Shofarot
BY RABBI MOSHE LICHTMAN
“Our G-d and G-d of our fathers, sound the great shofar for our freedom…” (Musaf for Rosh Hashanah, Shofarot). The phrase “great shofar” is borrowed from a verse in Yishayahu, also mentioned in the Shofarot section of Musaf: “It shall be on that day, a great shofar will be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria and those cast aside in the land of Egypt will come and bow to the L-rd on the Holy Mountain in Jerusalem” (27:13).
On Rosh Hashanah of 1933, right after Hitler came to power, Rav Kook zt”l delivered a moving sermon in the Old City’s Churvah Synagogue. Based on the above-cited verses, he predicted the Holocaust and explained the reason for it. The following is a translation of his words:
The prophet prophesied about a great shofar of redemption, and we specifically pray for that. For there are various levels of the shofar of redemption: there is a great shofar; an ordinary, medium-sized shofar; and a small shofar.
The “shofar” of Mashiach is compared to the regular shofar – i.e., the shofar of Rosh Hashanah. The halacha determines three levels [of kashrut] with regard to the shofar of Rosh Hashanah:
- The most preferred way to perform the mitzvah is with a ram’s horn.
- Ex post facto, all shofarot are kosher.
- A shofar from a non-kosher animal, or from a gentile’s animal which was worshipped as a god, is invalid. However, if one blows such a shofar, he discharges his obligation ex post facto. Furthermore, one is permitted to blow any shofar if he does not have a kosher one, provided that he does not recite a blessing on it.
These halachic categories mentioned in connection with the shofar of Rosh Hashanah correspond to various levels of the shofar of redemption.
What exactly is the shofar of redemption? When we say “the shofar of Mashiach” we mean an awakening and an impulse that causes the revival and redemption of the Jewish nation. This awakening is the tekiah that gathers those who are lost and cast aside, bringing them to the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
At various times throughout Jewish history, there was an awakening and desire [for redemption] that originated in holiness. Even today, there are groups and individuals among our people who have such a desire. [This holy awakening] is based on a strong belief in Hashem and His Torah, [on an understanding] of the sanctity of Israel and its mission, and on a desire to fulfill G-d’s will, which is Israel’s complete redemption. This is the great and excellent shofar – a nation’s desire to be redeemed because of its lofty desire to carry out its grand mission, which cannot be done when [the nation] is exiled and oppressed.
At times, however, this sacred desire deteriorates. There isn’t much enthusiasm for lofty and sacred ideas. Nonetheless, healthy human nature – which also originates in holiness – still exists. This healthy human nature creates within the nation a simple, natural desire to become sovereign in its land, to arise and go free, to live a simple, free life like all the other nations. This natural desire, which stems from normal nationalistic feelings, is the ordinary, medium-sized shofar that can be found anywhere. This, too, is a kosher shofar; and even though the first type is preferable, “Ex post facto, all shofarot are kosher.”
However, there is also a third category of “the shofar of Mashiach;” and it too corresponds to the shofar of Rosh Hashanah. It is a small, invalid shofar, used under duress, when there is no kosher shofar to be found. If sacred enthusiasm – with its resultant, lofty desire for redemption – has expired; and if normal, human, nationalistic feelings – a desire to live honorably as a nation – have also expired; [that is], if it is impossible to blow a kosher shofar for our redemption, our enemies come and blow [the shofar] of redemption in our ears. They force us to hear the sound of the shofar. They shout and make noise in our ears, denying us rest in the Diaspora. The shofar of an impure animal becomes the shofar of Mashiach. Amalek, Petliura, Hitler, etc. awaken us to redemption. He who did not listen to the sound of the first shofar, and he who did not want to listen to the sound of the second, ordinary shofar either – because his ears were closed up – will listen to the sound of the impure, invalid shofar. He will listen against his will.
Nonetheless, even he discharges his obligation. Even [this type of] nationalism – that of the staff, of Jewish persecution – contains some form of redemption. However, one is not to recite a blessing over this kind of shofar, as the Mishnah states, “One does not recite a blessing over anything that is a type of curse” (Berachot 6:4).
We pray that Hashem not force us to listen to the invalid and impure shofar. We also do not long for the ordinary, medium-sized – almost secular – shofar. We pray, “Sound the great shofar for our freedom,” a shofar that comes from the very depths of the sanctity of the Jewish soul, from our Holy of Holies. Then, the redemption will be complete.
Is history repeating itself once again?
Rabbi Moshe Lichtman is the author of Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah and A Drop in the Ocean, and has translated several classic works of Religious Zionism into English, including Eim HaBanim Semeichah, An Angel Among Men (a biography on Rav Kook), A Question of Redemption, and Rise from the Dust. He teaches in several gap-year yeshiva and seminary programs.