Modern Masters- Modern Masters: Shofar - Spirit Behind the Sound | September 18th 2025

That's our last opportunity to learn together before Roshash and I want to wish everyone a speaking of Russash of course the mitzvah of Russash is the mitzvah of chauffar and therefore we're going to kind of delve deep into the mitzvah of chauffar not necessarily the details associated with chauffar but more the philosophical ideas represented by the chauffar the the mystical ideas represented by the chauffear and I want to begin just with two stories about chauffeur kind of to set the tone. The first story is a story um about Ramosha Salvich Ramosha Salvich was the was the father of raio do salvichek zatal and mosha salvich before he came to America to be be one of the roshi yeshiva in yeshiva yitzakan which would become yeshiva university and of course his son yos do salvichek eventually succeeds him as the roshiva uh and reits. But before he came to America, he was the RV in a community in in an area known as White Russia. The community was called Kaslavich. >> So Kaslavich. So this is a story attributed to Ros Salvich Mosh Salvichek during that time that he was the RV in Kaslavich. It's a story that reb that rabbi salvichek his son Rabido Salvich brings in his famous work is and you can find it in the Hebrew version of page 57 and the English version on page 58 but we're just going to read from the Hebrew version and here's the story he says there was a story about my concerning my father when he was standing on rash he was going to be what's called the mockery. Moshavich was the r in the community and he was the one who was going to call out the various sounds that the baya the the chauffeur blower would then would then sound. And then he says thea he was okay. He was a pious individual with deep faith and deep amuna in Hashem who also had at his fingertips all the knowledge both knowledge tradition as well as the mystical tradition of the the alterb of so that before he sounded the chauffar or as he was sounding chauffar he began to cry he was so overwhelmed with the emotional significance of the moment, okay, and the kavanote of that he had in sounding the chauvar that he began to cry. Mari, my father was taken back and therefore he answered and said he said he said to the do you also cry when you take the lul and if not why are you crying now when we sound the chauffeur are they not both of so uses the story to talk about the balance balance we have between reverence and emotion. Okay? And that that we there's a delicate balance that we kind of weave and that we kind of walk between reverence for Hashem and our own emotions. And it's very interesting. So in this story salvation, it says you're so moved by chauffar, but really we should be equally moved by what? By every mitzvah. Do you also are you also emotional when you drop a few a few coins in the pushka? Are you also emotional when you wake up in the morning and wash negle? If these are mitsas of hashem then and and there opportunities for us to feel that closeness and that spiritual um reverberation within us then we should be moved equally by every myth. Okay. So, but one could also say and learn from this story what that somehow there's a unique emotional metaphysical power to this particular mitzvah chauffeur okay and that's the that's what we're going to focus on to get together today I want to share one other story this is a story attributed to Rafuk Rafuk as we know after World War I he we he comes al first Atho. Then he goes on a fundraising trip to Europe. As World War I is breaking out, he ends up getting stuck in Europe for almost 3 years. Then he returns, comes back to Israel and he becomes the rabbi in Yushim and the chief rabbi of the of the Ashkenazi community throughout Israel. And he lives in for the last I think it's the last 15 or 15 years of his life. Anyways, so there you can actually go to there's a little museum in the in what was RV cook's house. They it's called betook and they made a little museum there. You can actually see RV cook's study. You can see the the original bait midash and shul that that was attached there where where Rav Cook launched the great yeshiva that would become Yeshiva Mayor Kazar Ravk named in his memory. Anyways, this story takes place in the late 1920s and that that house where he lived is just a few minutes walk from the Beny Huda pedestrian mall and the story goes as follows and I think it's shine in 1927 might be 1928 I don't I don't remember the exact year it became clear to Ruff Cook that the area that was being constructed which is now the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall was that that work that construction site was going to continue throughout out Rashashana. And he also became known to it also became known to Rufk that many of the workers who were going to be involved in in that work over Russ were Jewish. And Rkook of course was very very troubled by this in the middle of Kadesh bothered him. And the fact that he that that this the situation was that so many so many Jews were in such a difficult financial strait that they would feel compelled to work throughout Rashashana. So rash morning comes and uh Rafuk comes into shul and he turns to one of his gabayim and he hands him a chauffeur and he says to his gaba he says I want you to go to the construction site I want to be perfectly clear you're not to say one harsh word to anyone working there just simply I want you to go there say the braot of that we say before chauffar as loudly as you can and no nothing else and then simply sound the chauffear the the the first 30 blasts of the chauffear and