The Anatomy of a Cry: The Halacha, History, and Heart of the Shofar Rabbi Jeremy Perlow 9.9.2026

All right, good morning everyone. Uh, I apologize in advance. Looks like we're having a little bit of an issue with the microphone. It's missing right now, so hopefully it'll show up soon. Having someone work on it, so have a microphone soon. In the meantime, I'll try and project. The good news is this week, my voice is feeling a little bit better, so hopefully I can be a little bit louder for everyone and everyone can hear just fine. Uh, the schedule for today is I'll be giving the first cheer. uh as you can see the second shear will be given by Rabbi Bredawitz as usual uh and then the third and the fourth shear we're looking forward to welcoming back Rabbi Schmool Golden will be back and the final she will be Rabbi Finkelestein will also be back so we have a wonderful lineup of Shirim today uh the reason I'm giving the first year this morning is Rabbi Yasi Golden uh late yesterday after I was already leaving the office saying he wouldn't be able to attend so So I wasn't able to produce a sore sheet. So I apologize. So we'll be doing oral Torah. Oral Torah today. Okay. I want to start by uh discussing we know that there's four names. Four names that we have for Rashashana. What are the four names we have for Rashashana? So the first one is easy. I just gave it to you. Rashashana Yom >> Tromas and Yikar. Right. Those are the four names that we know for Rashashana. >> What's the first one? Rashana. >> That's the easy one, right? So, you'll notice of all the four names, which of the four names do we find explicitly in the Torah itself? >> Yum. Yum. Is explicit in the Torah. A day of chauffeur blast. It's loosely translated as. And there's a big problem though because if you look at the text of the Torah, you'll notice that we don't know exactly what we're supposed to do, right? First of all, what does it mean true? So I told you chauffeur bless it's not exactly correct if you look at the tarum there the tarum he translates the word true as yoma a day of crying so I would have said maybe if that's the correct translation maybe we should spend the whole day crying and what is which is a question even if you're allowed to cry in rashash it's not so clear on y generally are we were we permitted to cry >> no so many post you're not supposed to cry in rashashana it's not appropriate it and there are some who say no how can the famously said no if you're not crying he says it's a sign that there's something lacking from your he goes so far as to say so it's a big discussion it's a big topic not for today but there's a big discussion or is the person permitted to cry even on rash so how did it come to be that we bull the chauffear right and how did it come to be that we bowl the chauffear and we blow a 100 blasts and they look like this exact exact procedure how did it come to be you read the Torah we have no hints for this anywhere We don't know that that's what it looks like. We're not told about this. >> So, okay, correct. So, we're doing a little to today. What I want to discuss though, I think again, why is it that this name in particular is the focus? Why specifically this name is the one we find focused on in the Torah? After all, it's the the the day itself is called Yom. And I think we have to emphasize why it is that we that uh why it is that we don't use the other names and why it is that we have come to b the chauffar of all things that we do. Maybe we should bow trumpets. Maybe we should just be crying. Maybe we should doing other things. The Torah doesn't tell us what musical instrument to use. We've somehow determined that it's a chauffar, it's a ram's horn. How do we get to that conclusion? We'll have to discuss. But again, I think what I want to emphasize though is that there's something special about the chauffar. It is taken on this the symbol of the day. Okay. Now, we'll notice that uh the the gumar in the US tells us that let's take a step back. There's a concept of mitzvah. Does anyone raise your hand if you've heard this concept before? Mitzvah. Okay. Okay. A very important concept that we should all be aware of that is if a person performs a mitzvah and I'm sorry if a person performs an aa he sins he does something wrong and through that a vera he comes to perform a mitzvah that mitzvah is not accepted by hashem. So to give an example okay so let's say a person steals a lul classic example this is the where it comes up in the in the if a person steals the lulv and he wants to use that on sukus can he perform the mitzvah of that lulv no it's not accepted and the gumar says why not so you might say one reason is we know the Torah tells us you have to take for yourself on the first day of sukkot you have to take in the Torah practically itself all four species, but it says you shall take for yourself. So perhaps this is the reason why we're not permitted to use alul which is stolen because it's not yours. It doesn't doesn't qualify as the garra says yes that's true. It's true. That's one reason. But that would only apply to the first day of sukkot. The only the first day of sukkot do we have an obligation to use your own personal lul love. The rest of sukkot if