Rabbi's Blog

The illustrious and rich history of Beth Jacob will remain a part of San Diego forever. I cannot speak for all eighty-five years, but I have been privileged to be part of this beautiful history for almost thirty of those years. There are several areas that are communal or external, while others are, of necessity, more internal. Even within the high holidays, there are areas that can be divided. One of those deeply meaningful, important components of the year - particularly regarding Rosh Hashana - is the shofar blowing and the shofar blower. Practically speaking, there were four main shofar blowers during my tenure, one for the each of the morning weekday minyanim and two for Rosh Hashana - one the first day and the other on the second day.  I may be off on my facts a bit (and I am sure someone will correct me), but the weekday blowers were Manny Flaster and Bernie Arenson for the first and second weekday minyanim respectively. Dr. Bill Lapp and Rabbi Simcha Weiser blew on alternate days of Rosh Hashana at least throughout the later years. When the Lapps made Aliyah, Rabbi Weiser blew shofar on both days, and, with Hashem’s help, will blow shofar again in a few days. When Bernie Arenson obm passed on, Mr. Flaster blew shofar after both minyanim during the week. After Mr. Flaster obm passed away, I took over the shofar blowing and continue to blow the shofar after shacharis up until the second to last day of 5784 here at Beth Jacob.

Baruch Hashem, thank God, I am blessed with a lot of hot air and can blow the shofar pretty well during the week. Many people may think as they hear me blow shofar that it is pretty good to be able to blow, even on Rosh Hashana. This is not the case at all; the tones blown during the month of Elul include only four sounds: tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah. The notes or tones blown blowing on Rosh Hashana consist of a minimum of nine blasts biblically, thirty sounds rabbinically, and one hundred sounds to fulfill a custom of the variations of what may actually be a teruah or a shevarim. So, blowing during Elul is just a short sprint while the Rosh Hashana shofar blowing is literally a marathon. In addition to the physical wherewithal, for Rosh Hashana being a D’Oraisa, a biblical command, requires the exactness and perfection of the Shofar and the sound. In contrast, during the month of Elul, we are not particular or picky about any of the laws of Shofar. As the Ritva in Rosh Hashana daf 26b quotes in the name of Rebbi Levi, “We are not necessarily careful, nor do we need to be about any invalidation of the Shofar or the sounds during Elul.” Now this is not to say I couldn’t work on my blowing to blow all one hundred plus notes on Rosh Hashana. It is a fact that a sprinter can learn and train to be a marathon runner and vice versa. But I do know that I currently could not blow the full amount on Rosh Hashana because I try to blow the minimum Rabbinic thirty later in the day for those who haven’t heard the Shofar, and I barely make it through. So, I know without a doubt that there is a clear difference, and just because one can blow a few notes in the short run there is no assurance that that person will be able to go the distance in the long run.

There are several classic answers as to why we blow Shofar the way we do during Elul and on Rosh Hashana. I would like to suggest that the shofar blowing throughout Elul is meant to give a person a short burst of inspiration - just enough for that day to reflect and to begin the process of introspection. Every day, there is another short blast to address the array of issues we must face to become better Jews in preparation for the new year. The shofar of Elul on a short daily basis is, L’Havdil, a ‘training camp’, helping those of us who blow shofar to ‘warm up’, to get in shape for the long, brutal, agonizing season. When an athlete or any professional enters their training time, it always starts off slowly. Then, day by day, consistently repeating the different exercises, we build up our stamina, strength and muscles. These items may be our skill set, our attention capacity, and our overall mindset. This is what the month of Elul represents. Elul is announced with a sharp piercing reminder every morning to get ready, to prepare in earnest for the new season. Like my method of teaching a Bar Mitzva boy, encouraging him to practice day in and day out until the  Friday before his Bar Mitzva when I say, ”O.K now you are ready. There’s no need to review today [Friday]. You are off because you are ready for the big day tomorrow.” True, we stop blowing the Shofar the day before Rosh Hashana to trick Satan in being confused when Rosh Hashana is about to occur, but… can we really trick the Satan? Is it that simple? I would suggest that we no longer need to blow that last day, as in the example of the bar mitzva boy, because we are super prepared and ready. Therefore, we are not afraid of what the prosecutor has to say. We are not worried because we have built a solid case day after day throughout this last month.

In contrast to the many series of long Shofar blasts on Rosh Hashana day itself, in addition to the fact that the shofar blowing is a Torah commandment, it also contains elements which require us to perform the necessary actions of being a Jew throughout the year. The Shofar blowing of Rosh Hashana day gives us the energy for the entire year. One may ask how the sound of the shofar blowing from that one day can help us throughout the entire year?  Rabbi Isaac ben Abraham Aboab (1300), in his sefer Menoras Hamaor, explains (in Ner 5 klal 2) that the strength of the shofar powers our arousal. The arousal and awakening from the Shofar on Rosh Hashana is so powerful that it is tantamount to hearing the voice of God directly. Chazal say וה' נתן קולו  - and Hashem gave over His voice on Rosh Hashana. Through the blowing of the Shofar on Rosh Hashana, it is as if we are hearing God directly speaking to us. Hearing of the Shofar on Rosh Hashana is the sounding of Hashem calling us to Teshuva/repentance. The sounds of the shofar come to subdue the evil inclination against us, removing the enemies in front of us, allowing us to resume the goodness that comes out when all the evil is gone. It is a slow process that continues throughout the year.

Everything in life consists of two ways to approach and accomplish. May the actions of the Elul blasts motivate and get us going to do the positive things in life, while the Shofar on Rosh Hashana will slowly provide hearing of Hashem’s voice in observing and removing the evil inclination. May we all be zocheh to learn and absorb the lessons of both the Elul blasts of preparation and the second blast of the Rosh Hashana blowing to protect us throughout the entire year.       

Wishing you and your family Ah Gutten Shabbos & Ah Ghut Yur

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky