The Mysterious Shofar Blast
In Tehillim (89:16), it states: הָﬠּרו¿ ̇ י≈ﬠ¿„ֹיו םָﬠָה י≈ר¿ׁ ַ̆‡ – Fortunate is the nation that knows the shofar blasts. Now, in the Torah, Rosh Hashanah is known as הָﬠּרו¿ּ ̇ םֹיו – ‘The day of the shofar blast’ (Bamidbar 29:1), and Dovid Hamelech is telling us here that besides for blowing the shofar on the day of Rosh Hashanah, there is something called ‘knowing the shofar blasts’. It’s those individuals who make an effort to understand the lesson of the shofar blasts, they are the most fortunate among us; they are the ones who will have a successful Rosh Hashanah.
Now, who doesn’t want that? All of us here want another year, a good year of happiness and success, and therefore ‘Ashrei! How fortunate we will be if we take some time to know the teruah.’
Only that when you look in the Torah there’s nothing to know – it’s a mystery. The mitzvah of blowing shofar is stated in the Torah without any reason. ם∆כָל ה∆י¿הƒי הָﬠּרו¿ּ ̇ םֹיו ... ׁ ̆∆„ֹחַ ל „ָח∆‡¿ּב יƒיעƒב¿ּׁ ַ̆ה ׁ ̆∆„ֹחַבּו – In the seventh month on the first of the month ... it should be a day of shofar blowing for you (Bamidbar 29:1). That’s all; it doesn’t even mention the word Rosh Hashanah – surely not a reason for the shofar blasts. In one other place something is mentioned: It should be a הָﬠּרו¿ּ ̇ ןֹרו¿כƒז – a shofar blast that reminds you (Vaykira 23:24). But to remind us of what?! It’s a blank.
Seek Out the Rabbis
Now, the first thing we see is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to demonstrate the importance of Torah Shebaal Peh – the Oral Law that was taught to Moshe Rabbeinu on Har Sinai and handed down from generation to generation. Because you see here that the Torah is intentionally concealing information. After all, there must be something more here; all of a sudden on the first day of the seventh month you blow shofar? What’s the procedure? And what’s the idea altogether?
The King
And so we understand right away that the reason is concealed from us in order that we should go to the Torah Sages. Hashem says, “In the seventh month on the first day you blow shofar. That’s all I’m telling you. You want to know what it’s all about? Go to the Chachmei haTorah who received the Torah Shebaal Peh and they will tell you. They’ll tell you that it’s a Yom Hadin and that you have to blow a certain amount of blasts, with a certain procedure. From them, you can begin to understand the purpose of this mitzvah.”
The Machzor’s Answer
And what do the Chachomim tell us? So when you look in the seder hatefillah – the tefillos were written by the Anshei Knesses Hagedolah, the keepers of the Torah Shebaal Peh. And so when you look there, you see that Rosh Hashanah is all about malchiyos; everything revolves around Hashem’s Kingship.
Yes, you’ll find that there are other aspects too but even they are all connected to the element of proclaiming Hashem the Melech. When we blow the shofar, those blasts are coming to proclaim His Malchus. That was the practice in the olden days, when a king began his reign it was announced by the blowing of trumpets. And that’s what we’re doing on Rosh Hashanah; we’re announcing that He is the Melech. ‘Hashem Melech!’ – that’s the theme of the day.
The English King
Now, I use the word melech deliberately because the English word ‘king’ doesn’t do any justice at all to the word melech. Because when we consider the truth of the matter, who was the king of England really? He was a shikur who gained the throne by assassinating someone before him. The kings weren’t elected; they weren’t chosen because of their good middos. It was somebody who was a tough brute, a buccaneer and racketeer who fought his way to the top.
I’ll tell you one of the stories as it’s told in the history books. I’m saying it in short but you’ll understand the picture. There was a brigand in the highlands of Scotland who was more vicious than his fellow cousins, and so after committing many deeds of mayhem, he finally gained control of his clan; this big brute now became the chief. But because he was an ambitious brute, that wasn’t enough, and so after a few well-timed murders he succeeded in building himself a castle and making himself a member of the Scottish nobility.
After a while he was so rich that his family intermarried with the reigning family in England. Invei hagefen b’invei hagefen – the drunkards of Scotland were meshadech with the drunkards of England. And then, when a suitable situation arose, this Scottish mobster hired someone to plunge a dagger into his mechutan and he himself took over. That’s how he acquired the title ‘king.’
A Different Type of King
But when we say Hashem is King, it means something else altogether. Because Hashem is not someone Who came to a country that already existed and He was chosen King or He conquered them and became their King. No, our King is something very different – He made the country and He made the people. And then He put the people into the country and that's how He became King.
That, by the way, is why Rosh Hashanah is on the first of Tishrei, the day He created the world. םָלֹעו ַ̇רֲה םֹוּיַה – Today is the birthday of the world. We say that again and again on Rosh Hashanah. And it’s not a new idea, a separate subject from Hashem Melech. It’s the explanation.
