Rosh HaShanah 2012/5773
Rosh Hashana
Rabbi Jeffrey Fox
Rosh Yeshiva
One of the central features of all Jewish holidays is family. Meaningful time spent together has the ability to reconnect us to each other, and our roots. These experiences remind us where we came from and perhaps allow us to envision where we might go. In shul, we read of the challenges of Avraham, Sara, Hagar, Yitzchak and Yishmael. There is something comforting in the awareness that even those who were capable of reaching unprecedented spiritual heights are still subject to conflict at home. Yet, it makes me wonder what the Torah is meant to convey about family on Rosh ha-Shana.
Perhaps the Torah reading, and its reference to the shofar, is a prayer for shalom bayit (peace in the home). The gemara in Rosh ha-Shana (16a-b) asks why we sound the shofar both when sitting and standing. In response to this question, we learn that one of the functions of the shofar is כדי לערבב השטן in order to confuse Satan.
Despite the fact that I do not connect deeply to the concept of the Satan, the Satan plays a fascinating role in the akeida story. In Pirkei d’Rebbi Eliezer (32), it is explained that the evil angel is disappointed that Avraham passed the test of the akeida, and so he supplies Sara with misinformation. “Did you hear what happened?” Satan asks Sara. And the Midrash continues:
לקח אישך הזקן לנער יצחק והקריבו לעולה... מיד התחילה בוכה ומייללת, בכתה שלש בכיות כנגד שלש תקיעות, שלש יללות כנגד שלש יבבות, ופרחה נשמתה ומתה.
Your elderly husband took Isaac and slaughtered him on an altar. Immediately Sara began to cry and moan. [She cried] three times like the three tekiot, and her soul departed and she died.
Avraham and Sarah never communicate after the traumatic events of the binding of Isaac. The family has been torn asunder, only to come back together at Sara’s funeral. Maybe this is the Satan that we aim to thwart on Rosh ha-Shana. If only we could stop this evil messenger from tricking Sara into thinking that Avraham had actually slaughtered their son, maybe, just maybe, there could have been a rekindling of the love that they once shared.
And so, in a very deep way, the shofar can be seen as a call for families not to forsake one another. Don’t let the Satan get in the way of the most important relationships in your lives - make the phone call, visit your family, carve out the time. When we blast the shofar on Rosh ha-Shana may we call commit to rekindling those valuable relationships that enhance meaning in our lives.
