By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
‘They come down from the mountains, out of the jungles, from remote rivers and hedonistic beaches. It is a remarkable scene that takes place every year at this time, at seven Chabad locations across Thailand.
Thousands of Jews – many with little or no connection to meaningful Jewish life; many who are escaping from anything or everything – suddenly respond to the call of the shofar and reconnect to what that truly matters.
Most are young men and women who have given their prime years protecting our people in our Holy Land of Israel….
A friend of mine who is a veteran and extremely creative copyrighter, wrote the above words as the opening lines of Chabad of Thailand’s High Holidays fundraising letter. It is an intro into asking for donations to help with funding the Holiday meals at our Chabad Houses across Thailand.
When I first read his descriptively poetic words, I thought to myself that perhaps he had overstepped the boundaries between fact and fancy.
Yes, it’s true that thousands of young travelers from Israel attend our Chabad Houses over Rosh Hashana and the Chagim. But the part about ‘responding to the call of the Shofar’ seemed to be a bit of a stretch, as we have many more guests that come for dinner than those who come during the day of Rosh Hashana to hear the sounding of the Shofar.
Which is a tad ironic. Wouldn’t it make sense that the huge overflow crowds be there for shofar as well as dinner?
I mean, if you do the ‘calculating’ it’s a no brainer, on the side of shofar.
The main mitzva of Rosh Hashana as taught in the Torah is to hear the sound the Shofar – a rudimentary instrument fashioned from a ram’s horn - anytime from sunrise to sunset on the Rosh Hashana days.
The festive dinner on the eve of Rosh Hashana is important of course. It is replete with traditional sweet dishes as that signifies our optimism about the new year to come. I am planning to point out the power of optimistic behavior that is reinforced by our Rosh Hashana dinner sweet food customs. That is if my voice will be heard above the lively celebratory noise of the communal Rosh Hashana dinner at Rembrandt Hotel 😊
But if you were faced before a situation where you had to choose one of the two, the festive dinner, or the hearing of the Shofar, Jewish law would unequivocally direct you to the Shofar.
Which made me think that my friend the writer was really being a bit fanciful and not tethered to reality.
If our guests were responding to the call of the Shofar wouldn’t they all be coming to hear the Shofar? Not just attending the dinner as some do.
As I mulled over this, it came to me with clarity.
They are responding to the call of the shofar!!!
Let me explain what I mean.
First, let’s acquaint ourselves with the mitzva of blowing the shofar.
Why do we blow the shofar?
Like all mitzvah’s it is first and foremost the will of G-d. Doesn’t need any reason. Beyond human rationale. Supra-rational.
Yet, our sages taught us to search for meaning within the mitzvahs. G-d wants us to have an appreciation and gain insight into why He asked us to do the particular mitzvahs that He instructed. The mitzvahs, through being understood, will inspire us just as they allow us to express our obedience to Him.
There are ten basic reasons given for the blowing of shofar on Rosh Hashana. Click here for the full list.
I would like to focus on the symbolism of the shofar as taught by the Ba’al Shem Tov founder of Chasidism. He taught it via a parable.
A King had an only son, the apple of his eye. The King wanted his son to master different fields of knowledge and to experience various cultures, so he sent him to a far-off country, supplied with a generous quantity of silver and gold. Far away from home, the son squandered all the money until he was left completely destitute. In his distress he resolved to return to his father's house and after much difficulty, he managed to arrive at the gate of the courtyard to his father's palace.
In the passage of time, he had actually forgotten the language of his native country, and he was unable to identify himself to the guards. In utter despair he began to cry out in a loud voice, and the King, who recognized the voice of his son, went out to him and brought him into the house, kissing him and hugging him.
The meaning of the parable: The King is G-d. The prince is the Jewish people, who are called "Children of G-d" (Deuteronomy 14:1). The King sends a soul down to this world in order to fulfill the Torah and mitzvot. However, the soul becomes very distant and forgets everything to which it was accustomed to above, and in the long exile it forgets even its own "language." So it utters a simple cry to its Father in Heaven. This is the blowing of the shofar, a cry from deep within, expressing regret for the past and determination for the future. This cry elicits G-d’s mercies, and He demonstrates His abiding affection for His child and forgives him.
