The Rambam (Teshuvah 3:4) writes, "Although blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a gezeiras hakasuv (a Torah decree), the shofar is telling us something. The shofar is shouting, משנתכם ישנים עורו— Those who sleep, wake up from your sleep! Examine your deeds and repent. Remember your Creator, all those who have forgotten the truth."
A baal teshuvah shared his personal story:
"One Rosh Hashanah, I was in the hospital, and someone came to blow the shofar for us. I was non-religious at the time, and I was intrigued by the shofar. I asked many questions about the shofar, wanting to understand what the shofar was all about. I didn't quite get their explanations, so I told them how it appeared to me:
'I served in the Israeli Navy on a submarine. Underwater, the means of communication was Morse code. I was an expert in Morse code. I could send and receive messages very quickly.
A couple of years after leaving the navy (and spending time in India), I saw an advertisement: The army was looking for a Morse code expert to be in charge of several submarines. The ad instructed interested applicants to apply on a specific day at a certain office between 10:00 and 12:00 noon. I arrived at 11:50. The room was packed with applicants, but no one was being called in. Music played in the background, and I sat down for a few moments and listened. Then I got up, brazenly opened the door to the office, and said, 'I came for the interview.'
Many people are waiting in line ahead of you," the secretary said. "And you just arrived. Please wait your turn."
I didn’t listen to her. I walked into the room and talked to the person in charge. After speaking briefly, I was hired for the job."
The interviewer went out to the waiting room and said, "Thank you all for coming, and I'm sorry about the delay. We have already hired someone. You can all go home."
"It isn't fair,” they all shouted. “This man came in last. Why did you interview him before us?"
"Didn't you hear the music?" the man said. "Listen carefully. Don’t you get it? It's Morse code. It says: 'If you've come for the interview, just open the door and come inside.' This man heard the message. You didn’t. You are clearly not as fluent in the language as he is."
The irreligious man in the hospital said that he thinks the shofar is speaking a language, only it needs to be deciphered. If you could understand the language, you would hear the shofar telling us, “Just open the door and come inside. Come to Hashem. He is waiting for you.”
The Or HaMeir's Question
The Or HaMeir asks if the primary purpose of the shofar is to arouse people to teshuvah, why didn't the Torah instead instruct the rabbanim of each beis medresh to deliver a fiery mussar drashah to rouse people to teshuvah? Why the shofar?
The Or HaMeir answers with a mashal:
A town hired a man to stand guard on a mountaintop. He would ring bells, shout, and warn the townspeople below if he noticed thieves or any impending danger. Once, the man saw thieves. He shouted and rang his bells: "Ganavim! Thieves!" The wealthy people frantically ran out to save their properties, but the poorer folks weren’t worried. They knew that the thieves weren't after them.
Another day, the guard shouted, "Fire! There's a fire!" This time, even the poor people ran to put out the fire because the fire could consume their meager belongings.
The Or HaMeir explains that if the Rav of every congregation would give a mussar drashah instead of the shofar, people would say, "The Rav isn't talking to me. He is speaking to others who need to improve in those areas."
For example, if the Rav spoke about the importance of studying Torah with hasmadah, some people would think, "I'm glad the Rav is speaking about this topic because there are many people in this beis medresh who should study more Torah," without thinking that the drashah applies to him. He believes he studies enough.
Whatever the Rav speaks about, be it tefillah, tzedakah, or middos, there will always be those who think the Rav is talking to others and not to them.
Someone told a gadol about his shalom bayis problems. The gadol told him, "The solution is to be mevater." The man replied, "Of course, I know that, and I tell that to my wife all the time, but she doesn't get it. She isn't willing to be mevater..." This demonstrates people's tendency to think that only others have a problem, not themselves.
Moshe Rabbeinu said, הארץ ותשמע ...השמים האזינו, "The heaven shall listen... The earth should hear..." Moshe, the אלקים איש, was closer to heaven than to the earth; therefore, when he spoke to heaven, he said האזינו that they should listen from nearby. To the earth, he called הארץ ותשמע, that it should hear from the distance.
Therefore, the Torah wisely tells us to blow the shofar. The shofar shouts, "There's a fire, and we're all in danger!" It is a call to action for everyone.
