Four Reminders
Posted by Rabbi Avi Heller on August 22, 2010 | Tags:
This essay is dedicated in memory of Rabbi Yehuda Amital zt"l, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion,( where I had the privilege of studying) who passed away just over a month ago. May his memory be for a blessing and his Torah an inspiration to all.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out that our Torah portion, Ki Tetzei, describes a "a programme for the real world." The rules and regulations of wartime conduct, family life and interpersonal relations described in the Torah do not reflect a utopian or perfect society, but a deeply flawed world, a world where people sometimes act improperly, hate their spouses and take advantage of one another. After all, the Torah is meant to be a guide for a world in which these things happen, as we see each and every day. As Rabbi Sacks notes, the Torah's goal is to "make things better, not perfect" and "Judaism is about the long slow walk from real to ideal."
One approach to balancing the real and ideal - or what we have with what we aspire to- is to simultaneously be aware of the past and the present-as-it-becomes-the-future. We look back at the merits and mistakes of our ancestors (Zachor! Remember! Sh'ma! Hear!) and think forward to how we can improve ourselves with each passing moment.
The blowing of the shofar during the month of Elul serves both of these purposes[1]. On the one hand, it announces that Rosh Hashana is one month away. I have always viewed Rosh Hashana as a prospective holiday, full of wishes that the upcoming year should be sweet and blessed. We look forward from Rosh Hashana, praying and hoping that the year ahead will be a good one.
On the other hand, it is a reminder that this was the day that Moshe went up the mountain to receive the second set of tablets. Since he spent 40 days and nights there, the day on which he comes down is Yom Kippur. In other words, the shofar ALSO announces that Yom Kippur is 40 days away! I have always viewed Yom Kippur as a retrospective holiday, a day on which we repent for all the sins we have committed for the past year and pray for atonement and forgiveness. We look back upon the year that was and hope that we can rise above our mistakes.
The shofar is well suited to these two idea, viz. looking forward and looking backward. On the one hand, the shofar gathers the people together to travel in the desert, as it is written "and you shall blow a shofar blast (teru'a) and the camps shall travel" (Bemidbar 10:5). The shofar points the way forward. On the other hand, the shofar warns us to repent, as it is written: "Shall the shofar blow in the city and the people not tremble?" (Amos 3:6) Let's look at each individually:
I: Looking Forward The sound of the shofar calls to us to prepare. Rosh Hashana is coming! But, aside from the panic of getting High Holiday seats, inviting guests, cooking, cleaning, repenting, giving tzedaka, preparing in a thousand other ways, there is also a subtler, more thoughtful message. Rav Amital said the shofar calls upon us to set goals. If we are going to enter the new year with a prayer of accomplishing something, we have to have a road map of where we're going. Otherwise, as the old saying goes, "anywhere you go, there you are." You can wander forever in the moment, but you will never get to where you really want to go. If we want to be a better friend or spouse this year, the shofar reminds us that now is the time to set some concrete goals about what that means. If you want to be a better Jew this year, what will you learn and what will you practice that will take you to that next level? Saying that you want to be a better Jew is about as constructive as wishing for world peace for a moment before you dig into the kiddush. This year, I will call all my friends on their birthdays to make it about them., not me. This year, I will go up and introduce myself to people I don't know at MJE and make them feel welcome. This year, I will give a real contribution to a Jewish charity. This year, I will learn all the words to the Grace After Meals. This year, I will learn Torah 10 minutes every day, at my level. The time for New Year's resolutions, my friends, is NOW, not January 1st.
Moreover, the shofar reminds us that Judaism is not a 1-day a year. You do not 'finish' your Judaism. There is a requirement of constant effort. If you want to keep up with God and not get left behind on the dunes, you must keep walking forward. This is certainly true in carving out new frontiers, but it is equally true of what we have already accomplished. Have we made the most of our opportunities? Is there more we can still do? We must be able to improve the quality of our religious lives (the depth) and not just the quantity (the length.) Maybe we are already a good friend, but we can be better, or we can make sure not to take that friendship for granted. If we already know how learn Torah at a pretty high level, perhaps it is time to teach to others. If we already know the words to benching, do we say them with the appropriate kavana? (intention)
II: Looking Back The voice of the shofar is a warning siren, as we have mentioned. Now is the time to repent! But is also a groan; if you can imagine the bleating sounds of the shofar as a person groaning in frustration and contrition, first in gasps and then in smaller, shuddering sobs. The shofar is a sound of almost despair, the sound a person makes when they know they have failed to achieve their potential. The shofar arouses consciousness of failure and demands that we examine our actions to see where we knew better or should have known better, and sinned anyway. I KNEW that the right thing for my spiritual life was to go to shul on Shabbat. I even knew it as I rolled over to go back to sleep but I did it anyway. I knew that the right thing was to admit my mistake and ask for forgiveness from my girlfriend, but I was too proud to do it. The shofar gives voice to the inner voice we have that knows that we can do better. But first we need to confront our failures.
Finally, the shofar abjures us to modesty. When the shofar was blown, Moshe ascended the mountain, himself, in an individual and solitary journey to encounter God. When we hear the shofar, we are all Moshes (l'havdil) and we all walk that walk before our Creator alone. Our teshuva process is done IN a community, but it is a private affair and one does not advertise the efforts they make to become a better Jew, lest we turn repentance into vanity or arrogance. God is the one who is "bochein k'layot valev", who searches deeply into our innards (our kishkes) and our hearts. Our self-improvement is not "full of sound and fury" but rather a "still small voice."
May the shofar this Elul reverberate uniquely for each of us and give us the clarity to stretch back to our roots and forward to our destinies. May we have the insight to set goals and constantly strive to meet them, and may we have the strength to confront our failures with modesty so that we may repair them. Shabbat shalom!
Footnotes
[1] Starting the first of Elul, the shofar is blown each morning (usually, at the end of morning services) until 2 days before Rosh Hashana.
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Rabbi Avi HellerJoined: July 27, 2007 Originally from Denver CO, Rav Avi received a BA from BU and Rabbinic ordination and an MA in Bible from YU. Before joining MJE, he was Director of Jewish Education at BU Hillel, co-directed the BU Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus and was an Associate University Chaplain. He has been the... Divrei Torah (67) |
