The Call of the Shofar Rosh Hashana
On Rosh Hashanah, we gather in shul to Crown God King of the
World. The act of coronation, involves our participation, our
engagement and our acceptance. This act is repeated yearly
because we forget. We are so consumed by what is happening in
our lives, that we completely lose track of time and what is
important.
Rosh Hashana is a reset button. By acknowledging that there is a
King and Creator, we acknowledge that there is purpose, meaning
and importance to each and every one of us. And even if we do not
see it, Rosh Hashana reminds us, that we play an important part in
the story. A part that may only be revealed in years or even
generations to come.
The Shofar calls to us. What is she saying? What is the message of
the distinct sounds of Tekiah, Shevarim, Teruah and Tekiah? Four
distinct sounds. On the surface, the first and last sound the same.
I would like to suggest the following message that the Shofar is
teaching us.
The first set of sounds are Tekiah, Shavarim, Teruah and Tekiah.
The Tekiah is a long sharp straight sound and functions as an
Alarm -Wake up!!!
Shevarim are broken notes. Shevarim comes from the root shavar
meaning broken and are sad and mournful notes. The Shofar calls
us to look at what is broken in the world, in our society, in our lives.
The Teruah are 9 sharp blasts and are a call to action. 9 sharp
blows. The Shofar sounds like a coach pushing his players blowing
on his whistle. And the final Tekiah sound, a straight sound. The
issue has been resolved, fixed, improved and we are better than we
were at the start.
However the world does not always work that way. We have a second set of sounds. Tekiah, Shvarim and a Tekiah. Sometimes there is only Shevarim. We are awakened to issues and we see that there are issues in this world that we cannot fix. There are things that are broken. How should we respond to them? By Sounding a Tekiah. We blow the tekiah at the end and declare, “Although there are things that are broken within our lives we can still move on.” We bracket the shevarim- the brokenness and move on.
And then there are times in our lives when we need the creative
energy of a Teruah. A call to action and change the world. The
wake up sound of the Tekiah is followed by a Teruah- the trumpet
sound. Set your goals and push yourself to achieve them.
It is important to note that the Hebrew word Shofar comes from the
verb לשפר — Leshaper which means to improve.
The sound of the shofar pierces our hearts and its voice and
messages resonate in our soul. As a community we certainly have
experienced the shevarim notes. But the Shofar always finished
with a triumphant Tekiah. We pray that this new year only be filled
with joyous Tekiyot.
Shana Tova.
