Hosafos/Addendum
Mashal/Analogy of the Baal Shem Tov for the Shofar:
To better understand one way to come to deep Teshuva on Rosh Hashanah, we will bring an analogy/mashal from the holy Baal Shem Tov, explaining the idea of the cry of the Shofar:
Mashal/Analogy:
A king had a son that he wished would succeed him as king. He wanted his son to know how to take care of himself, how to learn on his own, and how to be courageous and come up with ideas on his own initiative. So, after years of learning in the palace with his tutors, the king sent his son off to a faraway land so that his son should grow up and become his own person.
The king gave him fancy clothing, gold and silver, and ministers, to help him get established in his new place.
When the king sent him off, he reminded him, “Remember, you are on a mission! Do not get distracted by anything!”
Soon after the son arrived, he began to relax. He did not spend time learning from his new culture. Instead, he spent all his money on luxuries and he ruined his fancy clothing. The ministers that were with him left him because they saw that he was not accomplishing anything.
Eventually, he became so poor that he had to go around collecting tzedakah. He even forgot the language of his home country, the language spoken in the palace of the king.
One day, signs started to go up all over town: The great king is coming through this town! Everyone in town was very excited and made the necessary preparations for such an honorable visitor. The son of the king found out that this king is his father and became excited, but he soon became disheartened, thinking that no one would believe him that he is the son of the king. He tried to come close to the king as the king was passing through, but the guards just pushed him away, thinking he was just some beggar who would disgrace the king. He could not even remember the language of the king, so he just broke down crying and sobbing.
The king heard the crying and recognized his son’s voice. He told the guards to let the apparent beggar through. Finally, the son was reunited with his father! He had a true feeling of regret for how he completely forgot about his mission, and he promised his father, the king, that he learned his lesson and will stay on track in life.
The Nimshal/Analogue:
Our Neshama was sent by Hashem, Avinu Malkeinu-our Father and King- to this world to accomplish Hashem’s intent and purpose of creation. This is fulfilled through learning Torah and fulfilling Mitzvos. Hashem gives us the power to fulfill the mission. But we get distracted from the mission and get caught up in other things. We ruin our “royal garments” of thought, speech, deed of Torah and Mitzvos, and we forget the meaning of the Torah and Tefilla, the “language of the King.” When we hear that Hashem is coming to judge the whole world, we get excited that this is our chance to come close to Hashem. But we become disheartened when we realize how far we are from knowing the “language of the King.” The only way to reach Hashem is through the simple cry that comes from knowing that He is our True Father and that we are his children, and that what we want more than anything is to come back to Hashem and fulfill the mission that He sent us on. This simple cry is the cry of the Shofar.
