The Purpose of Too-Too-Too
And so we begin to see now what the Yom Teruah means to those who are yod’ei teruah. It’s not just a sound that we listen to for one or two days; we listen to the shofar in order that it should have very far-reaching consequences after Rosh Hashanah too. Yom Teruah means “Make this day your model. Make noise about Hashem all year long!”
But the question is, are we here in this world just to make noise for other people to hear, to proclaim to the world? Is it all for export? Actually the mitzvah is for every individual to hear the shofar, and so we must say that the most important target at which we are aiming all the noise is ourselves. We are the ones who will benefit most by hearing the kol shofar and therefore we are the ones who have to listen most.
After all, you’re not doing it for Hashem. He doesn’t need our coronation to ascend the throne. That’s as silly as could be; a little man on this earth takes a ram, saws off its horn, stands up in shul, and gives a blow, too-too-too, and you’ll give honor to the King? The Creator of the universe Who created billions of star worlds in which this earth is a speck of dust, and because one human being or a thousand or even a million human beings blow on the shofar, so He becomes exalted now from too-too-too? Of course not. We won’t make Him any more of a Melech no matter how much we blow.
So what is meant when we say הָﬠּרו¿ ּ̇ƒב יםƒ ֹ̃ל¡‡ הָלָﬠ, that He is exalted by our shofar blowing? The answer is that when we announce Hashem’s Kingship He becomes exalted in our own minds.
Learning to Listen
Now don’t think it’s such a simple matter; because people are always hearing things and never gaining anything. Tzu derheren, to acquire the knack of assimilating within yourself what you're hearing, there’s a certain greatness in that. To listen and to take it seriously – to let it enter into your bones – it saturates your mind and you become changed gradually; you become actually a new person by listening.
And so when we make a brachah רָפֹוׁ ̆ לֹו ̃ ַﬠֹמ¿ׁ ̆ƒל, to hear the voice of the shofar, it means more than just listening to the sound. It’s not enough merely to stand and think “I’m listening.” Of course we have to listen if the kolos are kosher to be yotzei, but we shouldn’t stop there – you have to understand that it’s talking to you.
The Talking Ram-Horn
The Rambam says that the shofar is telling you something – the Rambam in his big sefer doesn’t usually give reasons for the mitzvos and here he says that there’s a teaching in the voice of the shofar: ם∆כ¿ ַ̇ינƒׁ ̆ƒמ יםƒנ≈ׁ ̆¿יּרוּעו – ‘Awake o’ sleepers from your slumber ם∆כ¿ ַ̇מ≈ּ„¿רַּ ̇ƒמּוˆיƒ ָ̃ה יםƒמָּ„¿רƒנ¿ו – Sleepyheads arise!’ (Hilchos Teshuva 3:4).
That’s the purpose of the shofar, so that we ourselves should wake up and hear that Hashem is the King. Because we’ve been fast asleep for many months now – Olam Hazeh does that to a person; it’s a lullaby that knocks us out – and so the shofar comes along and blows, “Toooo-toooo-toooooo! Wake up, you sleepers!” That’s how a person has to stand in shul when the baal tokeia is blowing; he’s trying to wake himself up. “Miller! Do you hear that?! Wake up, Miller! They’re announcing ‘Hashem Melech!’”
Bestir yourself! Throw off all the styles and fads and ideas of the day, all the things that people are busy with and go back again to the original Source where it’s Hashem Melech and nothing else. Shema Yisroel, Hashem Echad! Hashem is the only One to Whom we listen. All of our attitudes have to come back to the Torah; that's our Source for our thoughts and for our emotions. That’s what the shofar is telling us. That’s what Hashem Melech means. It means that we are going to be busy all year reminding ourselves that there is nothing important in this world except for Hashem
A Thoughtful People
How is that? How is Hashem One? Only if people make up their minds to listen only to Him. It means to learn Torah, to think Torah thoughts as much as possible. We are a nation whose existence is the study of the Torah. We're not a nation merely that lives with kedushah, a nation that is virtuous and does good deeds and chessed – we’re much more than that! We're a nation of thought, of machshavah.
That's a point unfortunately which most people overlook. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted that the nation should be a thinking nation; ָך¿ּ ̇¿בƒׁ ̆¿ּב םָּב ָּ ̇¿רַּבƒ„¿ו ךָך∆מּו ̃¿בּוָך¿ּב¿כָׁ ̆¿בּוָך∆ר∆ּ„ַבָך¿ּ ̇¿כ∆ל¿בּוָך∆ ̇י≈ב¿ּב. Constantly, always, the Am Yisroel should be engaged in studying Torah and thinking Torah ideals.