you want to borrow a lul love, right? Can you do that? >> Yeah, you sure could. The first day you have to own it. It has to be yours. Either it's you bought it, you purchased it, or it's given to you as a gift. That's why parenthetical point. If you want to use the lula onsukot, let's say you want to use the lul love on sukkot and you don't own a lul love, but let's say either a friend of yours does or your husband or your wife, someone else has a lul love that that they personally own. Can you go ahead and use that lul love? So you can but what do you have to do? You have to on the first day of Sukkot you have to tell them I'm the person who's has who owns it has to tell the recipient I'm giving this to you as a as a gift. Now you want to get it back though right? So you can add a stipulation if you want. You could say I'm giving this to you as a gift on condition that you return it. Okay that you can do and then both people can fulfill the mitzvah through this one l okay so that's what we do. That's the proper procedure. If you want to use alula of someone else on sukkot, you should ask for it as a gift and if they want they can throw in a condition that it's a gift on condition that you return it and that's perfectly acceptable. >> Excuse me. >> After the first day, does the owner of the path have say the same thing to you? >> No, >> only on the first day. >> Only on the first day. >> Now the truth is it's not so important in Israel actually that you get it back. You might want it back, but since you don't have to own it if you already fulfill the mitzvah yourself and then you give them as to the you give them a little love as a gift. Okay? So, you won't own it the rest of there's no obligation to own it the rest of in this is much more important because how many days of we have at the beginning of >> two and we treat the second day like the first day. So, in if you give it as a gift on the first day, you're stuck. What are you going to do the second day? Right? So, here in Israel, if you're ready to fulfill the mitzvah, you don't have to add that condition. Um but you might want to just you can give it as a gift to someone else afterwards right maybe there's another person you know who wants to perform the mitzvah a third person okay so this is all true regarding the first day of sukot but what about the rest of sukkot so we said this is the concept of mitzvah a mitzvah which is performed through a sin so that mitzvah is not accepted by hashem so the garra says okay very nice so what about let's say you Uh let's say someone steals the chauffar. Can you perform the mitzvah of chauffear through a stolen chauffar? >> So most of you are saying what I would have said, right? Which is no. We just learned a mitzvah vera. It's a mitzvah which comes about through a sin. So you cannot perform the mitzvah of chauffar through a stolen chauffar. That's what I would have said. Thear says you can fulfill the mitzvah even if it's a stolen chauffar. How could it be? How are you to explain this? The Gomorrah says, well, the says either way, it doesn't make sense because if the reason is that by love, you might say there's a difference because by the Torah says, you shall take for yourself. Well, by chauffeur, we also have that, right? >> Okay. But the day, right, which is the day of chauffeur blasts, it has to be for you. So we also have the word by the chauffar. So you can't give me that reason. And the Gar says, "And if you're going to tell me it's just a mitzvah, isn't this also a mitzvah? Isn't this also the mitzvah that I'm doing of listening to the chauffar? Isn't that also coming about through a sin?" And the garra explains that it's different here. What's the difference? Because when it comes to the chauffar, the mitzvah is not the chauffear item itself. You're fulfilling the mitzvah through the coal. >> Through the sound, the coal of the chauffear. So sound is something which cannot be stolen. The chauffar can be stolen. But the sound itself which emerges from the chauffear, that's something which is so pure. That's something which can never be taken away. Something which can never be stolen says the shim is. So is that the best way to perform the mitzvah? I don't know. But right, but the basic fulfillment of the mitzvah that can't be changed. That's you have fulfilled the mitzvah. >> Yes. So good question. So let's say the Mishna says, are we permitted to use let's say I want to use a different animal instead of a ram's horn? So can I use a different uh horn for my chauffar from a different animal >> is you can accept >> very good. So the one thing you're not allowed to use the one species of animal of kosher animal that you're not allowed to use for your ram for your horn would be >> cow. >> Okay good. So it's because why? What's the problem with a using a cow horn? >> Apara, right? The go it's reminiscent of the golden calf. So for this reason we're not permitted to use the horn of the golden calf or a a calf because it's reminiscent of the golden calf the eagleav which is Jewish people created in the desert. So we don't want to bring that up at the time of blowing the chauffar. That's one reason. There's actually three reasons which were brought why you can't use the that