Welcome to our special Rosh
Hashanah Pesukim of Musaf series. We are up to our second pasuk of Shofarot,
taken from the Shofar of Har Sinai in Shemot 19,19
וַיְהִי֙ ק֣וֹל הַשֹּׁפָ֔ר
הוֹלֵ֖ךְ וְחָזֵ֣ק מְאֹ֑ד מֹשֶׁ֣ה יְדַבֵּ֔ר וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל׃
The sound of the shofar was getting stronger and stronger. Moshe
would speak,
וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל׃
/and God would answer him with a voice.
The commentaries point out that normally, when a human being blows
a shofar, the sound gets weaker. But
since the One blowing the shofar here was God, it got stronger and stronger.
מֹשֶׁ֣ה יְדַבֵּ֔ר
וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל What does it mean that
Hashem Ya'anenu?
Rabbenu Bachye explains that this was a wonder. This was an
enormously large camp, but nonetheless, Moshe Rabbenu was able to speak, and
miraculously he was heard, because God would help him. The word Yanenu
could mean to help, and God caused Moshe Rabbenu's voice to project to the
entire camp.
That was one of the signs that God was behind Moshe's voice. This
is Torah M'Sinai. We heard Moshe talking, but we knew it was God.
The Chatam Sofer says that this is a hint, not just to Moshe, but for
every generation. The Gadol HaDor is the Moshe over the
generation. And he says that as a Talmid Chacham gets older, even though their strength gets
weaker, they still have a certain power and energy, which is God energizing them, like he energized Moshe.
The Kesef Mishneh in the laws of Talmud Torah, 4,3,
as well as the Brisker Rav on parashat Shemot 19,19 explain this pasuk
differently:
Moshe Yidaber/Moshe spoke and God
responded to him- the Jewish people saw a unique quality in Moshe Rabbenu- it wasn't
because of any wonders or miracles that we
believed in him, but rather, we believed in him because of Har
Sinai, as the Rambam says. We heard with our eyes, with our ears, as Moshe
Rabbenu walked up and God spoke to him. That's what this pasuk is saying, that
the shofar blew, and we heard Moshe speaking to God.
As we said, this is all about what was going on at Har Sinai. The
shofar is obviously connected to Har Sinai.
But what exactly does it mean to us, as we quote this pasuk?
There are two beautiful points. One is from the Chochmat Shlomo,
Rav Shlomo Kluger. In his commentary on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim,
chapter 585, he discusses the connection between the Shofar and Rosh Hashanah, and
he says, the shofar is a hint of Teshuva. When God wanted to give us the
Torah, the Jewish people were scared. How are we going to keep the entire
Torah? There's so much to keep. We're going to deviate and we'll get punished.
But Hashem said, Don't worry, I have a way out of the
punishment. He showed them that there's a Rosh Hashanah, there's a shofar that's
going to rouse us in Teshuva , and we're going to become newly born when we hear
that shofar. God blows the shofar into us like a new breath of life. And that
was why God blew the shofar at Har Sinai; in order to say, Don't worry, it's
going to be okay. We're going to have a Rosh Hashanah. Therefore, if you're afraid that Torah might have a greater loss
than a gain, don't worry. There are more gains than losses, because even if you
sin, don't worry, there's a Rosh Hashanah for you. Unbelievable.
He adds that there are some opinions that the person blowing the shofar
needs to have someone next to him, telling him the kolot such as Tekiya,Teruah etc..so he doesn't
lose track. That was Moshe to Hashem. Moshe
Yidaber. Moshe would say Tekiya
and God would answer him and blow the shofar. So that was, so to say, a role
modeling of the blowing of the shofar. What an unbelievable perush
reminding us yet again that we shouldn't look at
Rosh Hashanah as a big scary concept,
but the opposite- Rosh Hashanah is what caused them to receive the
Torah.
Lastly, we have a beautiful Kedushat
Levi from Rav Yitzhak Levi of Barditchev, who says there was once a king
who was in danger, and some a simple man in farm clothing saved him. So the
king put royal clothes on him and
elevated him very high in his palace. This man sinned against the king, and the
king was very upset with him. But he was a smart man. When he was due to be brought
to judgment, he put on the clothing from the day that he saved the king. When
the king saw that clothing, he said, I love this man. I can't do anything to
him. So too, with the Jewish people. The world was ready to be destroyed, but for the fact the Jewish people
accepted the Torah at Har Sinai, where the shofar was blown. So, on Rosh
Hashanah, when God judges us, we put on those old clothes. We put on the shofar
to remind God of that great day. That's why we blow the shofar, and it's why we
mention the Shofar of Har Sinai. The Shofar was there at Har Sinai for
whatever reason, and we now we blow the shofar today to remind God of that
shofar so that He will be merciful on us, like the king was merciful on that
man, and remembered the great day that he saved him. So too, God remembers the
great day of Har Sinai when we accepted the Torah through the blowing of the shofar.
These are two beautiful
explanations of the connection between Shofar and Har Sinai
1-The shofar of Rosh Hashanah was blown on Har Sinai to tell about Rosh Hashanah.
2-The Shofar was blown on Har Sinai for whatever reason, and we now blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah to remind us
of that shofar.
Two different explanations,
but both very beautiful.
