Now, it says in the Mishna (Rosh Hashana 3:3) that on Rosh Hashana in the Beis Hamikdash “the sound of the Shofar was greatly ‘extended.’”
In the Beis Hamikdash, in addition to the sounding of the Shofar on Rosh Hashana, they also sounded the silver trumpets. Since the mitzvah of the day is the Shofar, they made sure to sound the Shofar louder and longer than the silver trumpets.
This “extending” of the sound of the Shofar represents in a general way the level of “‘Arich’ Anpin-an Extension of a Gracious Countenance.”
The level of “Arich Anpin” is a level that precedes Atzilus, and is the hidden source of Atzilus. Atzilus is the level that processes all of our actions in a manner of reward and punishment. Receiving from the level of Arich Anpin is like receiving an extension of grace on a level that goes past the judicial system. This is similar to how a king can extend a “royal pardon” to commute a sentence of someone convicted.
In other words, through the sound of the Shofar, we reach a level in ourselves that is higher than our own “judicial system” of logical processing and analysis, and experience our core-essential desire to connect with Hashem. This is reflected in Hashem’s extension of grace towards us.
Reconnecting the Ten Soul Powers
More specifically: Each day of the Ten Days of Teshuva, we reconnect one of our ten soul powers with Hashem, which are the three aspects of intellect, Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge, and its (seven) emotional aspects (which are Kindness, Severity, Beauty/Mercy, Perseverance, Self-control, Connection, and Action).
In other words, not only do we reconnect our innermost desire to Hashem on Rosh Hashana, but through that we reconnect every aspect of our soul with Hashem. For example, we reconnect our Wisdom to Hashem’s Wisdom, so that the only thing we really care to contemplate on and understand is Hashem’s Wisdom of the Torah. Similarly, we reconnect our love and fear to Hashem, so that the only thing we should really love is to connect to Hashem, and the only thing we are afraid of is breaking our connection to Hashem through a sin.
Each day of the Ten Days of Teshuva has a special power to reconnect one of our ten soul powers to Hashem.
However, this can only be fully accomplished after we reconnect to Hashem on a more general level, by reconnecting our innermost desire to Hashem.
