In mussaf of Rosh Hashanah we say, כי לך דומה ואין תרועה ומאזין שופר קול שומע אתה, "You listen to the sound of the shofar, and you harken to the teruah, and no one is like You."
The words are simple enough to understand, but, like all words of the siddur, they contain much depth and meaning. Let us delve into these words.
Questions
1) שומע and מאזין both mean "to listen," but there is undoubtedly a difference between them. What is it?
2) What is the שופר קול and what is the תרועה?
3) Why is שומע phrased together with קול שופר, while מאזין goes with תרועה?
4) Why does this brachah end with the phrase לך דומה ואין, "There is no one like You"?
The Pri Megadim (592:1, quoting Reb Chaim Rappaport zt'l of Lemberg) explains that these words allude to two approaches to teshuvah. The firm, long sound of the shofar represents when one makes a kabbalah to improve once and for all and never goes back to his old ways. The choppy teruah represents the baalei teshuvah who improve and fall again. They pick themselves up and try once again to succeed in their teshuvah.
To whom is Hashem closer? Hashem is closer to those struggling with their teshuvah. These ideas are hinted at in the brachah we mentioned above. מאזין means to listen from nearby, and שומע is to hear from a distance.
It states תרועה מאזין, Hashem is close to those who struggle with their teruah, while שומע שופר קול, Hashem hears the voice of the shofar from a distance. The brachah concludes: לך דומה ואין, "No One compares to You."
The Pri Megadim explains that no one is like Hashem, Who listens from nearby to the imperfect people struggling to serve Him. This is unlike a human king who prefers the company of the polished people. Hashem is closer to the people who struggle with their teshuvah than he is to the tzaddikim who have perfect success with their teshuvah.
The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16) asks, "Why do we blow shofar with a ram's horn (של שופר איל)? Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, 'Blow for Me with a ram's shofar so that I will remember akeidas Yitzchok, and I will consider it as though you were bound on the akeidah before Me.'"
We wonder, why does the Torah require specifically the ram's horn? If the purpose of the shofar is to awaken the merit of akeidas Yitzchak, any part of the ram would do. For example, the Torah could have given us a mitzvah to hold the ram's foot or some other limb. Why specifically the horn?
The answer is that the ram ran to the akeidah, but its horns got caught in a bush. It struggled to be part of the mitzvah but got caught midway until Avraham came and untangled it. It is the struggle that is so precious to Hashem that we seek to remember.
