We're discussing little tidbits on our principles of Mussaf prayers. Today we will share a tidbit on Shofarot. The introductory of passage of Shofarot talks about the shofar, primarily of Har sinai , which is the concept of our belief in
Torah min Hashamayim, which means that God communicates with human beings.
God does not just communicate with the thunder and lightning of Har Sinai. God communicates with everybody on a constant basis. For example, the pasuk says ( in Tehilim 25,8)
טוֹב וְיָשָׁר ה' עַל כֵּן יוֹרֶה חַטָּאִים בַּדָּרֶךְ
God is good and God is upright. Therefore, He directs the sinners on the path.”
The midrash says, if he directs the sinners, then surely he directs those that are righteous. Rabbeinu Yona brings this down I’m the beginning of Shaar Teshuva- that God guides us in our return process. How does God guide us? The Zohar (helek 3, 23B) quoting Rabbi Yehuda says the pasuk says, “For it became known to him, the sin that he sinned.” The Zohar says it should have said, “It was told to him.”
What does it mean that, “It became known to him?”
It means that God commands the Jewish people. God will let him know. God will fill him in on the sin that he sinned . How does God tell you? Ideally, it's through the Torah you learn.
When you sit down and you learn something, we believe that that is God talking to you. As the famous saying goes, “When you pray, you talk to God. And when you learn, God talks to you.” We have to believe that-that on a constant basis when we're learning, God is so to say, sitting there with us. The Mishna in Pirkei Avot says that even when a person sits and learns alone, God is there, so to say, as his hevruta. God is teaching him. And even more so, the Zohar, in that same piece, says whoever learns Torah at night, the Torah tells him his sins, but not in a way of strictness. Rather like a mother that tells her child in a soft way, so that he’s not going to forget it. And therefore he does teshuva.
This is a concept that we have to believe in-
Torah min Hashamayim, that God still communicates with us. The, sefer Hochma U’Mussar from Rav Avraham Anteby (he lived over 200 years ago and was the chief Rabbi in Aleppo) brings down the following, very interesting story, which we might have told in the past.
There was a silversmith named Aharon. The local church asked him to make a certain image for them and they would pay very well. He couldn't control himself. He needed the business, so he agreed to a contract to make this image. He later found out they wanted him specifically because his name was Aharon, and they believed that somehow someone with the name of Aharon could create an image with the force of the golden calf. He started feeling guilty, but he already agreed to the contract. The next day when he came into shul, the rabbi stood up and gave a Halacha speech about the severity of Avoda Zara, and the severity of making things for Avoda Zara. It was not a common topic for a rabbi to give a speech on.
Aharon assumed that someone must have tipped the rabbi off. He asked the rabbi “Who told you?” The rabbi replied, “Who told me what?” Aharon told him the whole story, and the rabbi said, “No one told me anything. That's the way Hashem works, He talks through the Torah.”
And that's what happens. Quite often, people go to class and say, “Wow, the rabbi's talking to me.” And the truth is, he is. He doesn't realize it, but he’s talking to you because the words that you hear are the words that God wants you to hear.
We have to believe that as we get closer to Rosh Hashanah, whatever we see, and whatever we hear is talking to us.
That's one of the explanations they give that if
somebody sees the Sotah- lady that was unfaithful- in in her degradation, if they’re at the Bet Hamikdash, and they see her explode, they have to stay away from wine.
Why is that?
If anything, you’d think the opposite. They saw her blow up, and they learned that lesson. But the rabbis say No. If you saw it, it's talking to you. Anything that we see is talking to us. And we have to believe that's a level of Hashgacha Pratit and it’s what Torah min Hashamayim is all about, that God gave us this world and God continues to direct our spiritual life in this world.
B’Ezrat Hashem, we will take those soft motherly hints from Hashem and return in Teshuva.