Thank you to Rabbi Lenette Goldman, Rabbi Dennis Eisner, and Shifra Elman for much of this source sheet.
Bimidbar/Numbers 29:1
In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded.
In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded.
The above verse is the basis for the mitzvah of shofar on Rosh HaShana. The next couple sources will detail part of how the shofar has to be blown and the basis in TaNaKh for this particular instruction.
Talmud Rosh Hashana 33b
MISHNA: The order of the blasts is three sets of three blasts each, which are: Tekia, terua, and tekia. The length of a tekia is equal to the length of three teruot, and the length of a terua is equal to the length of three whimpers (Yevavas).
MISHNA: The order of the blasts is three sets of three blasts each, which are: Tekia, terua, and tekia. The length of a tekia is equal to the length of three teruot, and the length of a terua is equal to the length of three whimpers (Yevavas).
MISHNA: The order of the blasts is three sets of three blasts each, which are: Tekia, terua, and tekia. The length of a tekia is equal to the length of three teruot, and the length of a terua is equal to the length of three whimpers (Yevavas).
Sisera was a soldier in the Canaanite army, and a major enemy of the Israelite people. We see him in Judges 4-5, when he and his forces are defeated by the Israelite general Barak, and prophetess Deborah. Sisera flees and comes across the tent of Yael, a Kenite. She welcomes him into her tent, and Sisera thinks he is safe. But Yael tricks him, and kills him.
The Rabbis say Sisera's mother cried a hundred times, which is why we hear the shofar 100 times on Rosh Hashanah. Why do you think she plays such a large role in this ritual, especially not being an Israelite, indeed a mother of the enemy? In order to help think about this question, the next source is where Devorah the prophetess, in the Book of Judges, describes and comments on the moment when Sisera's mother cries for him while awaiting his arrival. Read it closely and see if it helps you generate some ideas of why Sisera's mother is the model for how to blow shofar.
The Rabbis say Sisera's mother cried a hundred times, which is why we hear the shofar 100 times on Rosh Hashanah. Why do you think she plays such a large role in this ritual, especially not being an Israelite, indeed a mother of the enemy? In order to help think about this question, the next source is where Devorah the prophetess, in the Book of Judges, describes and comments on the moment when Sisera's mother cries for him while awaiting his arrival. Read it closely and see if it helps you generate some ideas of why Sisera's mother is the model for how to blow shofar.
Judges 5:28-31
28) Through the window peered Sisera’s mother, Behind the lattice she whimpered “Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why so late the clatter of his wheels?” (29) The wisest of her ladies give answer; She, too, replies to herself: (30) “They must be dividing the spoil they have found: A woman or two for each man, Spoil of dyed cloths for Sisera, Spoil of embroidered cloths, A couple of embroidered cloths Round every neck as spoil.” (31) So may all Your enemies perish, O GOD!
But may His friends be as the sun rising in might! And the land was tranquil for forty years.
28) Through the window peered Sisera’s mother, Behind the lattice she whimpered “Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why so late the clatter of his wheels?” (29) The wisest of her ladies give answer; She, too, replies to herself: (30) “They must be dividing the spoil they have found: A woman or two for each man, Spoil of dyed cloths for Sisera, Spoil of embroidered cloths, A couple of embroidered cloths Round every neck as spoil.” (31) So may all Your enemies perish, O GOD!
But may His friends be as the sun rising in might! And the land was tranquil for forty years.
The next few sources will suggest 3 different ideas of what the purpose of blowing the shofar is. See if thinking about any or all of these purposes and putting them in conversation with the verses from Judges helps you generate more explanations for why we model shofar blowing on Sisera's mothers cries.
The shofar as a wake-up call to human repentance:
RAMBAM MISHNEH TORAH HILKHOT TESHUVA 3:4
Even though the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a decree, it also contains a hint of meaning. It is as if the shofar’s call is telling us, “You who sleep, bestir yourselves from your sleep, and you who slumber, emerge from your slumber. Examine your actions, return, and remember your Creator. Those who forget the truth in the vanities of time and waste all their years with vanity and emptiness, which is not effective and does not save, look inside yourselves. Improve your ways and your actions, let each one of you abandon their evil path and their thoughts that are not good!”