The call of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah thus reminds us of the primordial scream, the eternal voiceless call of the soul expressing its desire to return to its Creator.
The call of the Shofar awakens and arouses the souls and hearts of Jews to search for G-d. Wherever they may be and however observant they consider themselves; something stirs in ever Jew’s consciousness around the High Holidays and inspires us to reach closer to our true identities as Jews.
I don’t buy the cynical ‘Jewish guilt’ theory as the reason Jews flock to shul on the High Holidays.
This Kabbalistic insight reveals something way deeper. Deeper than our conscious identity. That it’s about our core being, our essence.
It’s a soul thing. The G-dly soul feels the energies of the season and doesn’t let us just enter the High Holidays with indifference.
The feeling is ignited within every Jew. Commensurately, Jewish observance swells during these few weeks. A Jew can’t just remain indifferent during this highly charged Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur period.
That’s why Shuls are filled to capacity.
This is the true reason that Jewish homes the world over fill up with family and friends coming together to mark, celebrate and find meaning on the night of Rosh Hashana.
They are hearing something. They are responding to the stirrings of their soul. And they are looking to connect to G-d.
They are hearing the inaudible plaintive sound of the spiritual Shofar within their own soul as it cries out ‘FATHER… FATHER… ’.
What is appropriate expression of this plaintive existential cry? It is the Torah’s commandment to observe the mitzva of sounding the physical shofar on the days of Rosh Hashana.
By listening to the blowing of the Shofar we are communicating our deepest soulful cry to G-d. We are joining the myriads of Jews who are collectively crying out to our Father in Heaven to have mercy and bless us with a good year.
There is something about a wordless cry that reaches deeper than anything that you could possibly say. If you are a parent, you know how your heart melts when your baby cries wordlessly. Even before they learn to say Mama, Papa, Aba or Imma. Our shofar blowing has that kind of depth and potency.
Nu, if so, who wouldn’t make every effort to attend the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashana day?
Why then are our Rosh Hashanah dinners more full than our Shofar services?
I would like to offer my own explanation. Based on a joke.
A man was down on his hands and knees looking for something under a spotlight on a dark city street. A well-intentioned passer-by asked the man what he was looking for, intending to help in the search. The man responded that he was looking for his wife wedding ring. ‘Do you remember exactly where it fell off your wife’s finger’ asked the would-be helper. ‘Yes’, responded the man, ‘it was in that dark corner just a few meters away from here’. So why are you looking here if it fell off a few meters away? ‘Because its dark over there in the corner while here there is a light’.
Perhaps it’s just like in the joke (except this is absolutely not a joking matter). Sometimes when we are inspired to reach out to G-d we choose to observe in a way that is easier even if in all honesty we should be aiming a few notches higher.
Here is my point. We want to see overflowing Rosh Hashana dinner! No question about it, the festive dinner of Rosh Hashana is a mitzvah!
So make sure to attend or host a Rosh Hashana dinner replete with sweet things and symbolic ‘head of the year’ foods.
But don’t stop there. Go from one mitzva to another. Not just to any other ‘random’ mitzvah. Proceed to THE main mitzvah of Rosh Hashana.
Start the year on the right note. Seize the opportunity to observe the most important mitzvah of Rosh Hashana – try to hear the Shofar wherever you are!
Shana Tova!!!
PS the shofar needs to be sounded during the daylight hours.
In Bangkok we will be blowing it at the Rembrandt Hotel Ballroom (where all of our High Holiday services and meals will take place) on Monday September 30 and Tuesday October 1, at around 11:15 am.
We will also be blowing the Shofar on Monday at 5:15 pm at the Tashlich service by the Lake at Benjasiri Park (on the side of Marriot Marquis Queens Park Hotel).
PPS Please help us host the thousands of guests who will join the holiday meals at Chabad of Thailand