and then come back to sh. So for Cook's new mission, of course, the guy followed the reb the Reb's instructions and he went to and he went to the construction site did exactly what Cook told him. And sure enough, many of the workers, not all of them, but many of the workers put down their tools and followed the Gaba back to Shul to Dava Musf. So at the end of MSF, at the end of MSF, the Gabba goes over to Rafuk and says, "Rebi, I don't understand. Had you gone to the construction site, the site of the chief rabbi coming would have caused such embarrassment that they all would have stopped stopped working." So if Cook put his arm around the gaba and says my dear friend he says no what you don't understand is that as much as the kilant have pained me what pained me more was to think that any of her brothers would go through the entire two days of Rashashana without hearing the sweet sounds of the chauffear. So you learn a lot from the story about who RV cook was in terms of his how how and and also we learn a lot in terms of how we inspire people versus versus talking down and criticizing people. But what concern more than the work and the was the fact that they would not be able to the mitzvah of of hearing the chauffeur sounded on rash. So with these two stories as our introduction, that emotional pushpull, that tug that we all feel when we hear together chauffar, that's what we're going to try to delve into this together in a few moments together this this afternoon. Okay. So we're going to begin. We all know the famous garash. Now we're on our sheets. Garash tells us that why do we sound a ra's horn? the he says why do we sound the chauffear to remember the story of the and when you sound the chauffeur it'll be considered just as ready to sacrifice himself a was ready to sacrifice his son it'll be considered as if what you're you're ready to sacrifice yourself before me as well now we're going to just quickly Skip through the the the the next the few are here. We know that on the second day of rashash we read the story. The first day of Rash of the Torah is a story of the birth of and the second day of Rash is a story of a and we all know that towards the end of the when Abraham does not is told by Hashem not to go through with with with shing his son we instead there is a an aisle a a ram that gets its its horn stuck in the thicket and that and that ram is offered heard in place of in place of and therefore many learn this gamarra. Okay. And assume that the connection between the story of and and the and the and the chauffear is that is that story that we read about in in on the second day of rash of the aisle of the ram getting its horn stuck in the thicket. And therefore we sound the ram's horn to recall that moment. But as we're going to see together now, if you turn to page three, as we're going to see together now, perhaps there's a lot more going on because what happens immediately after in the in the chronologically in the Torah, >> what happens chronologically, the next sedra is a paris begins with a description of the days of the life of Sarah's life and that and that she and then and that she passes away. This is text number three on our sheets. These are the days of Sarah's life. 100 years, 20 years and seven years. These were the years of Sarah's life and Sarah died in Kiryat Arab which is also known as in the land of Cananan spoke the leaf and Aram came to to eulogize Sara and to cry for her to whail for her. And now in a famous comment of Rashi on the take a look at at text number four. The passing of Sara is placed appears immediately after the story of the binding of Isaac because when Sara heard the news that her son had been prepared to be sacrificed and and he was prepared to be sacrificed and at the last minute he wasn't slaughtered. her soul departs from her and she passes away. So seemingly Sarah dies either from shock or for from anguish or for out of out of piercing concern for her son or brokenheartedness that her that her elderly husband could do this to her their only son whatever it may be. Seemingly Sara dies at that moment out of some kind of some kind of emotional crisis. Okay. But the rebata the eshkotes the rabbi of the war was ghetto in a very powerful essay he actually offers a very different interpretation and understanding of this rashi that we're going to learn this piece from the ish kodesh here together now >> that's text number five we're going to learn together in a moment and then hopefully we're going to take this message that the ish kesh finds within this opinion of rashi okay that we just learned together of her soul departing because she heard of the aada and the and the stressful circumstance the the the the trauma that her beloved son went through and we're going to see that perhaps this is a clue to understanding another deeper message inherent in the in teaar. Okay, so we're just going to jump right in. And he quotes the quotes this text number five. And we know that explains. Okay. And he says we know the rashi. The rashi says that the reason why the story of Sarah's death fall falls immediately after the aada is because there's a medish. It says Sarah heard that that her son was about to be shaken and she dies of shock or a broken heart or whatever however you want to interpret that rashi. Okay. And now listen to what the psy does with that rashi. We what do we learn from this rashi that hashem's trusted servant trusted shepherd Mosherenu. Listen to this idea. He says it's Mosher Rabenu who places these two episodes immediately one after the other. Okay? They didn't necessarily happen in a split second later. It's Mosher