Even though the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a decree, it also contains a hint of meaning. It is as if the shofar’s call is telling us, “You who sleep, bestir yourselves from your sleep, and you who slumber, emerge from your slumber. Examine your actions, return, and remember your Creator. Those who forget the truth in the vanities of time and waste all their years with vanity and emptiness, which is not effective and does not save, look inside yourselves. Improve your ways and your actions, let each one of you abandon their evil path and their thoughts that are not good!”
The shofar as a wake-up call to divine compassion and forgiveness:
TALMUD BAVLI ROSH HASHANAH 16A
Rabbi Abbahu said: Why do we blow a shofar made from a ram? The Holy Blessed One said: Blow before Me with a shofar made from a ram, so that I will remember for you the binding of Isaac, son of Abraham (in whose stead a ram was sacrificed), and I will count it for you as if you had bound yourselves before Me.
Rabbi Abbahu said: Why do we blow a shofar made from a ram? The Holy Blessed One said: Blow before Me with a shofar made from a ram, so that I will remember for you the binding of Isaac, son of Abraham (in whose stead a ram was sacrificed), and I will count it for you as if you had bound yourselves before Me.
Bereshit Rabbah 56:9
Abraham lifted his eyes and saw that behold, there was a ram, after this, which had been caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham went, took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son” (Genesis 22:13).
what is meant by “after this”? Rabbi Yudan said:
all of Israel’s actions in which they become caught up in transgressions and encounter problems, ultimately they will be rescued through the ram’s horn, as it is stated: “The Lord God will sound the shofar...generations, Israel will become caught up in transgressions and become entangled with misfortunes, ultimately they will be rescued through the ram’s horn, as it is stated: “The Lord God will sound the shofar...Rabbi Ḥanina bar Rabbi Yitzḥak said: All the days of the year, the people of Israel are caught up in transgressions and become entangled in misfortunes, and on Rosh Hashanah they take a shofar and sound...it, and they are remembered before the Holy One blessed be He and He forgives them, as it is stated: “The Lord God will sound the shofar” ....That is what is written: “The Lord God will sound the shofar” (Zechariah 9:14)
Abraham lifted his eyes and saw that behold, there was a ram, after this, which had been caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham went, took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son” (Genesis 22:13).
what is meant by “after this”? Rabbi Yudan said:
all of Israel’s actions in which they become caught up in transgressions and encounter problems, ultimately they will be rescued through the ram’s horn, as it is stated: “The Lord God will sound the shofar...generations, Israel will become caught up in transgressions and become entangled with misfortunes, ultimately they will be rescued through the ram’s horn, as it is stated: “The Lord God will sound the shofar...Rabbi Ḥanina bar Rabbi Yitzḥak said: All the days of the year, the people of Israel are caught up in transgressions and become entangled in misfortunes, and on Rosh Hashanah they take a shofar and sound...it, and they are remembered before the Holy One blessed be He and He forgives them, as it is stated: “The Lord God will sound the shofar” ....That is what is written: “The Lord God will sound the shofar” (Zechariah 9:14)
Zohar 111 99b
When this shofar awakens and when people turn away from their wrongdoings, we must sound the voice of the shofar below (on earth). That voice of the shofar rises above in order that the other shofar above awakens. And thus, Compassion awakens and Judgment is removed.
When this shofar awakens and when people turn away from their wrongdoings, we must sound the voice of the shofar below (on earth). That voice of the shofar rises above in order that the other shofar above awakens. And thus, Compassion awakens and Judgment is removed.
The shofar as the deepest expression of the human heart, beyond the ability of words:
David Olivestone, quoted by PBS
“The word (shevarim) comes from the Hebrew word for something being broken. It’s a three-part sound. It sounds like somebody crying. Then the cry proceeds to a more intense stage. The next stage of somebody crying might be when they’re actually sobbing, and that’s the sound of Truah. It’s at least nine staccato sounds, rapid fire,” Olivestone said… “When you think about it, it’s just an animal sound,” Olivestone said. “It’s just as basic as you can possibly get. One of the traditions in connection with the shofar is that there are prayers which can never be verbalized. There are prayers that are deeper than language. The shofar can somehow express the prayers that words are inadequate to express.”
