The Mishnah in Masechet Rosh Hashanah 26b records that in the Beit Hamikdash on Rosh Hashanah the shofar blast was accompanied by two trumpets that were blown simultaneously. The Gemara questions this practice because it is impossible to distinguish two sounds made at the same time, and therefore no one would fulfill the mitzvah of shofar. The Gemara answers that since the mitzvah of shofar is so beloved, everyone would listen more carefully than usual and be able to discern the sounds of the beloved shofar through the secondary trumpet sounds (Rosh Hashanah 27a).
In “The Book of our Heritage” by Eliyahu Kitov he recounts the legend of Don Fernando de Aguiler, a crypto-Jew living in Barcelona during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Outwardly a Christian and a successful conductor of an orchestra, Don Fernando planned a concert featuring melodies from a variety of nations. The hall filled as many people were interested in such a performance, but among the true Christian crowd were a large number of crypto-Jews. They were coming to hear the sound of the shofar being blown, for indeed Don Fernando had scheduled the concert for the first day of Rosh Hashanah for that very reason. “The Book of Our Heritage” describes: “Various compositions were played by the orchestra, among them the beloved sounds of the shofar” (p.22). The other audience members thought they were just hearing an interesting concert, but the crypto-Jews were fulfilling the mitzvah of shofar, which they could discern from the other musical sounds because the mitzvah of shofar was so beloved to them. Even if this story is only a legend it still reflects a religious emotional truth.
Throughout history we have seen this truth because Jews have risked and suffered much to fulfill this beloved mitzvah. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah 32b explains that even though ideally mitzvot should be done at the earliest possible time, we blow the shofar during Musaf instead of Shacharit because of a Roman decree against blowing the shofar. Since the authorities would monitor the synagogue during Shacharit, the Jews delayed blowing the shofar until Musaf when the authorities would no longer be skulking around. However, it was still a terrible risk to blow it at all and they were putting themselves in danger by doing so. The Yerushalmi in Rosh Hashanah 4:8 tells an even more tragic story to explain why they switched from blowing during Shacharit to Musaf. One time the Jews blew the shofar early in the morning, giving the impression that they were declaring war. Acting on this assumption, the enemies of the Jews came into the shul and massacred them. Blowing the shofar later in the morning during Musaf was less likely to be interpreted as a declaration of belligerency. Yet we see from the original action of the Jews that they were willing to take a terrible risk in order to blow the shofar.
Even in more recent times Jews have taken risks to fulfill the mitzvah of shofar. Rabbi Pinchas Hirschprung, the former chief rabbi of Montreal, was originally a rabbi in the city of Dukla, Poland. In his autobiographical memoir of his experiences in the Holocaust, “Vale of Tears,” recently translated into English, he describes that when Dukla was occupied by the Nazis on Rosh Hashanah of 1939, an elderly tzaddik in his village, Reb Refoel, pushed Rabbi Hirschprung to go to the Polish priest to find out if the priest thought it would be dangerous to blow the shofar under German occupation. Reb Refoel recounted an incident about Jews in Dukla under the Russians from 25 years earlier; when “the tsarist troops were in Dukla during Rosh Hashanah, they interpreted the blowing of the shofar as sending a signal to the enemy, and it caused problems, big problems” (p.85). However, it was incredibly dangerous for anyone to walk outside under German occupation, and Reb Refoel had to convince Rabbi Hirschprung to visit the priest. The priest advised that the Jews not blow the shofar because he doubted the Germans would react positively toward it. However, Reb Refoel was not impressed and insisted that they blow shofar. Rabbi Hirschprung recounts: “On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, with prayer books in their hands, fear in their hearts and reverence for God on their faces, men, women and children poured into the synagogue” (p.87). They blew the shofar as quietly and as quickly as they possibly could, and at least on that occasion there were no immediate repercussions.
The Gemara says we can discern the sound of the shofar above other sounds because it is so beloved, and this is also the reason Jews have blown even during dangerous times, but what exactly is so beloved about the shofar? In the Shofarot section of Musaf on Rosh Hashanah we recite the verse: “The sound of the shofar increased and was very great” (Shemot 19:19), which describes the shofar at Matan Torah. We also read the verse “And it will be on that day that a shofar will be blown, and those who are lost in the land of Assyria and those cast away in the Land of Egypt will come, and they will prostrate themselves to Hashem on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13). This is a reference to the gathering of the exiles and the coming of Moshiach. In other words, the shofar represents our origin as a people (Matan Torah) and our national destiny (Moshiach). Perhaps this is why the shofar is beloved to us because it is our connection to our past and our link to the future.
By Sara Schapiro
Sara Schapiro attends Stern College for Women and is a Jewish Link contributor.