How did He become King? When He made the world yesh me’ayin; He brought it into being out of nothing. Before, there was no world. It was ayin – there was nothing at all except Hashem. And when He made the universe, He became a Melech. Hashem Melech means He created His kingdom, u’molach aleihem, and thereby He became the King. Now that’s a King! Everything else, all of creation, it’s only His wish that makes it exist; but intrinsically nothing has any existence. And that’s what Rosh Hashanah is saying – our King is something entirely different because He’s the only real existence in the world.
A Virtual Reality
That’s why when we say various pessukim about Hashem’s Malchus in the Rosh Hashanah mussaf tefillah so the last one is „ָח∆‡ 'הּינו≈ ֹ̃ל¡‡ 'ה ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי עַמ¿ׁ ̆. All the other pessukim mention the word Melech. That’s the point of the ten pessukim of Kingship. But the last one, the grand finale, seems to be missing the most important word. It’s just 'ה ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי עַמ¿ׁ ̆ „ָח∆‡ 'הּינו≈ ֹ̃ל¡‡; it doesn’t mention anything about Hashem being the King.
But Hashem Echad, that’s the true explanation of Hashem Melech, because Echad means that He is the only One Who exists. The only One? Don’t we exist? So the Rambam explains that He is the mechuyav hametzius; it means He is the only One Whose existence is a real existence; everything else in the world exists only because Hashem wants it to be in existence. We exist only in the sense that He causes us to be in existence through His ratzon – if He stopped imagining us into existence we would disappear into nothing. Of course, His Imagination is a significant Imagination. You can pinch yourself; you see that you’re real. But still, it’s only His Imagination. Our King is the only One Who actually exists.
And that means that He’s the only One we should be thinking about. Hashem Echad means that He should be the Echad in our thoughts. No matter what you are doing – no matter what you are thinking about, He’s the One Who you should be thinking about most. And that’s the teruah, the blast we blow, to announce His Kingship, to proclaim to all that His existence is the only One in the world.
Trumpeting Moshiach
Now why don't we just get together and shout? Who needs a shofar blast? The answer is that the human voice is not strong enough to emphasize the greatness of the occasion – it requires the big blast of the shofar. Like it says about that day that we’re all looking forward to, the day of לֹו„ָּ‚ רָפֹוׁ ̆¿ּב עַ ̃¿ּ ּ̇נו≈ ּ̇רו≈ח¿ל – Hakadosh Baruch Hu will someday sound a great shofar and take us out of golus. Now why will He sound a great shofar? Let Him just come and take us out. We need trumpets? Just take us out and we’ll be happy.
The answer is that the greatness of the event requires a shofar blast. Just like the great event of Mattan Torah came with a blast, Moshiach will also come with a loud blast. The whole world is finally going to know the truth; it will be revealed that Hashem Elokei Yisroel is King and that all the ideologies of the umos haolam are sheker v’chazav. All their religions are false. All their schools, all their teachings are loaded with sheker. All their minhagim, their attitudes toward life are all wrong. Only the way that the Am Hashem has been conducting itself throughout history, that's the only way Hashem recognizes. And now, in order that the world should hear that emes, Hakadosh Baruch Hu will make a shofar gadol, a blast that will deafen the ears. Because what's most important must be announced with a boom, a blast.
Let’s Have a Blast
And that’s why the declaration of His Kingship we do by means of a shofar. Not quietly. A declaration with a blast. Because in this world the great truths are not heard – יƒמֹרו ל∆ׁ ּ̆הָנֹמוֲה לֹוּ ̃ƒמ – because of the great noise that comes from Rome (Yoma 20b). Now it doesn't mean only from Rome in Italy. It means also the great noise that comes from the tumah of New York and the tumah of London and Paris and Tel-Aviv and Berlin and Moscow.
All over the world, the centers of gentile civilization are producing noise of sheker. The scientists and evolutionists, the politicians and entertainers and televisions and newspapers; a world full of apikorsim making noise. And so today we make a big blast to remind ourselves that our job is to drown out their noises. Hashem Melech means we’re shouting them down; we’re laughing at them. Hashem Melech means that we are drowning out all of the noise from the other religions too. Because they’re nothing. I don’t want to insult the religions because we are good friends of everybody. Along with being loyal citizens of our country, we’re good with everybody. But it’s plain ridiculous. All the religions are ridiculous. And because the world makes noise about nothing, so we need the shofar blast to drown them out.
Know the Shofar Blast
And so we come back now to י≈ﬠ¿„ֹיו םָﬠָה י≈ר¿ׁ ַ̆‡ הָﬠּרו¿ ̇ - Fortunate are those who know what the teruah is all about, and we’ll say now that this is the purpose of the shofar blasts; Hakadosh Baruch Hu is being proclaimed by us as the Melech!
Rosh Hashanah is dedicated to making ourselves aware that there is only One thing in the world and there is only One thing that matters in the world: Hashem Melech, Hashem Echad. And as much noise as the world wants to make, we’re going to stand our ground. We’re putting the world on notice: as far as we’re concerned ¿ךֹל¿מƒי 'ה ¿ךָלָמ 'ה ¿ך∆ל∆מ 'ה „∆ﬠָו םָלֹע¿ל - Hashem always was King, Hashem is King now, and Hashem will be King forever and ever.