specific horn of a cow. Okay. The other two reasons are because it has many layers to it. And we know that the chauffear which we use has to have has to be one. You can only have chauffar. You can't have multiple multiple chauffeur roads. If I stick one chauffar inside of another, right? You can't do that. You only have multiple one chauffar. So since there's many layers, it's also more similar to a to a chauffar of to many chauffar. So for this reason also, we don't blow it. And then finally the there's a third reason which is that the we know that the chauffar most of the chauffar are called a uh chauffar. What do we call a the horn specifically from a cow from a par a kin so you can't use a kin you have to use a chauffar. So since it's not called a chauffar and linguistically it's a linguistic issue doesn't qualify as a chafar. So for that reason also we're not allowed to use the uh horn of a ca should say a bull. Okay. Okay. So um so says the Mishm this is the concept of mitzvah baba. Why is it that we cannot fulfill the that we can fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the chauffar through specifically through the medium of a stolen chauffar because the sound itself is so pure and it brings us all the way back to our C9 something which can never be changed doesn't matter how bad the person is doesn't matter how bad the the the crime which was committed with this chauffar the the the co itself is untarnishable it's representative of the untarnishable and the shama of a yid and it's something which is uh so pure in its essence and I think that's important for us as we go into rash it's an important idea because very often when we think about what happened to us the rest of the year on rash shah we're thinking about all the terrible things that we did and sometimes we feel like how can I come back to hashem how can I possibly do chuva I committed so many of your ros and I did the same thing I said I wasn't going to do last year I did this year comes the sound of the chauffar and we're told all Otherwise the sound of the chauffar is pure and it's its essence that we call the pins of a the essence of a Jew is pure that's what we say every single morning we wake up in the morning we say my god the nama that you placed inside of me it's pure it's amazing if you think about it the fact that we we get our nisha back every single morning it's perfectly pure such a n such a miracle Right? Imagine you go and you're going to go go rent a car and you go to the car rental and uh you go ahead, you rent your car, you drive it around, crash, right? You go to the car dealer, you tell you you tell the the rental place, you tell them, "I'm sorry, I crashed the car. We haven't had an accident." So, okay. So, we have to fix it, whatever we have to do. And then you come walk back in the next day. You say, "Okay, I'm here to rent a car. And they say, "Um, we don't really want to rent you a car. I'm sorry. We don't know what to tell you. Sorry. Goodbye." Right? That's what we'd expect. Comes the bar, right? We go to the car rental service, right? Hashem gives us our goof. Hashem gives us our body. He takes our shama and plants it inside our body every single morning. And what do we do? We sin. We do wrong things. We scratch it up. We crash the car. And what does Hashem say to us the very next morning? No problem. No fee. Free of charge. I'm giving you nama. And not only did I give it back to you, I'm going to give it back to you in its pristine state. Pure. It's totally pure. That's the pin. That's our essence. Doesn't matter how bad we've become. It doesn't matter how many of we've done. Hashem gives it back to us fresh every single day. Now a parenthetical point. Many have asked the question. Yeah. >> Why would you feel? >> So good question. Very good question. I'm happy you asked that. So tells us a person who says person and will atone for me does he get kapara? >> No. Right? So we can't do that. Right? We're talking about people who sin. We're all human, right? We have natural tendencies. We make mistakes. We're not intending to to sin, but it happens. That's how Hashem made us. We're not perfect. So when we sin, Hashem gives us the the gift of chuva and that's something we have in our back pocket. It's not something it's not something that we put out in the front and we say, "Oh, I'm going to sin because I can do chu. Don't worry, I can do chuva." That's not how it works. Okay. So, so there's an important question we have to address, which is many have asked what exactly is the nature of the fulfillment of the of chauffar? How are we meant to fulfill the mitzvah of chauffar? Is the mitzvah to blow the chauffear or is the mitzvah to hear the chauffar? >> Okay, you're correct. Okay, and I'll give you two proofs to this. Two proofs, right? How do we know that the mitzvah is to hear the chauffar specifically? So, first of all, the what do we say? Wear, right? The brah is to to hear the sound of the chauffar. Which is why, for instance, let's say someone is deaf. God forbid someone is deaf. Okay, I know no one in the room is is deaf because everyone came to listen. Okay. Okay. But if God forbid someone is deaf and they they can't hear, uh can they fulfill the mitzvah