Page 24 - HaMizrachi02-04( #12)2019RoshHaShanaYomKippurUSA

Rabbi Shalom Rosner
the ultimate
month before Rosh Hasha-
nah, the sound of the
A shofar is what inspires
within us the mood for these awe-
some and life-shaping days. It is
the tool which according to the
Rambam (Teshuva 3:4) is needed
to wake us up from our spiri-
tual slumber. The shofar tells us
to wake up from sleepwalking
through life and get on the teshuva
(repentance) train.
Our minhag is to blow many more
sounds than what is minimally
required. Tosfot (Rosh Hashanah
33b) quotes from earlier sources
that the 100 round number that
klal Yisrael has accepted to blow is
meant to remind us of the cries of
Sisera’s mother. When Sisera did
not return from battle against the
Jews, his mother cried 100 wails,
and that is remembered in the Rosh
Hashanah service.
The question is obvious. Sisera’s
mother? Is that the most
appropriate person for us to
invoke on this holiest of days?
Surely there are many other more
appropriate women who should be
filling our national memory today?
An antisemitic general who took
pleasure in fighting our nation,
and who symbolizes so much evil?
What are Chazal trying to teach
us?
Let us examine the story in
Shoftim to try to put ourselves into
the mind of Sisera’s mother:
She was looking out the window,
waiting impatiently for her son to
return. “Where is my adorable son?
When will he return?” Her friends
calmed her, suggesting excuse
24 |
Shofar
after excuse. “Don’t worry, he’s yearns to rejoin his people in the
surely splitting up spoils, enjoying Chosen Land. He comes of his own
himself on the battlefield.” Only as volition based on his own choosing.
the sun sets on Sisera, literally and
figuratively, the reality sets in and The second awakening also merits
she cries uncontrollably for her lost a bracha. It is from a kosher animal
son. When someone is confronted but represents a lesser quality
with the stark truth, with the awakening. One who comes for
reality unclothed from excuses and nationalistic reasons. It is a Jewish
masks, there is an intense and deep State, I feel proud in Israel, I feel
recognition, which is painful but comfortable amongst exclusively
ultimately helpful in dealing with fellow Jews. This is also a kosher
sound, albeit second tier.
life’s situations.
Rosh Hashanah is a day to seek out Finally, Rav Kook explained, as
our reality, to look at ourselves in he started to cry, there is a third
the mirror, letting all the excuses shofar, not a shofar of choice, but a
fall away. With a clear and direct shofar forced upon us, when it’s not
outlook, we need to ask what G-d the pull from within but the push
wants, demands, and expects of from without, when the shofar of
me? How can I truthfully and fully terror and antisemitism forces Jews
fulfill my potential in all areas to return to their roots, to the place
of Torah, Avodah and Gemilut which will always accept them. Yes,
Chasadim? And let’s add one it is also a shofar of redemption,
more: how can I maximize my but it is a painful and difficult one,
so no bracha is recited.
connection to our homeland, to the
Land of our forefathers? We pray each day ל ֹוד ָּג ר ָ פֹו ׁש ְּ ב ע ַ ק ְּ ת
ּונ ֵ תּור ֵ ח ְ ל. Sound the great shofar for
On Rosh Hashanah 5694, in the fall our freedom. All Jews should be
of 1933, Rav Kook gave a drasha
explaining that there are three inspired by the ‘great shofar,’ by
holiness and purity, by the pull
halachic levels of shofars. The and not the push. Let all Jews see
preferred is a ram’s horn. Next level
is a horn from any kosher animal, the reality of what Eretz Yisrael
should mean to them and how they
except for a cow. Finally, if there is should shape their lives with Eretz
Yisrael at the center. Let this year
no kosher animal shofar available, truly be a year of kibbutz galuyot
one should use a non-kosher
animal shofar, but no bracha can be (ingathering of the exiles) of the
made. highest caliber, the ‘great shofar’
reining in all Jews to come home,
Rav Kook homiletically explained back to the palace and the Beit
that there are three awakenings HaMikdash.
of Jews to join the redemption
process. The first is the ‘great
shofar’– when a Jew is inspired, he Rabbi Shalom Rosner is a Rebbe at
feels the pull, he feels the spiritual Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh and Rabbi of
magnet in his deepest core, as he the Nofei HaShemesh community