A Rest for the Shofar - Rosh Hashanah 5787

It’s Rosh Hashanah.  The Shul is packed.  The service went as expected.  The cantor for Shachris was wonderful.  The Torah reading was inspiring.  You even enjoyed the Rabbi’s sermon.  Now comes the moment you have been anticipating all season, the main Mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah and what defines it as unique among all holidays.  The blowing of the Shofar.

You have told your kids that they need to be quiet at the special holy time of the Shofar blowing.   You have read the Chassidus about the significance of the Shofar.  How it creates a new “Ratzon” - will of Hashem, to continue giving life to the worlds.  That this Mitzvah affects the rebuilding of - in Kabbalistic terms - the holy Sefira of Malchut of Atzilut, crowning Hashem as our King and recommitting to His Torah.  The simple sound of the Shofar represents the cry of the essence of our soul, piercing all obstacles, and reaching the essence of Hashem.  Hashem takes great pleasure in our devotion and connection. His “Will to create” is rekindled, and the world has another year of life.

But then the strangest thing happens.  The cantor steps forward and begins... Mussaf!  What happened to the Shofar?  "No Shofar today," you are told, "because today is Shabbat."  The Sages were concerned that someone may not be aware of the prohibition against carrying in a public domain on Shabbat, and carry his Shofar to ask someone to teach him how to blow it.  Shabbat observance is that important!  But wait, you say, what about all those Chassidic teachings and Kabbalah words that talk about the great accomplishment of Shofar blowing?  Are we not missing out on all that spiritual energy?  How will we recreate Hashem’s will for the world to continue existing?

Well, there are weekdays and there is Shabbat.  Hashem created the world in six days.  Then came the seventh day, and as the Torah says, and we say it in Kiddush and in the Shabbat evening prayers (Bereshit 2:1,2): “Now the heavens and the earth were completed... And G-d completed on the seventh day His work that He did, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work that He did.”  The word "completed" has a few meanings.  It can mean finished, as in the job is done, but it also means completed in the sense of complete and full.  Shabbat is the day when the work of creation was finished, and also complete. 

Chassidus gives an analogy.  A laborer works hard on a task, let’s say building a house or digging a well.  He works hard for many days, and finally the house is done or the well produces water.  He steps back from the work and admires the final product.  He gets immense pleasure from what he has accomplished.  All the long hours of hard work have paid off, and now he can enjoy the fruits of his labor.

While Hashem is of course not human, we have a glimpse of how He interacts with the world by understanding our nature, which was created by Him, as the Torah says, in His “image.”  (What that means exactly is a very lengthy discussion, but basically our physical nature in a way mirrors the spiritual energies of creation.)  Hashem created the world for a purpose, for human beings to exercise their own choice to fulfill his will and make the world a home for Him.  

For six days He created everything, and on the sixth day, when the humans were created, Adam stood up and announced to all creation (Tehillim 95:6): “Come, let us prostrate ourselves and bow; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.”  (The Midrash tells us, allegorically, that all the animals, seeing this man standing upright on two feet, thought that he was the creator and wanted to worship him.  This announcement was Adam’s response.)  So the world turned out exactly as Hashem had planned.  Here was the culmination and fulfillment of His purpose in all of Creation.  Then came Shabbat, when Hashem had finished all the work and his pleasure in Creation was revealed. 

Hashem is constantly energizing and recreating the world.  This pleasure that Hashem revealed on the first Shabbat repeats itself every week.  Shabbat is the time of pleasure in creation, the reason we don't disturb that with mundane work.  The pleasure we evoke in Hashem with the Mitzvah of Shofar is happening already on Shabbat.  We would not add much by blowing it, so the concern of someone violating Shabbat overrides the Shofar blowing.

There is a special energy in the world during a year like this.  “Rosh” Hashanah means "head” of the year.  Just as the brain is the nerve center of the body, Rosh Hashanah sets the tone for the entire year.  That means that this is a “shabbat type of year.”  We have the ability to elevate everything we are involved in to a higher state of existence, where Hashem’s pleasure is revealed in all our work.  This means to infuse everything we do, including our seemingly mundane activities representing all of creation, with purpose and fulfilment of our mission.  Our jobs, the food we eat, our possessions, our recreation, all being done with this ideal in mind, to make it all part of Hashem’s home on earth.

Another point relating to this year beginning on Shabbat.  What is my relationship with Shabbat?  Are there ways I can enhance my Shabbat observance?  Can we spend more time studying, praying and enjoying the day?  Cut back on weekday activities and switch off our electronics?  Make Kiddush, eat Challah and a festive meal, all prepared before sunset, by the light of candles that were lit 18 minutes before sunset?  We all have areas to enhance our Shabbat, and this is a great time to think about a practical way to step up to its incredible spiritual light.

I wish you a Ketiva Vachatima Tova, Leshana Tova Umetukah - May you be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year.  As the saying goes, on Rosh Hashanah the doors of Heaven are open, and so are ours at Chabad.  We would love to see you!