We are now in Shofarot, the third unit of the Musaf prayers of Rosh Hashanah. As we mentioned yesterday, it has three parts- the first section quotes pesukim referring to the shofar of Har Sinai (which we discussed yesterday), and today we will discuss the second section, which quotes pesukim from the Ketuvim, referring to the shofar of the present, Rosh Hashanah. The last three pesukim discuss the Shofar of Mashiach, which, B’ezrat Hashem, we will discuss tomorrow. So, it’s the shofar of the past, present, and future.
Rabbi Wolbe says that we remind ourselves of the shofar of the past and relive it. There is a certain kedusha of Har Sinai, that we can feel when the shofar is blown. Additionally, we usher in the final shofar of the future, of Mashiach, when evil will be totally eradicated. When Adam HaRishon sinned, a mixture of bad and good entered the world. Then, at Har Sinai, evil was separated and almost eradicated (if not for the sin of the golden calf). In the future, evil will be totally eradicated. But on Rosh Hashanah, we are in the middle, and when we blow the shofar, we have to appreciate that it’s so powerful and real, that when the Satan hears it being blown, he gets scared, because he thinks it’s the shofar of the future that will eradicate him.
This is a very real event. It is not just a memorial. We are in the current, middle stage, between the past and the future, and that is what the following three pesukim refer to.
וּבְדִבְרֵי קָדְשְׁךָ כָּתוּב לֵאמֹר,
In Your holy writings, it is written-
(First pasuk)
עָלָה אֱלֹקים בִּתְרוּעָה ה׳ בְּקוֹל שׁוֹפָר
God goes up with the Teru’ah (the sounding of the shofar)
Hashem, with the sound of the shofar.
Notice that the pasuk starts off with the name of Elokim, which refers to God’s trait of judgement, and it ends with Yud/Heh/Vav and Heh, which refers to God’s trait of mercy.
The Midrash explains that when we blow the shofar and are aroused to do Teshuva, God changes from the trait of justice to the trait of mercy. That is what the shofar does now.
The next pasuk:
בַּחֲצוֹצְרוֹת וְקוֹל שׁוֹפָר הָרִיעוּ לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ ה׳
With trumpets and the sound of the shofar, We will blow before the King, Hashem
Another aspect of the shofar is that we coronate God as King. It is one of the ten reasons that we blow the shofar. A shofar used to be blown when a King was coronated, so every year on Rosh Hashanah, we are, so to say, re-coronating God, on the day that He created Adam. When we blow the shofar, we think, “Hashem is King.”
The last pasuk of this section:
תִּקְעוּ בַחֹדֶשׁ שׁוֹפָר בַּכֶּסֶה לְיוֹם חַגֵּנו
We blow the shofar on Rosh Hodesh, on the holiday that is “covering.”
Most holidays occur when we are able to see the moon. Pesach occurs when there is a full moon, in the middle of the month; Sukkot as well. Shavuot is on the seventh day of the month, and Yom Kippur is on the 10th day of the month.
But Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the month, when we don’t see the moon. That is why it is called “covered”; This pasuk is saying that the shofar is blown on Rosh Hashanah, the time of the month when the moon is covered. So the angels have to ask God when Rosh Hashanah is- because they don’t know when Rosh Hodesh is.
And God says, “I don’t know, you have to ask the Jewish people. I gave the months over to them; they decide the months.” So there is a certain empowerment that happens on Rosh Hashanah, being that it is on Rosh Hodesh, because it symbolizes the fact that we don’t know when the month, or even the day, starts. The Jewish people decide it, and this shows our greatness on the day of judgment.
These are the three pesukim that deal with the shofar of Rosh Hashanah.