We are now starting the final unit of Musaf Rosh Hashanah, called Shofarot.
The ten pesukim of Shofarot are broken down into 3 smaller units, all of which mention
shofars:
The first three pesukim talk about the shofar that was blown at Har Sinai, the second three pesukim refer to the shofar of Rosh Hashanah, and the third unit of three
refers to the shofar that will be blown
in the time of the Mashiach.
There are pesukim from the Torah, from scriptures and pesukim from Neviim. Each
discusses a different topic.
The introduction to the Shofarot unit talks about Har Sinai, because the Shofarot are there to
remind us of the revelation of God at Har Sinai. Hashem revealed
Himself at Har Sinai, and gave us the
Torah. This revelation came through the blowing of the shofar. Thus, the shofar symbolizes
revelation, and we are supposed to
strengthen our belief in the fact that the Torah that is Min Hashamayim- from the Heaven, that
God communicates with people, (which is called prophecy) and that at Har Sinai,
all the Jewish people became prophets.
God did not just create the world. He is not just supervising and running the world
on a minute by minute basis- God also gave
us an instruction book on how to live our lives. That is the third principle of
our faith. We need to have those
principles clear on Rosh Hashanah, because that is what gives us our good
judgment- knowing these fundamentals of
faith while we are being judged.
That is why we read the pesukim.
The first pasuk of Shofarot is -
וַיְהִי בַיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי בִּהְיוֹת הַבֹּקֶר, וַיְהִי קוֹלוֹת וּבְרָקִים וְעָנָן כָּבֵד עַל הָהָר, וְקוֹל שׁוֹפָר חָזָק מְאֹד, וַיֶּחֱרַד כָּל הָעָם אֲשֶׁר בַּמַּחֲנֶה
It was on the third day
(they prepared for three days) in
the morning, there was thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud on the
mountain, and there was a powerful sound of a shofar, and the entire camp was trembling. As
it says,
Can a
Shofar blow and people not tremble?
The job of the shofar is to bring a trembling. The same is true when we hear the shofar today.
When the shofar is being blown, it
should pierce through your heart. And as Hashem enters your heart, with the
feeling of connection in closeness, comes a trembling.
The second pasuk, also at Har Sinai, is:
וַיְהִי קוֹל הַשּׁוֹפָר הוֹלֵךְ וְחָזֵק מְאֹד וְהָאֱלֹהִים יַעֲנֶנּוּ בְקוֹל משה ידבר
The sound of the shofar was getting stronger and louder, Moshe
would speak and God gave him the ability to speak loud.
The point of this pasuk is that, unlike a shofar
blown by a human being, which gets weaker as the blowing goes on, Hashem is all powerful, and the shofar of Hashem only got louder and louder as it was
blown.
The third pasuk-
וְכָל הָעָם רוֹאִים אֶת הַקּוֹלוֹת
וְאֶת הַלַּפִּידִם, וְאֵת קוֹל הַשּׁוֹפָר וְאֶת הָהָר עָשֵׁן, וַיַּרְא הָעָם וַיָּנֻעוּ וַיַּעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק
The whole nation was able to see the sound of the thunder,
the sound of the Shofar and the smoke of the mountain.
And
the people saw and shook
Not only did they hear the sounds of thunder, and of the Ten Commandments, and of the shofar, but they saw the sounds as well! Spirituality was so real to them that the conceptual became tangible. They saw the reality of God, as God opened up the heavens.
And this all happened with the revelation of the shofar.
It was so powerful and awesome that the people were moved. It says
that they actually died and had to be brought back to life. That was the
tremendous level of fear they had from the shofar.
The shofar also brought with
it a strengthening of goodness in the world, and a weakening of evil. To a certain extent, this is repeated every year, on Rosh Hashanah. The
power of Hashem is there, and the shofar
is blown.
At that time we have the ability to re-commit ourselves to keeping the
Torah and Mitzvot, everyone on their level, as we relive the shofar of Har Sinai.
That is the Shofarot event in this unit of Musaf prayers.
