Achat sha'alti me'eit Hashem, otah avakesh:
shivti b'veit Hashem, kol y'mei chayai,
lachazot b'noam Hashem, u'l'vaker b'heikhalo.
One thing I ask of the LORD, only that do I seek:
to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Divine, to contemplate in God's sanctuary.
Tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50keQUIWj-4
Why do we hear the sound of the shofar?
אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁתְּקִיעַת שׁוֹפָר בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה גְּזֵרַת הַכָּתוּב רֶמֶז יֵשׁ בּוֹ כְּלוֹמַר עוּרוּ יְשֵׁנִים מִשְּׁנַתְכֶם וְנִרְדָּמִים הָקִיצוּ מִתַּרְדֵּמַתְכֶם וְחַפְּשׂוּ בְּמַעֲשֵׂיכֶם וְחִזְרוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה וְזִכְרוּ בּוֹרַאֲכֶם.
Even though the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a biblical decree, it has an intimation, as if to say: "Arise from your slumber, you who are asleep; wake up from your deep sleep, you who are fast asleep; search your deeds and repent; remember your Creator."
The sin of Adam (i.e. the first man) was that he became estranged from himself, that he yielded to the snake's opinion, and lost himself. [Adam] failed to answer a clear response to [God's] question of איכה, "Where are you?" [because] he had lost a real sense of self.
Prompts: Hearing the Sound of the Shofar
What slumber are you waking from?
Can you feel a connection to our ancestors when you hear the shofar?
How can contemplation lead us to atonement--or at-one-ment?