Rabbi Moshe Shilat - Shabbat Bishabbato Parshas Nitzavim
The labor of the day on Rosh Hashanah is to crown G-d – "And you shall make Me your King!" All year round we are very busy. We are occupied with our weekday burdens, a livelihood and our bodily needs, and we are also occupied with serving G-d and with our prayers, Torah study, observing the mitzvot, and improving our deeds. On Rosh Hashanah, for forty-eight hours, we do not take care of any day-to-day matters, neither physical nor spiritual, but rather we pay attention to the very basic foundation: to renew the royal authority of the King of the Universe.
We wake up to establish G-d's kingship over us and over creation as a whole. "Rule over the entire world." By crowning the King we are showing our lack of worth compared to Him. Our acceptance of the yoke of heaven is deeper at this time than at any other time during the year.
Chassidism describes an event of "siluk" - removal – that takes place on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. The Holy One, Blessed be He, disappears from the world and "folds up inside," and withdraws "within Himself." Our attempt to crown the Holy One, Blessed be He, on Rosh Hashanah and our prayers to Him are a request for renewed contact, such that He will want to have us back and return to here.
Just Accept the Yoke
The labor of the day consists of prayer and having a broken heart, like a slave who begs for his life. Chassidism issues a special warning on Rosh Hashanah to refrain from vain actions and from any speaking at all (!), to sleep little, and to recite Tehillim. Even great and prominent people spend the day in the "simple labor" of accepting the yoke of heaven.
We do not concentrate on actions or study but rather on withdrawing into ourselves and full dedication to observing the will of G-d. This acceptance of the yoke gives us strength for our labor for the rest of the year, for action that is full of happiness and that flourishes. The statement by the sages that "a year which is poor in the beginning will bring wealth at its end" is explained by Chassidism to mean that standing before G-d with a feeling of poverty and emptiness when we accept the true yoke of heaven will lead to a year that is full of wealth and a favorable life. We all want life, we all aspire to live in a Divine space. But this comes as a result of our being "in a constrained place, a meitzar." Crowding our entire being into Rosh Hashanah is what leads G-d to reply to us in a great expanse.
A Day of a Shofar Blast
This holiday does not have many special rituals but rather a great many prayers. It has a need for many proper intentions and one specific action, blowing a shofar. "Let it be a day of blasting" [Bamidbar 29:1]. The crowning is achieved through the use of a shofar blast. "Recite the passage of royalty before me, so that you will crown me... And how is this done? With a shofar."
The "tekiyah" of the shofar, the long simple blast, is the primary and simplest sound that a shofar makes. It is not especially interesting and it is not a symphony of various sounds, rather it is an act of crying out!
The shofar is the natural horn of an animal which is at a lower spiritual level than we are. This is a living creature which is much less complex than we are.
The blast of the shofar is described in the Torah as a "teru'ah." There are two explanations for this word. (1) Chopping up and shattering. (As in "And the land of Ashur will be chopped up by the sword" [Micha 5:5]. (2) An expression of love and appreciation, "He has the love of a king for him" [Bamidbar 23:21].
The shattering of our personality and the reality around us when a shofar is blown awakens and reveals the independent love between us and G-d.
The Most Absolute Experience!
The words of Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik about the Chassidic approach to the blowing of the shofar are very interesting.
"The blast of the shofar, according to the approach of the Tanya, is an expression of the tremendous desire of the one who wants to leave behind the limits of the trait of constriction – the trait of gevurah, power – to the broad range of expansion – the trait of chessed, kindness.
"The weeping of a man on Rosh Hashanah is the weeping of a soul which misses the source of its creation, with a desire to cling to its lover, not in hiding but in an exposed way. The blast of the shofar protests against reality and denies the universe. When a person takes hold of a shofar and sounds a blast, he is protesting the reality which separates him from infinity. He sighs deeply and weeps about his inability to cross the mountains of existence which separate between his soul and his Creator.
"The blast of a shofar represents the yearning for the absolute unknown, which cannot be captured in any thought, which is separate and set aside, awesome and holy. The shofar cries and weeps about the infinite distance which separates between our reality and the infinite. And therefore it serves to negate the world and to raise mankind to absolute existence."
[Ish Hahalacha Chapter 8].
