Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Tragedy has its powerful language which transcends words
There was a young man in my community who, because of a terrible accident, went into a coma that resisted medical intervention. For months he responded to nothing in his surroundings.
On Rosh Hashanah the hospital chaplain, making the rounds to extend the opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar, almost passed him by. What would be the point, he initially thought to himself. The doctors told the rabbi that the patient “isn’t really here.”
But upon reflection, the rabbi decided that even if the man’s mind was incapable of responding to God's mystical notes, perhaps the shofar might reach his soul. After all, the soul was brought into existence by God blowing into the physical form of Adam "the breath of life," investing in him some of His divine spirit. It is the soul which defines us as sharing “the image of God.”
Immediately after the sounds of the shofar the young man’s eyelids began to flutter. His lips started to move. He recognized those around him.
How was that possible? The answer is both simple and profound. The wavelength on which the shofar operates is on a different level than the one that communicates with the ears and the mind. Our neshamah, our soul, hears what we do not hear – or what we do not choose to hear. Our soul is more attuned to reality than all of our other organs. Our soul is who we really are – because it is the closest link we have to our Creator. Death is the moment when the original breath of God returns to its source. It is the disappearance of God’s presence which we refer to as dying. It is acknowledgment of God’s continued sharing of our existence that is the true meaning of living.
Whenever we acknowledge that truth, we are “inspired” – “in” “spiritus” – filled with the awareness of the divine breath which defines our partnership with God. The mitzvah of shofar shows us that there is a level of divine communication that transcends the rational. It demonstrates that a mitzvah can accomplish its goal in a moment, that the emotion of a musical note can mean more than a brilliantly expounded message.