Rabenu who places these two episodes one after the other. Why? In order to advocate on our behalf and demonstrate to Hashem because if Hashem puts us through too many trauma, too much trauma in our life and too much pain in our life, what could happen? her soul departs. Now again, this is a powerful idea interpretation of the rashi to begin with, but when you contextualize where where he's saying this, he's saying this in the war ghetto where where they've witnessed and experienced so much trauma and pain. Okay? And then he continues and this is and even more so this is true of Sara such a great sadus as a as as Rashi tells us based on the kazal that she was at the age of 100 she was as free from sin as she was when she was 20 and at the age of 20 20 she was as innocent as she was when she was seven and all her years are equal in goodness according to the rashi this is true about and despite her great amun and and and and sitkus and wet righteousness she couldn't withstand too much pain and suffering and trauma even more so even more so it's true for us simple human beings and now he continues but you could say even more than this even S herself it's not just that that Moshe does this to demonstrate to to Hashem you can't expect the Jewish people to suffer too much but you could say even that Sara herself demonstrates this why because she took to heart so strongly this trauma that her son was experiencing until what until literally her soul departed from her. Okay, we could say what she did this not only for for her own sake but for the sake of all future generations of the Jewish people to demonstrate to say what you can't expect the Jewish people to suffer too much to experience too much trauma Even someone who through the kindness of God survives even after his suffering and his struggle. Okay. That a portion of their spirit, of their intellect, of their emotions has been broken and lost from them. What difference does it make if half of me is destroyed or if I'm completely destroyed? It's a that he quotes now he brings us all together and this is why the con concludes once again these are the years of Sarah's life because you might think at first glance if Sara hadn't given up her soul at that moment if she hadn't taken the story the trauma that her child experienced so strongly, okay, that she might have had more years to live. And therefore, we might think what that Sarah sinned against the additional years that would do her. But since she did this for the sake of the good of the Jewish people, for future generations of that, that they shouldn't have to experience such trauma. Okay, we could say that she did this to the good of the Jewish people and therefore the tells us, okay, okay, the years that were due her after the 127 she actually lived, all of them are equally in equal in their goodness as to the 127 years she did live. And really, we could say that even against those years, she didn't sin. Why? because she did this to advocate on behalf of the Jewish people then let us how the Reb ends this shap on us and on all the Jewish people he's saying this in the war ghetto and that Hashem should rescue rescue us speedily both spiritually and physically through great wondrous kindness. Okay. So, Sara if we just go with this very out there deep interpretation of Arashi. Sara Rashi quotes that Sarah hears about the she's so broken by it that she gives up her she gives up her nama. The petta rebi takes it a step further and says no that this was done to demonstrate and advocate on behalf of all of all generations of the Jewish people not just her son her child her physical biological child but for all subsequent children of the Jewish people senu okay she does this in order to advocate on behalf of all future doros that hashem you can't expect the Jewish people to suffer too much okay so that's a very powerful idea it's a very powerful mammar that really we need to take to heart. But now I'm going to ask what does this all have to do with chauffar? So if you turn your page there's a powerful medish in the PB alazar that I saw quoted in professor Aviva Zornberg's beautiful book um safer brace sheets and professor Zorberg this is text this is text number six okay where it says Pin Elazar okay this is the translation of Pin Elazar as found in professor Zornberg's beautiful safe gracious when Aram came from Hara the Satan was furious that he had failed to realize his blessed to abort Abraham's attempted sacrifice. Okay. What did he do? He went off and told Sarah, "Ah, Sarah, have you not heard what's been happening in the world?" She replied, "No." Listen to this medish. He said, "Your old elderly husband has taken the boy and sacrificed him as a burnt offering while the boy cried and wailed in his helplessness." Okay, so according to this medish, the Satan came to Sar and said, "What? She immediately she began to cry and wail. She cried three corresponding to the three tea notes of the chauffear. And she wailed three times according to responding to the the which is the the theim the stakata notes of the chauffear. Then she gave up her spirit and died. Aam a came and found her dead as it said and a came to mourn for sar and to bewail her. The chauffeur's broken sounds represent what? Hashem. Assara's whailing on behalf of Yitzkah. So one second. If we He was 37 years old. So one second. If we combine if we combine these two concepts. Okay. The chauffeur represents the whales of Sara. And as we learned that Sar and from the psy is not only whailing and didn't only give up her soul on behalf of but on behalf of us. And therefore we could suggest that one of the messages inherent