The jewish new year is upon us, the holiday of rosh hashana, but what is it all about?
In the torah we see the biblical commandment of the holiday
“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first of the month, it shall be a Sabbath for you, a remembrance of [Israel through] the shofar blast, a holy occasion.” Leviticus 23:24
וּבַחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם כׇּל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ י֥וֹם תְּרוּעָ֖ה יִהְיֶ֥ה לָכֶֽם׃
In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded.
Numbers 29:1
In the Torah the months are defined by their chronological order from the spring month. The spring month is the first month of the year, occurring during the spring equinox, the time the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt. Today we refer to the Hebrew months according to their babylonian names, but biblically they are referred to as a number counting from the first month, this first month is the spring, known as nissan. Now, counting seven from Nissan is Tishrei, known biblically as the seventh month. It is in this month where the majority of biblical holidays take place. Including Rosh HaShana, literally “the head of the year”, the subject of our article. The bible refers to it as yom teruah, the day when the horn is sounded. As well as, zichron teruah mikre kodesh, a remembrance through the shofar blast, a holy occasion.
We see that in both mentions of this day in the bible, it is connected to the shofar. As jews, we know that the main Divine obligation of the day is to go to temple to hear the shofar blasts as well as observe the day just as we would a sabbath. But what is the big deal with the shofar? A shofar is essentially a rams horn, used to evoke a soul piercing sound.
We see it used a couple times throughout all of Tanack. The first time we see it, is at mount sinai, “When the ram's horn sounds a long, drawn out blast, they may ascend the mountain…and a very powerful blast of a shofar, and the entire nation that was in the camp shuddered (exodus 19:13,16).” We see that inorder to receive the 10 commandments, first the shofar needed to be blown.
Another time we see the sounding of the shofar is in the times of Joshua, as he was leading the israelites into the land of israel, the first city to conquer was Jericho, however this city was surrounded by a massive wall, so through Divine instruction, the israelites surrounded the wall, led by the priests sounding the shofar, and the wall fell, opening the way to conquer the city.
“And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Ark; and on the seventh day you shall encircle the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
And it shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down in its place and the people shall go up, every man opposite him (Joshua 6:4,5)”
We see again that after the shofar is blown a miracle occurs, divine revelation manifests.
We see it again with Gideon, in the book of judges, who gathered 300 men to conquer the midianite enemy, and was instructed by God to command each man to take his own personal shofar (rams horn) into battle, blow it right before the operation, and be guaranteed success. And so it was, by a miracle an army of 300 men defeated 135,000 midianite inhabitants, causing most to panic and flee. Yet another miracle in the wake of blowing a ram's horn. (judges 7:18-22)
In isaiah 27:13, we are told of the blowing of the shofar that has not happened yet, but will occur with the arrival of the messiah. “And it shall come to pass on that day, that a great shofar shall be sounded…”
What is the mystery behind this miraculous object? And why sound it on rosh hashana?
The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 8a) derives from the verse in Deuteronomy 11:12, that the world is judged on rosh hashana as to what will transpire throughout the year. That it is a day of Divine judgement.
The zohar Parshat Pinchas (231a) writes that Rosh Hashanah is always two days, where the first day is called “din kashya” (strong judgment) and the second day is called “din rafya” (weak judgment). Also concluding that this day is a day of Divine judgment.
So we see that this holiday is a time when God judges the world. The midat hadin, the attribute of Divine judgement shines upon the world. Where God observes who we’ve been the past year, and defines what the rest of the year should have in store for us accordingly.
Divine judgement means that you get what you deserve. Meaning that if you do bad, you get bad, If you do good, you get good. I call it the way of consequence. The boomerang you threw comes right back to you.
There’s another attribute through which this world runs, and that is mercy. Which means you don't get what you deserve. You get good even when you don't deserve it.
Our lives are a mix of these two. The Creator is always acting with us according to these two ways of Divine influx. Consequence and mercy.
Rosh Hashanah is a day where the Creator sits on the throne of consequence. You are getting exactly according to who you are in this coming year. Now, that can be a bit scary. Humans are by nature flawed. And it’s on this day where all of our flaws come before the Master of Universe and He judges us upon them. Of course we all have our fair share of merits that God holds into account as well when He’s making the decisions for our coming year, but our flaws, our misdeeds are very much present at the court case as well. And without mercy, the verdict can be a bit harsh.
This is also a reason why we are not to confess our sins to the Creator on Rosh HaShana, because we dont want to point those out before the heavenly court on this day.
So what to do? Just dread this great day of judgment? Where all my wrongs shall be held against me and theres just nothing I can do about it?
Income the shofar! In God's great mercy to the Israelites, He gave them a special tool to deal with this cosmic day of Divine Judgement. The shofar.
The kabbalists (Jewish Mystics) explain that the shofar emits a frequency of sound that create a protective barrier again the influx of Divine judgement. Those who hear it are protected from it.
The creator in His Infinite Wisdom, decided that there be a day in the year that the world would be judged, but knew that with this pure judgment, humanity would deal with heavy consequences. The solution was the shofar. A tool that emits a frequency of sound that sweetens the judgements. Mitigates them.
This explains why on years where we can’t blow the shofar, those years tend to be very harsh on humanity. Whenever rosh hashana falls on the sabbath, we don’t blow it, and like clock work, those year end up being very intense. For example, in 2020, we didn't blow the shofar that year, and we all knew how hard that year was on everyone. Another example was last years rosh hashana, 2023, it fell on shabbat and we couldnt sound the shofar, and we all know the devastation that hit the jewish people short after on october 7th, and the descent we’ve gone through ever since this year.
The shofar mitigates the judgements on this intense day. Without that frequency of sound, the judgements are harsh, and without enough merits, our wrongs are held accountable in the heavenly court.
This explains why miracles occurred for our ancestors after a shofar was blown, from the revelation at sinai, to the conquering of jericho, to defeating a population 300 to 135,000. The shofar emits this frequency of Divine mercy, where God goes above His attribute of consequence and acts purely with mercy. The sound of the shofar arouses this pure mercy from heaven. A mercy that rises above all law of judgment/consequence.
And so, now we see a reason (there’s many more) as to why God gave us this biblical commandment to observe this “blowing of the ram's horn holiday”
Cosmically, it’s a time of judgment for all of humanity, but God gave us the remedy. And that is the shofar.
So this year, be a smart cookie, and get yourself to temple on rosh hashana to hear the blast of the shofar. On both days, rosh hashana is 48 hours, it’s important to go on both days to hear the blast. As you listen to that powerful sound, envision a force field of light protecting you and all of the Israelites in your congregation. As the sound expands, know that a frequency of Divine protection spreads to all who hear it. Don’t speak during this time, mentally thankGod for the gift of mercy the shofar evokes on this day of Divine Judgement.
May we all be seen with eyes of mercy from heaven on this rosh hashana, and may the sound of the shofar we hear this year be the one we’ve all been waiting for, the one that heralds in the times of redemption.