chauffar? Right? They're exempt. They can't perform it. Hashem doesn't expect them to perform it. They can't. Okay. So, can they blow the chauffear though for everyone else? is I can only fulfill the obligation of everyone else if I personally am obligated in this mitzvah. So if I personally am not obligated in this mitzvah, I cannot perform the mitzvah for others. Which is why also could you have let's say a woman pull the chauffar. So the is no woman are not allowed to bold the chauffar for men, right? A woman cannot pull the chauffar for a man because is a woman obligated to the same degree as a man in hearing the chauffar? No. Women are exempt from the mitzvah because it's a time bound positive mitzvah. Now women over the over the years have always made an tremendous effort to hear the chauffar because it's a great mitzvah. But are they strictly speaking obligated? No, they're not strictly speaking obligated. >> Let's say men make >> very good. Why is that? Why is it then that I as my next question so why is it then that if I went ahead I said kdish why is it I could say kdish again for someone who has not yet heard it being best as they should say it themselves but if they're not able to say it themselves or they don't feel comfortable I'm allowed to repeat kdish for them so why is that >> no but I already fulfilled my mitzvah >> what >> correct it is but nonetheless even though it's the same level of obligation for men and for women but I fulfilled my mitzvah you have not yet fulfilled your mitzvah. So how can I say for you? So the answer is this is what we mentioned I think last week or two weeks ago the concept of right that I am a guarantee a guarantor for you. What does that mean? I'm a guarantor for you. It means so long as there's one Jew in the world who is not yet completed his mitzvah my mitzvah is not yet complete. there is something lacking in my fulfillment of the mitzvah, so long as there's one Jew who has not yet performed a mitzvah. So if I have said kish myself and someone else has not, my mitzvah is not complete. Same reason if I hear if I'm reading the migilla, I heard it in the morning and I want to read the read the migill for someone else who's not yet heard it. I could say the braha or in our case chauffar if I want to b the chauffar. Let's say I boo the chauffar in the morning and now I want to b the chauffar for someone who wasn't able to come to can I repeat the braha for them so best is they should say it themselves but if they can't yes I'm permitted to say it on their behalf this is the concept of aroot all Jews are guarantors one for another we're all responsible one for one another Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yes. This is a big big question. What about a hearing aid? Okay. For many people we know as we get older especially more more people are in need of hearing aids. So what is the best practice in terms of fulfilling the mitzvah of chauffar? So there was one gentleman in my shaw where I was uh for Mawya and uh he was very hard of hearing and every week he'd have like a little device that he put on the table uh and is very questionable whether he was allowed to use this device. We were talking about it for many at great length whether he's allowed to use this on Shabbat. But he had a certain device that he put on the table uh before the uh before I would give my dasha and he wanted to to hear it. So he so long story short he had and he had a hearing aid and so come rash I made an effort to try to try and tell him that it's important that we should try as much as we can to hear the chuffar directly. So if a person needs to they should the best thing to do is to remove the hearing aid go up close and hear the chauffar to whatever extent they can because hearing that the the Mishna tells us that if you hear the chauffar you hear the echo of the chauffar. Let's say you're in a cave and there's an echo the Mishna describes. Can you perform the mitzvah through the echo of the cave? Is that no you can't fulfill the mitzvah through that echo? You have to hear the sound of the chauffar directly. And therefore many post have argued that when it comes to the mitzvah of uh of when it comes to hearing the chauffar through a hearing aid, it's preferable or maybe if it's even required to hear the chauffar directly. So we should try to make an effort if you can to hear the chauffar directly. It's not always feasible sometimes. Let's say someone can only hear the chauffear very very if they're standing right next to it very close to it in if they go up very close to the beimma let's say. So in such an instance let's say you can't always get up close to the beimma. Let's say you're in the woman's section. So best is to have someone b the chauffar for you personally later so you can be closer to make sure you can hear the chauffar directly. >> Yes. Yes. So it's a question again assuming he can let's let's uh take a step back. There's a difference between there's a question are you fulfilling the mitzvah now that's one question and there's a separate question are you obligated in the mitzvah. So in order to fulfill someone else's obligation the mitzvah you have to personally be obligated. So is he obligated in the mitzvah? So if he