“Awake, sleepers from your sleep, and slumberers arise from your slumber!â€
-Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance
The shofar is one of the most recognized Jewish ritual objects, one that has been used by the Jewish people from biblical times up to the modern day. Its prevalence and purposes have changed over time, but the haunting sound of the shofar has called to the Jewish people for countless generations.
In biblical times, the shofar was used in the Temple, to announce the New Year, new months, and the start of the Jubilee year. It was also used in times of war, most famously by Joshua and his men at the walls of Jericho. Now, in modern times, the mitzvah to hear the sound of the shofar is observed by many Jews around the world on the High Holy Days, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. On these days, Jews around the world feel a connection to their religious heritage that brings them into synagogues, to family dinners, to prayer, reflection, and fulfilling the mitzvah of hearing the shofar blown.
With its many uses over the years, the shofar has been used on many different occasions, but always with a similar purpose: to call the Jewish people to listen. The shofar is used to announce, to remind, and to awaken. Often, the Jewish people, not unlike other peoples, are in the course of their daily lives libel to be so busy with the mundane that they tend to forget the need for action on a grand scale. As we all gather together and hear the shofar blown in synagogues around the world, we will be fulfilling the mitzvah of hearing the shofar blasts. But this year, we must all listen to its message as well. It is not enough to hear the sounds and not answer the call to action.
The world is full of challenges waiting to be taken on. In the past few weeks alone, Israel’s legitimacy and right to exist as a Jewish State has been called into question yet again by a global community that doesn’t understand the importance of Israel’s security, and the need for a true partner for peace in order to have a true and lasting peace. The movement to delegitimize Israel has not been stopped, but rather has gained support from academics around the world. Rockets continue to fall on Israeli communities, something that the world fails to recognize as an act of war. Gilad Shalit continues to be held, against international law, by Hamas.
This year, as we in the Diaspora enjoy the High Holy Days with our families, it is imperative that we not only hear, but listen, the call to action. The shofar serves to wake us from our slumber, the sleep of indifference and compliance that so many fall into when faced with the challenges of the world. This is the year that action can no longer be put off, but rather must be embraced. In word and in deed, we must motivate ourselves and the world to take action, to create the changes that are necessary in order for a true and viable peace to be achieved. For a long time, the shofar has been a symbol, a tradition. Now, we must take it as the wake-up call it was intended to be, and answer the call.