“The word (shevarim) comes from the Hebrew word for something being broken. It’s a three-part sound. It sounds like somebody crying. Then the cry proceeds to a more intense stage. The next stage of somebody crying might be when they’re actually sobbing, and that’s the sound of Truah. It’s at least nine staccato sounds, rapid fire,” Olivestone said… “When you think about it, it’s just an animal sound,” Olivestone said. “It’s just as basic as you can possibly get. One of the traditions in connection with the shofar is that there are prayers which can never be verbalized. There are prayers that are deeper than language. The shofar can somehow express the prayers that words are inadequate to express.”
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, in Jerusalem Post
And the reason given for sounding the shofar is historical: “As a testimony for Jehoseph, He ordained it, when He went forth over the land of Egypt, [when] I understood a language that I had not known” (Psalms 81:4-6).As is often the case, complex verses in the Bible induce commentators to propose various interpretations.We will examine interpretations given by two of the important commentators of the Middle Ages: Rabbi David Kimhi (commentator and linguist, Provence, 12th century) and Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra (commentator, poet and philosopher, Spain, 12th century).They explained the name Jehoseph as a term for the Jewish nation, with the reason being that God decreed that sounding the shofar was testimony for Israel of the historic event that occurred when they were in Egypt, when God heard an unknown language.
Such an obscure reason demands clarification. In the biblical story of the Jewish nation being enslaved in Egypt, we find God’s response to the nation’s difficult circumstances: “Now it came to pass in those many days... and the Children of Israel sighed from the labor, and they cried out, and their cry ascended to God from the labor...God heard their cry” (Exodus 2:23-24).Note that we are not reading the description of the Israelites’ prayer in Egypt. We are reading the description of pain – sighs and cries – which God heard and responded to, ultimately redeeming His nation and liberating them.
This is what the poet is referring to in Psalms: “I understood a language that I had not known.” A new language was revealed in the Exodus from Egypt, a wordless language, one that was unknown and had no rules of syntax; the language that God hears: the language of the heart. God took the sighs and cries of the despairing and turned them into a new language – the language of prayer.This is the language of the shofar. We sound a wordless shofar that expresses a cry emitted by our hearts, crossing all barriers, opening all gates, and wordlessly expressing the dependence of man on God, Creator of all.The prayers of Rosh Hashanah barely contain any personal requests. But we blow the shofar and make a sound that is nothing but the cry of all our needs and desires.
And the reason given for sounding the shofar is historical: “As a testimony for Jehoseph, He ordained it, when He went forth over the land of Egypt, [when] I understood a language that I had not known” (Psalms 81:4-6).As is often the case, complex verses in the Bible induce commentators to propose various interpretations.We will examine interpretations given by two of the important commentators of the Middle Ages: Rabbi David Kimhi (commentator and linguist, Provence, 12th century) and Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra (commentator, poet and philosopher, Spain, 12th century).They explained the name Jehoseph as a term for the Jewish nation, with the reason being that God decreed that sounding the shofar was testimony for Israel of the historic event that occurred when they were in Egypt, when God heard an unknown language.
Such an obscure reason demands clarification. In the biblical story of the Jewish nation being enslaved in Egypt, we find God’s response to the nation’s difficult circumstances: “Now it came to pass in those many days... and the Children of Israel sighed from the labor, and they cried out, and their cry ascended to God from the labor...God heard their cry” (Exodus 2:23-24).Note that we are not reading the description of the Israelites’ prayer in Egypt. We are reading the description of pain – sighs and cries – which God heard and responded to, ultimately redeeming His nation and liberating them.
This is what the poet is referring to in Psalms: “I understood a language that I had not known.” A new language was revealed in the Exodus from Egypt, a wordless language, one that was unknown and had no rules of syntax; the language that God hears: the language of the heart. God took the sighs and cries of the despairing and turned them into a new language – the language of prayer.This is the language of the shofar. We sound a wordless shofar that expresses a cry emitted by our hearts, crossing all barriers, opening all gates, and wordlessly expressing the dependence of man on God, Creator of all.The prayers of Rosh Hashanah barely contain any personal requests. But we blow the shofar and make a sound that is nothing but the cry of all our needs and desires.
Which of the preceding 3 theories of the purpose of shofar resonate with you most? How do (or do not) each of them connect to the idea of modeling our shofar blasts on the cries of Sisera's mother?