Page 38 - HaMizrachi Rosh HaShana - Yom Kippur 5783 USA

The Three Shofarot

of Rosh Hashanah

Rabbi Steven
Miodownik

une 21, 1977, in Jerusalem. grave responsibility, and it is a feeling On Rosh Hashanah 1933, Rav Kook
The Prime Minister of Israel, of wonderful hopefulness. It is a feel- delivered a powerful sermon in the
Yitzchak Rabin, is relinquish- ing of sisterhood and brotherhood, and Old City of Jerusalem, reflecting on
Jing his office to the opposition it is a feeling of solitude. the three Divine calls summoning the
leader, Menachem Begin. There is a Jewish people to be redeemed and to
brief ceremony, many rounds of hand- When feelings are so complex, it is redeem their land. With Germany
nearly impossible to convey them
shakes and awkward embraces for the in mere words. Sometimes we need growing more threatening under
cameras, and then Prime Minister a musical instrument to express our Hitler’s reign, and with immigrants
Begin turns to enter his new office innermost thoughts, and so we use streaming to the Land from Europe
for the first time. Suddenly, as Yehuda while facing new hatred from rioting
Avner relates in The Prime Ministers, the shofar to blow the sounds of tekiah, Arabs, it was a tumultuous and fright-
shevarim, and teruah.
a reporter calls out after him: “Mr. ening time. And so Rav Kook asked the
Begin, what does it feel like to walk But in addition to these three sounds, people: which shofar’s sound do we
into that room after so many years in there are also three possible shofarot hear at this time? Which level of shofar
opposition?” to blow, as enumerated in the Shulchan will we use to usher in our redemp-
Aruch (Orach Chaim 586:1): “The mitz-
Begin pauses, and with much gravity vah of shofar on Rosh Hashanah is with tion? The ideal, the satisfactory, or the
says: “It is a compelling moment, my a bent ram’s horn.” Ideally, we should absolute last resort?
friend. It is a compelling moment of use the horn of a ram for the mitzvah We also live in uncertain times, and so
extraordinary opposites. On the one of shofar, and one that is twisted and nearly ninety years later we can also
hand, it is a terrifying feeling, and on ask ourselves: which shofar animates
the other, it is an exhilarating one. It is bent rather than straight. But what our lives and propels us into action?
if none is available for use? “If that is
a feeling of the highest privilege, and it
is a feeling of the deepest humility. It is not possible, all shofarot are usable, Let us begin with the most unfortunate
whether straight or bent; but bent is
a feeling of grave responsibility, and it possibility. The least desirable shofar
is a feeling of wonderful hopefulness. preferable to straight.” One still fulfills comes from the horn of a non-kosher
the mitzvah of shofar using the horns of
It is a feeling of sisterhood and broth- other kosher animals, whether bent animal. This shofar corresponds to the
erhood, and it is a feeling of solitude. I or straight. wake-up call that comes from perse-
have the feeling of the chazzan on the cution by other nations, when we are
Yamim Noraim when he stands alone But what if, theoretically, no horns driven to action by the piercing siren
before the Aron Kodesh and he appeals from a kosher animal can be found? of fear. This is the shofar of affliction.
to the Almighty in the name of the Although the Shulchan Aruch cites the This is the shofar that unites the Jewish
whole congregation.” Ran that “a shofar from a non-kosher people because of antisemitic threats.
animal is disqualified”, the Mishnah This shofar produces results, but only
We can ask this same question of our- Berurah points out that “the Achronim
selves on Rosh Hashanah, as we enter because it drives us to “flee from”
a new chapter in our lives – a new year wrote that this law is not clear and danger instead of “running towards”
therefore if there is no other shofar
of opportunity. What does it feel like to blow one should use [a shofar from redemption. There is no blessing made
to walk into this room, on this day? on such a shofar, for “we do not make
a non-kosher animal], but without a a blessing on the cup of persecution”
I submit that many of us would betray berachah.” It may still be possible to (Berachot 51a).
the same mixed emotions as Begin fulfill the mitzvah of shofar by hearing
did. On the one hand, it is a terrify- the blasts from the horn of a non-ko- This is not the shofar we hope to hear.
ing feeling, and on the other, it is an sher animal. And so the halachah enu- We don’t want to act out of fear! Yet
exhilarating one. It is a feeling of the merates three levels of fulfillment: the we are too motivated to act thinking
highest privilege, and it is a feeling of ideal, the satisfactory, and the absolute “it would be bad if we didn’t” instead
the deepest humility. It is a feeling of last resort. of “yes, this is the right thing to do”.

38 |