(23) The LORD 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.
“Shofar is an ancient yet ever-renewing way to surf our own intra-nets; hearing its blasts can rewire our internal programs to return to a healthier and more natural alignment with the Divine. Our opportunity is not only to blow shofar, but also to know shofar.”
"[The shofar's] blast is symbolic, saying: 'Awake, O you sleepers, awake from your sleep! O you slumberers, awake from your slumber. Search your deeds and turn in teshuvah. Remember your Creator, O you who forget the truth in the vanities of time and go astray all the year after vanity and folly that neither profit nor save. Look to your souls, and better your ways and actions. Let every one of you abandon his evil way and his wicked thought, which is not good!"
(ז) הַתּוֹקֵעַ לְתוֹךְ הַבּוֹר אוֹ לְתוֹךְ הַדּוּת אוֹ לְתוֹךְ הַפִּטָּס, אִם קוֹל שׁוֹפָר שָׁמַע, יָצָא. וְאִם קוֹל הֲבָרָה שָׁמַע, לֹא יָצָא. וְכֵן מִי שֶׁהָיָה עוֹבֵר אֲחוֹרֵי בֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת, אוֹ שֶׁהָיָה בֵיתוֹ סָמוּךְ לְבֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת, וְשָׁמַע קוֹל שׁוֹפָר אוֹ קוֹל מְגִלָּה, אִם כִּוֵּן לִבּוֹ, יָצָא, וְאִם לָאו, לֹא יָצָא. אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁזֶּה שָׁמַע וְזֶה שָׁמַע, זֶה כִּוֵּן לִבּוֹ וְזֶה לֹא כִוֵּן לִבּוֹ:
(7) One who blows into a cistern, or into a cellar or into a barrel; if he heard the sound of the shofar, he has fulfilled [his obligation]; if he heard the sound of an echo, he has not fulfilled [his obligation]. And so [too], he who was passing behind a synagogue, or whose house was adjacent to a synagogue, and heard the sound of a shofar or the sound of [someone reading the] scroll [of Esther, on Purim]; if he directs his heart, he has fulfilled [his obligation], but if not, he has not fulfilled [his obligation]. Even though this one heard and that one heard, this one directed his heart, and that one did not direct his heart.