The most important component of Rosh Hashana is the Shofar.
Actually, the mitzvah is not the blowing of the Shofar per se; rather the mitzvah is the HEARING of the sound of the Shofar. Indeed the blessing made before blowing the Shofar is ‘Lishmoa kol Shofar’ to HEAR the sound of the Shofar.
"Do you hear me?" That's a common question today.
Sometimes the answer might be "Yes I hear you,’" but we say this while carrying on with texting. Have we really heard? As we progress deeper and deeper into the era of over-communication, rather than hearing each other more, we often hear each other less.
Rosh Hashana reminds us that first and foremost we must stop to LISTEN and HEAR.
Listen to what?
On every day of the year, from the cradle to the grave, at least twice daily every Jew says ‘HEAR, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One’. Listening to and contemplating these words enables us to see beyond the confusing images that the world presents us —and live fulfilling lives according to the Divine code, the Torah. Click here for more on this topic.
On Rosh Hashana we also need to listen and hearken to the sound of the Shofar.
- The sound of the Shofar reminds us that G-d is the Master of the universe as it represents the trumpets blown at a kingly coronation. On Rosh Hashana we coronate G-d as King of the universe.
- The sound of the Shofar is also similar to the wail of a child calling out for their parent, and on Rosh Hashana we as Jews are calling out to our father in Heaven like a wayward child coming home. This also reminds us to always be attentive to the needs of others. Click here for a beautiful story illustrating this.
- The sound of the Shofar reminds us that deep down, our very own souls are crying out with an inaudible voice of intensity of the highest degree for our Father in Heaven. We need but to listen carefully and we will discover that G-d is truly to be found within us, in the deepest recesses of our hearts. To hear an inspiring encounter from someone back from a concert tour with the “Rolling Stones" click here.
But the main thing to remember is that we need to STOP AND LISTEN. One can get so caught up in the tumultuousness of life that one loses all sense of direction.
Rosh Hashana is the day we commemorate the creation of man. As the birthday of humanity, it is surely the fitting time to pause from everything else going on in our lives, turn down the volume of the mundane noise of society, and LISTEN to these above-mentioned Divine messages of timeless relevance so that we clearly know where we are going and how to get there.