Did You Know That

You probably knew that the effect of shofar sounds on Rosh Hashana is very great. But did you know that the Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 29:10) reveals that because we sound the shofar on Rosh Hashana, Hashem rises from the thrown of judgment and sits on the thrown of mercy?! Why even tefilla cannot equal to the power of shofar? Shem Mishmuel explains that tefilla simply does not have the necessary power to accomplish this. Only the shofar does. The shofar, says Shem Mishmuel, is קלא פנימאה (lit. the inner voice) - the expression of the heart’s cry. The heart has a cry that cannot be expressed in words, as the verse says: צָעַק לִּבַָּם אֶל ה‘ - Their heart cried out to Hashem (Eicha 2:18). Only the strength of the heart’s cry, expressed through the shofar, has the power to do something so extraordinary - i.e., to “disturb” judgment on the Day of Judgment! [sefer Shem Mishmuel on Rosh Hashana, year 5671, Day 2, “Bamidrash”]