Of course, Torah can have many aspects. It can be Torah that's complicated and difficult; we call it technicalities, halachos. There's Torah, the principles of the Torah, the darkei haTorah, mussar, emunah. Even women have so many parts of Torah that are applicable to them. Women can also always be thinking and talking in the ideals of Torah. But whatever it is, we’re a nation of machshavah. And the shofar is saying, “Hashem is your Melech and therefore get busy making for yourself a Torah mind.”
A Television for a Diamond
Of course, included in that is also to shut out from our minds all other influences that contradict that lesson. Certainly someone who listens to the shofar’s lesson won’t have a TV. Imagine someone who proclaims Hashem King and then he goes home to a TV or radio. It’s ridiculous! It means he didn’t hear anything yet; he didn’t hear the tekios yet.
If you heard the shofar so you go home right after Yomtiv and you throw your TV out the window. Make sure that nobody is walking on the sidewalk below – if the coast is clear, drop it out the window. Your wife won’t let? So give her some money to go shopping and when she’s out on the avenue put it out with the garbage. The magazines too! And if you have to buy her a diamond ring to make her happy again, it’s worth it. You must! Because if tzu derheren, if you were affected by the shofar so you’d begin to understand clearly all the issues involved in living and that life has a purpose. If you were listening to the coronation of the King you’d understand that the coming year means a year of responsibility.
New Year’s Resolutions
And that’s why on Rosh Hashanah among the most important functions is to make kabalos, to take upon ourselves certain plans for the ensuing year or for our entire lives. The kadmonim used to do that. They would spend some time thinking about themselves and seeing in which areas they need improvement and then they planned certain stratagems, eitzos v’tachbulos, how to solve the problems of their behavior.
Like it says, הָ‡¿רƒי¿ּב םּרוָﬠ םָ„ָ‡ ‡≈ה¿י םָלֹעו¿ל – a man should always be cunning in order to acquire yiras Shomayim (Brachos 17a). You have to plan ahead with various strategies. You can’t just go against your enemy when you're unprepared for any tactics he might present against you. ָך¿ּל ה∆ׂ ֲ̆ﬠַּ ̇ ֹ̇לוֻּב¿חַ ̇¿ב הָמָח¿לƒמ – You have to make war with stratagems (Mishlei 24:6). You have to find ways הָ‡¿רƒּיַה ילƒּ„¿‚ַה¿ל ןֹיוָּסƒּנַה יןƒט¿ ַ̃ה¿לּו, of making the fear of Hashem greater and reducing the amount of risk by keeping out of the way of temptation (see Ohr Yisroel 2:5).
Good people would plan ways and means how to cope with our problems in the new year. And some wrote down their kabalos right after Rosh Hashanah so they shouldn’t forget them. A whole year they kept that list with them.
So why shouldn’t we do that too? Maybe we can’t do it like the kadmonim did but even small kabalos, at least it’s a promise for the future that things should be somewhat beyond what they were up till now. Whether it’s in shalom bayis, your behavior towards your fellow man, in the way you daven, your ambitions to learn Torah, undertaking masim tovim and new mitzvos, or more hidur mitzvahs; whatever it is, to listen to the voice of the shofar and to understand that there’s work to be done.
The First New Year’s Resolution
And yet, among all the resolutions, as important as each one might be, the first and most important Rosh Hashanah resolution is that this year I’m going to make Hashem the Melech in my life. That’s more important than any other teshuvah.
Now that explains something, it answers a kasha that everyone asks. We know that Rosh Hashanah is a day of the greatest sakanah. Yom Hadin! It’s a very great danger because if a man is judged on Rosh Hashanah and Hashem considers that he has more sins than he has mitzvos, he’s finished chas v’shalom. They won’t give him an opportunity to wait for Yom Kippur. Who knows if he's going to be a beinoni that will be kept over until Yom Kippur for the final decision? Very many people are inscribed immediately on Rosh Hashanah and it's finished.
Emergency Teshuvah
Now since the din depends on zechuyos and on non-zechuyos, on merits and not merits, it would seem that our biggest job, the main function of Rosh Hashanah, would be to stand all day long and to say al cheit. How can it wait? Who knows where we're holding? Maybe even one aveirah less will be machria lekaf zechus so how can we postpone this teshuvah and wait until Yom Kippur? It’s an emergency! If we could throw overboard some aveiros on Rosh Hashanah we might save ourselves – and instead we’re busy with Hashem Melech and shofar blasts.
And the answer is that we’re throwing overboard the biggest sin of all. We’re doing the biggest teshuvah possible by saying ‘Hashem Melech’ all day long. There's nothing as important as that because without that nothing is worthwhile. You can say al cheit from now till tomorrow – yiras Shomayim without Shomayim is worthless.
Teshuvah on details is a very good thing but the most important teshuvah is, “Am I thinking, ‘Hashem Melech’?” Not only now on Rosh Hashanah; Rosh
