The Cry of the Child
Many thousands of Jews, even those who had no knowledge of Judaism and no interest in it, would nevertheless choose death rather than abandoning their G-d when they were confronted with the option to convert to another religion or die. This inner G-dly spark is ignited with the sounding of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah
Is the Objective Music?
The highlight of Rosh Hashanah is undeniably the sounding of the Shofar.
Our Sages of old asked why such emphasis on a rather simple and bland instrument? If the objective is music, then why not use a more sophisticated instrument? If the goal of Rosh Hashanah is a heartfelt prayer, why bother with the Shofar?
The Lost Prince
The Ba’al Shem Tov seemed to be addressing these very questions when he provided us with a parable to describe the power of the Shofar.
A mighty king had an only son. The king gave him the very best education. After all, he was the crown prince and the king’s only son.
With all of the devotion he showered on his beloved son and heir to the throne, the king felt that something was still missing in his son’s education. “I must send him far away to a foreign country to live with ordinary people, expose him to the hardships of life. Then he will truly be worthy of wearing the crown on my head.”
The king bade farewell to his son and sent him off to a distant country, accompanied by a retinue of advisors and with a huge and full moneybag.
After months of acclimating himself to the new country, the crown prince dismissed all of his advisors, spent all of the money and found himself destitute. Searching for help he befriended a group of rather uncultured and immoral people. Many more months passed and the crown prince lost virtually every vestige of his royal upbringing. His clothing in tatters and his morals wanting he finally reached rock bottom at which point he felt a powerful urge to be back in the palace with his beloved father.
After months of traveling by foot, he finally arrived in the capital of his native country. He endured great hardship until he got close to the palace, for everyone he told that he was the Crown Prince just jeered and mocked him.
Now he was standing in front of the palace and it would be just seconds before he would talk to his father. How much he cherished this moment, until… until he realized that his father would never recognize him. Even worse, he wouldn’t even be able to speak to his father because he had completely forgotten the language of his youth.
For the next few minutes he came to realize the hopelessness of the situation. How far he had strayed and how far he had returned only to discover that he had no way of communicating and reuniting with his father. His situation was so desperate and hopeless that he broke down and began to cry in his own garbled language: “Father, Father help me!”
The king immediately recognized the cry of his child. In seconds he found himself outside the palace gates taking his son into his warm embrace. The father and son were now together again.
The Story of our Lives
This parable is the story of our lives.
G-d is the King.
We are the Crown Prince, G-d’s only child.
Our souls have received the best education in the heavenly academies. But to actualize our true potential, G-d sent the soul into a faraway and hostile environment—a physical body and a physical world.
To be sure, G-d doesn’t send us here alone. The sages and righteous leaders of Israel are the royal advisors who were sent to accompany us and give us guidance as to how we should deal with the harsh realities of life.
He also gives us “spending money;” the Mitzvos that we do that will help us acquire the right values and direction are the currency that gets us somewhere.
But, alas, we dismiss the advisors and squander the cash and we find ourselves spiritually destitute and as far as we can be from the royal upbringing we received.
To make things even worse, when we finally realize how far we’ve strayed and we come as close as we can to G-d on Rosh Hashanah, we realize that we don’t even know how to communicate with G-d. The language of our neshomos, our souls has been forgotten by us. What do we do? How do we show G-d that we are sincere and that we’ve returned, when we cannot even express ourselves?
At that point, when this realization hits us, we sound the shofar which mimics the sound of the primal cry that emanates from the very core of our being. When G-d hears and senses the purity and innocence of our soul’s cry, He comes out of His palace, so to speak, and take us into His embrace.
The shofar is the means through which we express a part of us that is rarely seen even by ourselves. With the shofar we are really in touch with the inner sanctum of our soul.
The Shofar of Crisis
Tragically, the Jewish people have had ample opportunity to discover their inner soul in situations of crisis and persecution. Many thousands of Jews, even those who had no knowledge of Judaism and no interest in it, would nevertheless choose death rather than abandoning their G-d when they were confronted with the option to convert to another religion or die.
Several years ago a group of Israelis were touring the Indian province of Kashmir, They were captured by a group of Muslim terrorists who told them that in five minutes they would be executed unless they would convert to Islam. The entire group—most of whom were totally “secular” Jews— responded, “No, we would rather die than abandon our religion.” When the terrorist returned, the Israelis overpowered their attackers and fled. Tragically, one of the guns did go off and it killed on of the so-called “secular” Israeli’s. His last words were, “I know this is G-d’s will, I accept it…”
Purist Expression of Soul
This is what the Shofar means to us. It is the purist expression of our soul, the part of our soul that is never corrupted by all the external influences. And while we certainly do not wish a crisis on ourselves, we can express this aspect of our being every Rosh Hashanah when we hear the sound of the Shofar. For the Shofar digs deep into the essence of our soul and reveals unprecedented soul powers. The Shofar introduces us to ourselves.
The Shofar is also the instrument that G-d will use to introduce the future Redemption. As long as we are not in touch with our true selves, our souls are in exile. Redemption provides for the opportunity to actualize our soul’s essence.
On Rosh Hashanah, when the Shofar sounds, we can get a taste of the future Redemption. The process of Redemption is also hastened when we tune into the profound sounds and message of the Shofar.
From the book Light from the Future: Rosh Hashanah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