in the sounds of the chauffeur adom is to remind us that no matter what trauma we're facing, no matter what we're struggling with, we have an eternal advocate in Shamayim who's calling out on our behalf. The sounds of the chauffear remind us that no matter what trauma we're experiencing, Senu continues to cry out on our behalf in Shine and say enough trauma. The Jewish people have experienced enough trauma. So that's one powerful idea inherent and represented by the sounds of the chauffeur. Okay. One of the psukim, one of the psukim that thea recites, okay, before before he makes the braos on on r Sunday morning is this pa, okay, praiseworthy are the people that knows the trua that through in the light of your god, in the light of your countenance will they walk. So we call the person who sounds the chauffeur, we call him the bala. We call the mitzvah chauffear. So why do we why do we say here a yod trua specifically there? There four sounds in the chauffeur, right? We have the tea which is the first whole complete sound. You have the which are three short blasts broken. You have the trua which is nine or 11. Okay, short blasts in succession. Also broken sounds like crying. And then you have the tea of God at the end, the long uninterrupted tea. So why specifically does this verse say praised or praiseworthy are the people who know specifically the trua, the broken sound, the sound of wailing. What does that broken sound represent? Okay. So, we're now going to learn on the bottom of the page. Okay. Three short teachings from three umic masters. We're going to start with Mublin in Laya. And R Saddic says this beautiful idea that we're supposed to be aware of that and we're supposed to feel that we're experiencing metaphysically in those moments when the chauffeur is sounded. This is text number eight on our sheets. And that moment when the Jewish people sound the chauffear there is an experience a revel of revelation of the from the past and a glimpse at what the future. Now listen how he explains this. ate mat. It represents the chauffear represents the freedom that the Jewish people experienced and felt at that moment when we stood at Sinai and we heard the chauffeur sounded when we stood at Sinai. Okay. And also and also is what is a taste of the chauffear of freedom that will be sounded when we greet Mashia. and and therefore when we sound the chauffeur okay it's meant to what instill within us this connection to this idea of kut means freedom it doesn't mean freedom physically it means freedom emotionally spiritually okay the experience of sounding the chauffear is a metaphysical bridge between that awesome moment when we stood at hari and heard the chauffar and that awesome moment that we please God will soon experience where we'll stand to greet Mashiau when we hear that great awesome chauffear sounded once again. Okay, so that's that's what we're now going to learn from who takes us in a slightly different direction also talking about the different sounds of the chauffar. This is text number nine. So he says, "Oh, he says, "Well, how do we sound the chauffar?" We have tea and tea. You have the the whole sound, the two broken sounds, and again uh not just tea, but tea gola, a long extended whole sound. And he says, "We learn from the rambana and his writings on the Torah who the the read in that's an illusion to the curses that we read in is an illusion to what the fact that the Jewish that the Jewish people are given this warning that you'll experience curses the first time we're given those warnings in in Vayikra that's a rem that we're going to experience the tragedy of Kora But what about the second time that we read last shamus and the second and the we read last in that represents what? That represents it's an illusion to what the second destroy temple. Okay. So why does he use that as an introduction? See where he goes this. He's going to talk about how the sounds of the chauffeur, the different sounds of the chauffeur, the min terms of how we sound those different sounds, that's also an illusion to this experience of the the look what look what look what says the truth is that from Hashem there's nothing bad truly wicked that comes in the world from our perspective might be what something horrible or damaging or painful But in the great reality, the bigger picture. Okay, the bigger picture, we take a step back. It's an idea we've shared many times in this year. Okay, there sometimes we have to take a step back and and see the big picture. Says, he says, you take a step back that even those moments that seem like tragedies and painful moments and trauma, ultimately there's an ultimate good that's going to come from them. And look what he says. Leave note you saw bayini because the reason why the first bay was destroyed is what? In order that we'll be able to one day build the second temple and the second temple was destroyed which will enable us please God to eventually build the third temple in the future which will be even more beautiful and more splendid says says the kaducasi. Okay, the listen what he says now this is all represented by the sounds of the chauffeur the first tequila that we sound which is a sound of wholeness of completeness okay that represents the level of love that Hashem had when he bestowed us the capacity to build the first ba mikdash okay and then we go through trua The two broken sounds which represent what? The two destroyed temples. Okay. This is represented by the uh the the the idea of of of expressing our our sadness and whailing. Okay. And then those sounds those two broken sounds represent what? Our whailing our sadness. That