לזכות גילה שושנה בת נעכא גיטל
The pasuk says [Tehillim 81]:
תקעו בחודש שופר בכסה ליום חגנו וכו' עדות ביהוסף שמו בצאתו אל ארץ מצרים שפת לא ידעתי אשמע
Blow up the shofar in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
This he ordained in Yoseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.
From here Chazal learn that on Rosh Hashana [shofar on the day the moon is concealed - the first of Tishrei] Yosef was freed from jail [עדות ביהוסף בצאתו אל ארץ מצרים] and the proof is that he spoke 70 languages [שפת לא ידעתי אשמע].
Great!!!
What does shofar have to do with the 70 languages? Shofar is pure sound, bereft of logical meaning while speech and language are all about meaning?
What does shofar accomplish? Shofar restores what was lost and ideas or concepts for which we only have traces. As the Rambam says - When a person is sleeping the shofar wakes him up. עורו ישנים!!! He has but a trace of vitality and the shofar restores it. When the shofar was blown at Har Sinai, the Rambam says that it kept getting stronger IN CONTRAST to the dibros which remained steady. Meaning, since the job of the shofar is to help us recall lost memories and the luchos will be broken, we need the shofar to keep getting stronger and stronger in order to counteract the forgetfulness that took place as a result of the shattered tablets.
Shofar brings what was almost completely lost back to life.
The shofar of Moshiach [ביום ההוא יתקע בשופר גדול] will restore all of the lost Torah and kedusha from all the generations. For that we need a SHOFAR GADOL.
We blow a rams horn not because we have any affinity for the L.A. RAMS but because Avraham slaughtered a ram in place of Yitzchak and every time we blow from such a shofar it is viewed as if Avraham is sacrificing Yitzchak himself, as the pasuk says, that he brought the ram תחת בנו - as a direct substitute for his son and Hashem sees it as if it were Yitzchak himself [אפרו של יצחק צבור על גבי המזבח].
When someone is dishonest he is cursed that Hashem will punish him as he did the דור המבול and דור הפלגה [the generation of the flood and tower]. Why these two generations specifically? Because in both generations we saw מיעוט צורת האדם. Man's towering spiritual stature was diminished. After the mabul it says לא ידון רוחי עוד באדם בשגם הוא בשר. And כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו. Man is just NOT THE SAME. He is just flesh so I can't judge him anymore. His heart is evil from youth. He went DOOWWWNNN.
After the tower was built it says that Hashem mixed up their languages so that they could no longer communicate. Man was created as a "speaking being" [נפש חיה ובאונקלוס רוח ממללא]. When man can no longer speak to his friend the most human part of man has been diminished.
If a person is dishonest [שקר is a corruption of קשר] and lowered himself to that extent then he deserves a punishment from the same G-d who punished the generations of the flood and tower.
What has this to do with shofar?
Patience Madame!!!
Yosef leaves jail. He is not only released [on Rosh Hashana] physically but spiritually as well. He learns the 70 languages. HE FIXES THE BLEMISH OF MAN. He can once again communicate at the highest level. He knows all of the languages and all of their ins and outs. He fixed the sin of the generation of the tower of Bavel!!
But he needs a force to help him restore that lost power. What restores lost power?? SHOFAR!! So the pasuk says that we blow shofar on the day Yosef was freed and learned 70 languages. The shofar frees a person [so we blow the shofar on Yovel freeing all of the slaves and returning all of the fields to their owners] and on this day Yosef was truly freed!!
[עיין פחד יצחק ר"ה מאמר כ]
Wow!!
What does this have to do with us? We all speak different languages. We don't truly communicate. We all hide things. "How are you? Baruch Hashem!" I didn't ask you how Hashem is faring. He is perfect and will always be perfect. But how are YOU doing? What is paining you? What are your fears, worries, hopes and aspirations? What are your insecurities? How are your relationships? Completely satisfying?
We live in a world where everybody puts up a front that everything is HUNKY DORY!! A friend of mine gave money to a fellow in the neighborhood the other day and the man said "I don't need this. I don't lack". Except that I know for a fact that he is living on loans [which blow up. He recently made 2 weddings].
Nobody, NOBODY ever lets on that their marriage is anything but perfect [at least anyone I have ever spoken too] while the fact is that almost ALL marriages find at least one and maybe both partners suffering. But things are BARUCH HASHEM!!! No communication, so nobody sees any problems - except their own. It is painful when you are the only messed up guy in town who can't get it right.
The מיעוט צורת האדם is that all of our communication is predicated upon falsehood. There are good reasons for this. One is that people instinctively feel that other people don't want to hear about their problems because they won't know what to say. Not everybody is a trained therapist or has a knack for understanding people and being able to say the right thing. Another reason is that people are embarrassed to admit failure. But it is OK!!! We ALLLLLL fail CONSTANTLY. Every negative thought we have [most of us have thousands a day] is not a victory. People want to show that they know how to be married and don't need any emotional support. We ALLL DO. People feel that they know perfectly well how to raise children and don't want to admit how many problems they are experiencing.
If NOBODY [or almost nobody] knows what is causing their friend pain - then how can they be there for him?
NO HONEST COMMUNICATION. Just a daily show that everything is ..... BARUCH HASHEM. And [to quote a favorite of mine] "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation".
Try telling your boss that you are feeling down in general and that you salary is not sufficient. Not good enough? He says. Ahhh there are 7 billion people on the planet and he will find someone without problems. A boss can be a man with a black hat who learns hours daily but if the employee isn't 'providing the goods" - out!! WHAT ABOUT HIS FAMILY??? What about the turmoil he will experience when he is unemployed. "Hey - this is not a chesed organization. You want chesed? Leave me an envelope and maybe I won't send you a small check." That is the way the world is, all too often. Maybe the person can be shown empathy and keep his job in the hope that soon he will do a good job? NO - He will do a great job because he feels that his boss cares about him.
To restore the unity of man means to speak the same language, to listen and understand what the other person is going through and appreciating that his problems are yours too because we all have a common ancestor[s] and a common destiny. The shofar is intended to restore that. It brings us back to who we once were and the א-להי נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא.
It hurts to think of the distance between the hearts of men and only at times of great tragedy is there any sense of unity.
In our little way we can fix this in a big way:-). Listen, Care and Share.
