in these cases,] they should not make the blessing, nor should he make the blessing for them. Rema: And [our] custom is that women make blessings on positive time-bound mitzvot, so here too they would make the blessing for themselves.
Blowing through a Broken Heart
Or Yesharim by Moses Chaim Kleinman, 1924
Once the Baal Shem Tov [the founder of Hasidism] commanded Rabbi Zev Kitzes to learn the secret meanings behind the blasts of the ram's-horn, because Rabbi Zev was to be his caller on Rosh Ha-Shanah. So Rabbi Zev learned the secret meanings and wrote them down on a slip of paper to look at during the service, and laid the slip of paper in his bosom. When the time came for the blowing of the ram’s-horn, he began to search everywhere for the slip of paper, but it was gone; and he did not know on what meanings to concentrate. He was greatly saddened. Broken-hearted, he wept bitter tears, and called the blasts of the ram's-horn without concentrating on the secret meanings behind them.
Afterward, the Baal Shem Tov said to him: "Lo, in the habitation of the king are to be found many rooms and apartments, and there are different keys for every lock, but the master key of all is the axe, with which it is possible to open all the locks on all the gates. So it is with the ram's-horn: the secret meanings are the keys; every gate has another meaning, but the master key is the broken heart. When a man truthfully breaks his heart before God, he can enter into all the gates of the apartments of the King above all Kings, the Holy One."
SHOFAROT
Rabbi Rachel Barenblatt
The shofar reminds us
of the ram in the thicket.
Where are we, too, ensnared?
Can our song set us free?
The sound of the shofar
shatters our complacency.
It wails with our grief
and stutters with our inadequacy.
The shofar calls us to teshuvah.
The shofar cries out
I was whole, I was broken,
I will be whole again.
Make shofars of us, God!
Breathe through us: make of us
resonating chambers
for Your love.
Key:
Mishnah:the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions known as the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic literature. The Mishnah was redacted by Judah the Prince at the beginning of the third century CE.
Gemara/Talmud: is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law and theology. The Talmud has two components; the Mishnah and the Gemara an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible.
Tractate Rosh Hashanah: the name of a text of Jewish law originating in the Mishnah which formed the basis of tractate in the Talmud. The text contains the most important rules concerning the calendar year, together with a description of the inauguration of the months, laws on the form and use of the shofar and laws related to the religious services during Rosh Hashanah.
Mishneh Torah: is a code of Jewish religious law authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon). The Mishneh Torah was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE, while Maimonides was living in Egypt, and is regarded as Maimonides' magnum opus.
Vayikra Rabbah: Also known as Leviticus Rabbah. It's is a homiletic midrash or commentary to the Biblical book of Leviticus.
Shulchan Aruch: Literally: "Set Table" is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed by Joseph Karo in 1563 The halachic rulings in the Shulchan Aruch generally follow Sephardic law and customs, whereas Ashkenazi Jews will generally follow the halachic rulings of Moses Isserles (i.e. Rema), whose glosses to the Shulchan Aruch note where the Sephardic and Ashkenazi customs differ.
Positive time-bound commandment: A positive time-bound commandment is defined as one that could be physically fulfilled at any time, but that the Torah has mandated is to be done only at specific times: if not fulfilled at that specific time, there is no way to “make up” the mitzvah . This category includes all holiday related mitzvot (shofar, sukkah, and lulav, etc.), as well as mitzvot that need to be fulfilled during certain parts of the day or week.