THE SHOFAR AND THE TRUMPETS
All of us, Kehal Israel - the Community of Israel in the Land and in the Golah, are about to hear the sound of the shofar on Yom HaZikharon (Rosh HaShanah - the Day of Remembrance).Yet along with the sound of the shofar we yearn to hear the trumpets ring forth. We are enchanted by that holy depiction of the “ideal” shofar, magnificent in its adornment, its “mouth coated with gold and two trumpets at its sides, the shofar is drawn-out and the trumpets sound briefly, for the mitzvah of the day [lies in the sounding of] the shofar” (Rosh Hashanah 26:Mishneh).
It is true we are not worthy in our present state of decline to realize this [ideal]. “R. Pappah bar Shmuel considered issuing a ruling in accordance with this mishneh,Rabbah said to him, this [mishneh] refers only to the Temple nor did they conduct themselves in this manner except in the eastern gate and on the Temple Mount. Ravah, or some say R. Yehoshua ben Levi, asked what is the passage in the Torah [which is the source for this mishneh]. “With trumpets and sound of the horn/Shout ye before the King, the L-rd.” [cf. Heb. - “hareiu”= shout; teruah = shofar blast] (Ps. 98:6) [That is], as we shall explain, [the sound of the] trumpets and the sound of the shofar “before the King, the L-rd” but nowhere else.” (Rosh Hashanah 27), and if that is the case we now hear in our synagogues only the sound of the shofar alone. But are we not bound in the sure expectation, that yet will “He chooseth our inheritance for us,/ The pride of Jacob whom He loveth. Selah.” (Ps. 47:5), and we will hear in our Holy Temple the sound of voices blending, the trumpets and the shofar together. Then too we will not forget that the trumpets sounds briefly while the shofar is drawn-out, for the mitzvah of the day lies in the sounding of the shofar.
The Day of Remembrance, Yom Teruah (the shofar blast), is the great holy day of our L-rd, in which we stress by means of our shofar the everlasting solemnity of G-d (the Eternal of Israel). The voice of the shofar proclaims in our ears that mighty declaration ”Fear not, O Jacob My servant” (Isa. 44:2) neither be dismayed Israel. And in these times how deep should the impression made upon us of this holy display be, despite all our troubles and misfortunes. “They have said: ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;/That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.’ ” (Ps. 83:57) “set[ting] themselves against me round about.” (v. Ps. 3:7) in all our Diasporas in the Golah (Exile),and here on our proud glory, our holy ground.
Indeed this spiritual display is twofold, for we live within nature which encompasses us with its laws, and we are commanded to lead our lives in accordance with them, in the context of the sanctification of “the law and the commandment ” (Exod. 24:12); (II Kings 17:37); (II Chron. 14:3), keeping His laws “...those laws by which I decreed the heavens and the earth...” (Heb: hukhim - laws; Heb: hakhaakhti - I decreed; VaYikrah Rabbah 35:4). Certainly we are also associated with all those transformations which the human spirit is bringing about by means of technical know-how in all its ramifications. And just as we lead our lives by the laws of nature in accord with the Word of G-d and the light of His Torah, so too do we lead our lives in accord with the principles of technical knowledge, yet we must do so in keeping with the laws of the Torah and the brightness of its light. From this we may conclude that there is a inherent Judaism and a technical Judaism. Inherent Judaism finds expression through the sounding of the shofar - a natural instrument, while technical Judaism finds its expression through the sounding of the trumpet - an instrument which is the product of man’s craftsmanship.
Our fervent ambition is to glorify both those elements of Judaism the inherent and the technical, but we can bring our lives into complete harmony with all natural and technical desires jointly, according to the law and the commandment (Exod. 24:12 ;II Kings 17:37; II Chron. 14:3), only as we bring our lives all-inclusive to that perfection whose sign will be our worthiness to return to our Holy Land, in all its splendour and majesty when we stand before G-d on that spot which is the world’s ornament, our holy and glorious House, when the Temple of the King and our capital City will be perfect in its splendour.
Indeed even though the hand which struck out against our Temple, shattered our strength, let not our enemies rejoice. It is true that the hand of iniquity could be stretched out against the Judaism of technical knowledge and the splendour of the trumpets has been taken from us for a time, but all know that the totality of technical knowledge is based only upon the force of nature and no enemy hand can rend our inherent Judaism. In this we are the mightiest and most powerful of nations, and the shofar will remain in our hand forever. And at the sound of its voice we are heartened and sure in the triumphant achieval of our hopes that the trumpets will return to us speedily, and the Judaism of technical knowledge will soon appear before us in the perfection of its magnificence, adorning also our inherent Judaism with that splendour and majesty were taken away from it by enemy discord harming that which is holy.
And “with trumpets and sound of the horn” we shall “shout...before the King, the L-rd” (Ps. 98:6) in a true and lofty house. And we shall teach ourselves and all the peoples of the world who see, that we called by G-d’s Name, that human technical knowledge was created in order to serve the world and the life, appointed by the Word of G-d to be perfect and holy “that G-d made man upright” (Eccl. 7:29). It must not devour or corrupt but is of secondary importance to the existence of the world in the purity of its fresh and healthy nature according to the process of the laws of nature which the living G-d and King of the world created for His creatures to live by.
And let us then remember also and especially in the days of our greatness and our magnificence that the shofar is drawn-out while the trumpets sound briefly, that the mitzvah of the day lies in the sounding of the shofar.
And “Happy is the people that know the joyful shout [teruah];/They walk, O L-rd, in the light of Thy countenance.” (Ps. 89:16)
---HaRav A.Y. Kook, Ma’amarei HaRe’iyah
(translated by Rhea Magnes)