Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher, Dean of Students and Senior Lecturer at Diaspora Yeshiva, is not only a popular speaker and teacher, but also a dynamic thinker and writer. A student of Harav Yaakov Kamenetsky and Harav Gedalia Schorr, Rabbi Sprecher was granted smicha (rabbinical ordination) by Torah Vodaath Yeshiva. Prior to his current position, Rabbi Sprecher was a professor of Judaic studies at Touro College in New York. In addition to his duties at Diaspora Yeshiva, Rabbi Sprecher writes a regular column on various Judaic topics in the Jewish Press, and lectures regularly at the OU Israel Center in Jerusalem.
The Shofar: Horn of Unity and Freedom
Published: Monday, August 5, 2013 06:44:29 PM
Number of views: 2216

One aspect of the Mitzvah to sound the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah is to achieve the concept of unity. The Talmud in Rosh Hashanah 16a states that the primary purpose of the Shofar is to proclaim G-d's Kingship, "G-d says, ' Say Malchuyot before Me so that you will make Me King over you. With what? By blowing the Shofar.' The authority of a king is contingent on the existence of unity among his subjects. There can be no monarch without a people to serve him, and when a nation is divided, the monarchy loses its power. Thus, the Torah states (Devarim 33:5), "[G-d] became King over Yeshurun when the heads of the nation united, the Tribes of Israel together."

Another purpose of the Shofar blasts on Rosh Hashanah is to arouse the people to Teshuva. As Rambam states, (Hilchot Teshuva 3:4), "Even though the sounding of the Shofar on Rosh Hashana is a Torah decree, this Mitzvah does contain a message. The Shofar  is proclaiming, ' Wake up, you sleepyheads, from your sleep, and slumbering ones, arise from your stupor!! Examine your deeds and return to your Creator."

Based on our approach, we can explain that these two functions of the Shofar, unity and Teshuva on Rosh Hashana, are actually two dimensions of the same principle.
When the Shofar rouses our hearts and breaks down the barriers to Teshuva, it also spurs each person to contemplate the fact that we are not just individuals  but are also a part of a greater whole – the Jewish nation.  As the Zohar states," The Holy One Blessed Be He, Israel and the Torah are all One."

The Shofar was also sounded during the Yovel (Jubilee) year on Yom Kippur, when the Shofar blast announced the liberation of all Jewish slaves (Vayikra 25). This was another example of the Shofar's ability to bring about unity. For when the slaves were released, they became reunited with their families and with their fellow Jews. One may ask, the Yovel Year begins on Rosh Hashanah, so why did the Hebrew slaves have to wait ten days until Yom Kippur to be released and reunited with their families?  The answer is that this delayed release is a symbol that all of us are enslaved in some measure to our personal Yetzer Hara (evil inclination). On Yom Kippur all of us can free ourselves from our own personal spiritual slavery and addictions and become reunited with our Father in Heaven. As the Mishnah in Avot teaches, "The only truly free person is one who is occupied with Torah study."

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