Rosh HaShanah: Why Do We Blow the Shofar?

Numerous reasons have been advanced for this mystical mitzvah.

By Rabbi Ari Enkin, Rabbinic Director, United with Israel

One of the most esoteric and mystical commandments that we have is the blowing of the shofar. It is unclear exactly why we blow the shofar but numerous suggestions have been raised over the years.

The great Torah sage, Rav Saadiah Gaon, who lived in 9th and 10th century Iraq provides no less than 10 different reasons for why we blow the shofar.

He explains that the shofar is reminiscent of a trumpet or a bugle that is blown during the coronation of a king, which is fitting for Rosh HaShanah, the time when the King of Kings is, so to speak, coronated.

Saadiah Gaon states that the shofar is also like a warning or an alarm to remind people to repentant before it’s too late or that it acts as a siren to remind us that danger may be imminent. In addition, he states that the shofar reminds us of the shofar that was heard when receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.

According to Rav Saadiah Gaon, another reason for the blowing of the shofar is to remind us of the Temple in which the sound of the shofar was commonplace.

The shofar is also supposed to serve as a reminder of the binding of Isaac in which, at the last moment, a ram caught in a bush by its shofar, saved the day.

Another reason is to instill within us a feeling of fear in light of the colossal task we have ahead of us, namely repenting or fear of the ultimate judgement at the end of days.

Finally, explains Saadiah Gaon, the shofar is supposed to remind us that at the end of days a shofar will be sounded at the time of the ingathering of the exiles and ultimately at the resurrection of the dead.

Rabbi Yitzchak’s Strange Answer

All these explanations are intriguing, but there is another reason given in the Talmud, where Rabbi Yitzchak asks, “Why do we blow shofar”, to which the Talmud answers in surprise, “Why do we blow the shofar? The Torah says blow!”

This is a strange answer. Did anyone doubt that the source of this mitzvah was in the Torah?

Perhaps one of the lessons being taught in the Talmud is that the mitzvah of blowing the shofar is so deep and so mystical that we don’t fully understand what the reason for it is, and the fact that it is a commandment in the Torah is reason enough.

In fact, the elusive nature of this mitzvah is further highlighted by the following law.

There is an interesting debate in Jewish law regarding who should blow the shofar. If there are two candidates, one an extremely talented shofar-blower capable of producing inspirational, moving blasts but he is just a regular person or alternatively there is a particularly righteous individual who, whilst being able to blow the shofar, lacks the ability to produce anything even remotely moving or powerful; who takes precedence?

According to Jewish law it may be better to opt for the righteous individual. Now surely if the purpose of the shofar is to inspire the listeners, the talented shofar-blower should be offered the position. However, we see from this case, that perhaps there is something deeper going on and the sound of a shofar blown from a righteous individual may be spiritually more effective.

When listening to the shofar there are many things one could think of, such as acceptance of Gods kingship over the world and over ourselves as well as thoughts of repentance.

Perhaps focus on the following: After blowing the Shofar we say a beautiful prayer, it reads, “Today is the birthday of the world. Today all creatures of the world stand in judgement, whether as children [of G-d] or as servants.”

However, it is explained that it doesn’t just mean “that everyone is judged both children and servants” but rather can be understand to mean we can judge ourselves and change our convictions within ourselves from service of God through fear and routine as a servant, to service of God through love, joy and closeness as a child of God.

Perhaps this year during the shofar blasts, one of our thoughts can be just this: Am I going to continue to serve God by rote or am I going to “up the game” and serve God with love as one of his children?

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