sense of longing for the B mikdash. And now the tea at the end the gdola which we sound at the ends that's what that reminds us of right just like said it reminds us what that when there will be a day please god soon in our days where we'll sound the great chauffar a tea not a broken sound but we'll sound the tea god tea the the tea gola a great tea a whole tea to great tea okay so based just to review we have what we've discuss we talked about the the spirit beyond the sound so so far we spoke about saru the chauffeur represents the cries of saru and instills within us the the confidence and knowing that saru continues to call out we're reminded when we hear the chauffeur that saru continues to call out and advocate on our behalf in shamim. Okay. Then we learn from R Saddak who said that in those moments we hear that the chauffeur sounded we're taken back metaphysically to that awesome moment where we heard the chauffeur sounded the freedom of emotion and and spirit that we felt when we stood at Sinai and we heard the chauffeur sounded and we're also reminded to be ready with anticipation for that awesome moment when we'll experience hearing that great chauffeur sounded as we greet msiachu and then similarly The kusha levi he talked about all the sounds represented representing the experience of the both the broken moments and overcoming the broken moments in Jewish history that the sounds begin we begin with the sound of wholeness when we have the ba mikdash we have the two broken sounds which represent the destruction twice of the ba mikdash and then please god the the tea gdola at the end represents what please god that moment when we experience bingin Okay, so just we're going to learn one last text together from the RBI. This is text number 10 who's hopefully going to bring this all together. And the slabbi actually introduces that there is a duality, okay, inherent in this mitzvah of there are two fundamental ideas that we're meant to have in mind and and and have the kavana to that we're experiencing when we hear the chauffeur. So take a look. This text number 10. This is a unique call to us that happens one time a year. Okay. To hear the chauffeur. He says, "The proverbial voice of God calls out to us from within the chauffeur and says to those of us who are wake up from your sleep, jump out of your hibernation and slumber. Because if you've made mistakes, you can always you can still you can still do chuva. You can still come back from those mistakes. He says, "But as the as the days, years and days, days days and years, months and years pass, we get so comfortable in our slumber, we're so in such a deep spiritual slumber that it becomes more challenging us to come out of it." Okay, sorry, skip the line. And this is the unique work that we need to do, spiritual work we need to experience on this day of rashar. And this is the idea we're meant to have in mind when we hear the sound of the chauffear. The chauffar represents the proverbial voice of God calling out that calls out to the Jewar through the sound of the chauffear. in order that the its message these words of that spiritual wakeup call should enter into what the proverbial ears of the chambers of our hearts. That's the first idea that the slumberbi introduces that the chauffear represents metaphysically the proverbial voice of God calling out to us. But there's another idea that's represented by the chauffeur. Listen to what he says here. And there's another idea represented by the chauffear to sound and hear the sounds of the chauffear. We have to blow it and we have to hear it. As we explained earlier, the mitzvah of the day is to hear the deep sigh of every the true sigh of and anguish of every single the heart of every single Jew who's sighing and calling out to Hashem to what? To allow us to overcome whatever challenges we may be facing in our lives. The duality inherent in the s proverbial sounds of the the sounds of the chauffeur says this the son of ai is this d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d dity on one hand the chauffeur represents the proverbial voice of God calling out to us wake up you can always improve yourself it's not never too late and simultaneously the shuffer represents and reminds us what to hear the voices around us not just to hear the proverbial voice of God calling out to me but hear the Voices of our brothers and sisters calling out in anguish who may be in need who may be in trauma who may need our love and concern. This says the slumberbi is the duality inherent within the sound the profound sounds of the chauffeur. My friends, we began by those with those two beautiful stories of Raosha Salvichek and Rufkook and the emotional tug that that push and pull between reverence and emotion that we have and that we feel during the experience of the ki chauffear and then as we learn from the ma the later masters of Jewish thought the mo more modern masters of Jewish thought we see the chauffear as many many powerful messages inherent within us. Let's be blessed to take to heart all these beautiful messages as we get ready for the awesome day as that that that moment where we'll sound the chauffeur on rashash shana. May we indeed be inspired to take to heart all these beautiful messages and may we indeed be blessed to experience asak and the kadusha levy said so beautifully for us that not only are we reminded of that awesome moment when we stood at Sinai and heard the chauffar and not only are the broken sounds remind us of all the trauma and tragedies we've experienced throughout our history but may we be za to hear and sound the great chauffar as we greet Mashiachu