A Moment in Time: Hearing the Call

Dear all,

During the Holy Days, as Jerry sounded the shofar, my kids approached the bima to get a front row view.

But it wasn’t the shape of the shofar that intrigued them.  Rather, it was the resonant sound.  And for the rest of the day, they mimicked it over and over (and over and over!)

For them, the sound was kind of funny.

But for me, the sound contains so much.

The shofar is the sound of Creation.

The shofar is the sound of Sarah in utter despair when she believed her son, Isaac, to be dead.

The shofar is the sound of Revelation at Mt. Sinai.

The shofar is the sound of the Maccabees fighting for religious freedom.

The shofar is the sound of hidden Jews during the Inquisition, who played the shofar in an orchestra so that other Jews could bring in the New Year.

The shofar is the sound of modern Israel’s independence.

The shofar is the sound of any human being crying for help.

But in any moment in time, these sounds are empty unless we hear them.

As the call of shofar continues to resonate, even now after the Holy Days have ended – let that sound pierce our hearts, that we may hear the call and redirect our future!

With love and Shalom,

Rabbi Zach Shapiro