The Energy Blaster

A story is told about a very special shofar blowing by the great, Rabbi Eleazar of Worms (1176-1238), also known as The Rokeach, The Perfumer.

One year Rabbi Eleazar was on a boat with two of his students on Rosh Hashanah. You may wonder: What was this great rabbi and his students doing on a boat on Rosh Hashanah? Legend has it that they were traveling by sea in order to do a great mitzvah—going to the land of Israel.

On the night of Rosh Hashanah a strong storm descended on the ship. The ship began to sway and before too long leaks emerged on the ship. The ship began filling with water and her sailors were working furiously to prevent the ship from sinking. The sailors began to lose hope. They feared that it was inevitable that they would all sink and drown. They opened up their hearts and began to shriek and cry.

Meanwhile, The Rokeach, sat in his room and was studying Torah completely still and blissfully unaware of the dangerous situation they were all facing.

His students knew of his greatness and of his incredible ability to daven to Hashem. They said to themselves, “If our teacher will only open his mouth in prayer then for sure our ship will be saved.” They approached his room several times during the storm and opened the door. But each time they came close to him they saw he was so totally immersed in the study of Torah that they could not disturb him. Finally, they could wait no longer—the water had begun to rise above their waist. They rushed to their rebbe and touched him. He looked at them and said, “My sons, how can I help you?” They lifted up their voice and cried, “Oh rebbe, why are you silent? We are in great distress. The ship is about to sink!” The rebbe said, “If that is the case, quickly go and bring the shofar. In just a few moments the sun will rise and when that happens we must blow the shofar immediately in order to fulfill the mitzvah of blowing the shofar.

They quickly ran to get the shofar. As soon as the sun rose, they blew the shofar blasts. When the sound of the final tekiah left the shofar, the storm immediately stopped. The water calmed down. The sailors quickly fixed the ship and everyone was rescued.

For many years people repeated this story but they misinterpreted its meaning. Till along came Rav Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1765-1827). Explained Rav Simcha Bunim, “The Rokeach did not blow the shofar in order to try and make a miraculous end to the storm. That wasn’t the reason he blew the shofar. You know why he blew the shofar? Once he heard that the ship was about to sink and that they were all going to die, he said, ‘let me fulfill one more mitzvah before I die.’ That’s why he told his students to quickly bring the shofar. It is because he had so much holiness and devotion in his performance of this mitzvah that he and the entire ship were saved (Agnon, Days of Awe, 126-127).

This story about The Rokeach teaches us about the mystical power of doing a mitzvah. When we perform a mitzvah with all of our spiritual energy we have the ability to affect in a positive manner the cosmic nature of our world. We have the ability to transform a stormy hurricane into a calm sea.

This is a mystical idea about the performance of a mitzvah, which I deeply believe, even while I admit that I do not rationally comprehend it.

However, there is something even greater than the mystical power hidden in the performance of a mitzvah. Even greater than the secret power of a mitzvah is the revealed and self-evident spiritual power behind the performance of a mitzvah.

During these past 6+ months it is precisely the revealed spiritual power of the mitzvoth that have given me the energy and strength needed to rise everyday. Every time I felt down, the joy of connecting to the mitzvoth pulled me up and straightened me out. The power pull of the mitzvoth is what led me through every minute and every hour of quarantine. Each time I felt like I was drowning, the mitzvoth embraced me and saved me.

Hashem Yisboruch gives us the yamim noraim as the ultimate gift. It is a gift to take stock of our lives and of our spiritual selves on Rosh Hashanah. As I take stock of my life, and I think back with sadness on the very difficult six months that we have all seen, I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone in our congregation for lifting me and carrying me these past few months through this difficult period. When Covid first closed our doors I never could have imagined that we would come to have three times as many people davening at our minyanim every day. I never could have imagined that we would have four times as many people attending our classes. I never could have imagined gathering with 50 people on zoom for a Torah discussion at 9 pm at night and then the next morning seeing ten faces for daf yomi at 7 am. I never could have imagined the spiritual growth that I have seen in quarantine in so many members of our community. This was exhilarating to see. All of this has been incredibly inspiring to me and I am so grateful to you for the inspiration.

If all of our mitzvoth are powerful and support us, then the shofar is perhaps the most powerful of all the mitzvoth.

The obligation to blast or to hear the shofar is the rare mitzvah, which we do while praying the Amidah. In many congregations the custom is to blow the shofar even while we are in the middle of the silent Amidah. Thus, the Shofar is a mitzvah that is both a mitzvah and a prayer. A mitzvah and a prayer are each enormously powerful on their own, but when they are combined—WOW! Both a mitzvah and a prayer! It is like spirituality on steroids.

Thus, the mitzvah of shofar is more than a mitzvah. It is also a prayer. This is why it is included in the Amidah. When we run out of words--when we don’t know what to say--we fall back on the shofar.

Imagine for some reason that we were called into a human court to face a judge. We would first hire a lawyer to protect us. The lawyer would advise us not to speak, as our own words could surely be used to incriminate us. The shofar is our lawyer. The shofar tells us to be quiet so that the shofar can address our pleas to Hashem. The sounds of the shofar are the purest prayer—prayer not polluted by our inadequate words—ascending to heaven.

This year we have been holding outdoor services in our beautiful tent sponsored by the family of our beloved Marda Brown, z”l. We thank our amazing neighbors for their sensitive understanding of our spiritual needs. One morning during the month of Elul, as we always do, we blew shofar at the conclusion of services. A few minutes after the service a woman came up to me sobbing. She had happened to be in the area and she had by chance heard the sound of our shofar blasts. She openly wept and said to me, “Thank you for blowing the shofar. I didn’t think I would have had the opportunity to hear a shofar sounded this year. The sound lifted me and moved me in a way I never could have imagined.”

So one aspect of the shofar is that it is this powerful spiritual tool, which we access on Rosh Hashanah. It is a tool to strengthen us and inspire us to help gain the energy and strength we need to serve Hashem.

Heaven knows we need the strength to fight the spiritual battles of our lives. Now more than ever we need spiritual support to lift us in the very tough world around us. Every year we think that times are tough in our world—but this is as tough a time as I can ever remember. Every day we are being lifted into a spiritual battle for positive energy. The shofar is our rallying cry to encourage and inspire us to serve Hashem.

In the words of the Sefer Hachinuch in its description of why we blow the shofar:

We are in a constant battle against the negative energy that exists in the world. If we allow ourselves to be consumed by negative energy then our whole lives will be spent in negativity. We must rise above negative energy and focus every second of our life on doing positive things. This is one of the main reasons for the Shofar. The shofar is our battle cry—our workout music—to help us channel our positive energy and get us ready for whatever our year brings us.

The Sefer Hachinuch offers a second related reason for the mitzvah of shofar. The shofar is not only the music we need to get us out of our spiritual slumber and focus our positive energy, it is also the sound we need to give us the strength to defeat the daily battles we have with our yetzer harah.

In the words of Sefer Hachinuch, the purpose of the shofar is “to break the inclinations of man, she yishaver yetzer libbo” (Sefer Hachinuch, 405).​​​​​​​

This past year our world lost a giant, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. As part of our communal Elul study our congregation gathered once a week to read from his writings and to draw inspiration from his teachings. One of his teachings that we studied was his essay on heroism

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In describing a true hero, Rabbi Steinsaltz reminded us of the Mishnah from Pirkei Avot 4:1

Rabbi Steinsaltz wrote: “Heroism is the ability to endure constant distress and pressure, and still live and build, and continue fighting.”

He wrote these words immediately after 9/11. The world was frazzled. Everyone was in shock. Rabbi Steinsaltz encouraged everyone to take to heart the Jewish idea that true heroism is often not discernible. True heroism, “is the man who wakes up in the morning and opens his grocery store even though there was a terrorist attack the day before. It is the person who does not flee into forgetfulness, or to a safer place, but rather continues doing all the things must be done” (Dear Son to Me, 174).

I imagine Rabbi Steinsaltz would say the same idea about our times. In our difficult period, true heroism is not giving up on life. True heroism calls on each of us to remain positive and to focus on the future, even as we live in one of the most difficult periods in our country’s history.

On Rosh Hashanah we read the story of the Akediah, the near binding of Yitzchak. In rabbinic tradition this story is considered to be the tenth test of Avraham, and not necessarily a test of Yitzchak (see Rambam, Commentary to Avot, 5:3). Indeed, the Midrash says that after the Akeidah, Yitzchak had to go and study in a yeshiva thereby implying that he still had lots to learn about the world (see Bereishit Rabbah, 56:11).

Why do our rabbi’s consider this to be Avraham’s test more than a test of Yitzchak? Rabbi Shalom Rosner (Akeidas Yitzchak, OU.org) suggests that Yitzchak was prepared to die for Hashem, but the much greater test was what Avraham was prepared to do. Avraham was prepared to live every single day for Hashem even after suffering the unimaginable loss of his son.

To live every day for Hashem even in difficult times is a tremendous challenge. It is the challenge for us to act like heroes by not giving up on life. This is what the Shofar is calling us to do this year. It is calling us to overcome our temptation to shrug our shoulders and stop caring. It is calling us to fight for the beauty of life; to fight for the positive energy we are required to bring to the world. The shofar is calling us to use every single breath of our life to bring more sweetness and blessings to our families, our communities, and our world.

Now more than ever this is what we all need! Now more than ever this is what our world needs!

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