can't hear at all even without the hearing aid he's not obligated the mitzvah right he's considered deaf if he can't hear at all then he's considered deaf so he can't he's not obligated the mitzvah and therefore he would not be allowed to build the chauffar for others but if he could hear right just he hears better with the hearing aid so then he is obligated the mitzvah so he could build the chauffar best again for him which is no different than anyone else though it would be best if he took it out during the time of the bowling the chauffar >> even though he >> even though he wouldn't hear as Right? The the we know the is even if a person hears a very faint co a very very faint sound he has fulfilled the mitzvah of the chauffar. So even if let's say I'm standing very far away and I hear a very very faint co a very very faint sound I have fulfilled the mitzvah of the chauffar. So even if he says well I can't hear as well I want to hear best the best of my ability. Well actually in this case best would be to hear it less to hear less of the sound but hearing the sound. you're hearing the actual sound. That's more important. More important is we hear the actual sound, the pristine sound of the chauffar. So going back to this, this is the second reason why we hear again that the the mitzvah is the hearing of the chauffar. Because if I'm standing in the cave and I bow the chauffar and and I hear the echo of the chauffar, the Mishna says I have not fulfilled performed the mitzvah. Which means that the mitzvah is not the blowing. Even the blower himself did not perform the mitzvah so long as he's hearing the echo. So the mitzvah is the hearing of the sound of the chauffar, not the blowing. And this is why again the shamish is telling us the concept of mitzvah baba the concept that the chauffeur itself even if the chauffeur itself has been hijacked it's been stolen by the someone's har it's taken over him still the co itself remains untarnished and it's uh representative of the essence of a Jew and our ability to always return to hashem now there's an important question we have to address which is why is it that the the sound of So far, which we're familiar with, we know how many blasts do we blow on Russashana? 100 blasts. Where does that number come from? >> Ah, very good. Okay, the number comes from a very very unexpected source. Okay, it comes from an enemy of the Jewish people. The mother of Cistra. Cistra as we know for the beginning per Cistra was an enemy of the Jewish people. He tried to destroy us and when he went out to battle, his mother actually saw at a certain point he's not coming back. She says, "What's going on?" And her friends tried to comfort her. They tried to say, "Oh, really? He's just he's busy plundering. He's busy taking the spoils. Don't worry, I'll be back soon." And a certain point, she stopped believing them. He can't pee. He's not coming back. And she started to cry. And she cried and she cried and she cried. And of course we have a tradition that she cried 100 cries. She cried 100 cries. So for this reason we build a show for 100 times. Now come on. You can't think of a better source. Talk about the imos that they cried all the tears that they shed or other righteous people throughout Jewish history. There's so many righteous people we could think about who cried. Why are we going to the tears of the mother of the enemy of the Jewish people, the mother of Cistra? So the we know if you look at the the Torah the Puk itself the call as we mentioned before Rashashan is called Yom it's a day of so we loosely translate as chauffeur bless but really the target as I mentioned says means yaba it's a day of crying it's a day of crying yaba so so how does he know that the word yaba means how do we know the word yaba means to cry because This Puk the Puka the mother of Cra says use the same root that she cried. So, so the question is again so why are we going back to the mother of a wicked person? Why is that the source for the practice which Jews across the globe it's a universal practice have for bowling the chauffar 100 times? Now people think it's foric reasons that we build the chauffeur 100 times. So it is but really it's based on a it's a minhag. It's really a min strictly. How many blasts does the person need to hear on? Okay. So there are different answers. So the correct answer is 30. 30 blasts is the basic basic requirement. Um why 30? Where how do we get the number 30? Does anyone know? It's important to know how we get the number 30. The Torah says you need the Torah says the word trua three times. Three times. Trua says three times in different context. And the the Garra learns out that we need to hear the truh three times. So he could have stopped right there and said, "Okay, so we only need to hear three chauffeur quests, right? So how do we get to the number 30?" So the garra says that each trua needs to be preceded and followed by a Right? So, we know that is the long sound, right? And then we have tr which is something else. Okay, we'll call it that for right now. And then we have to it has to be followed by another flat sound. Right? So, the Gar tells us so according to this how many blasts should be here on rashana? Nine. Correct. Right. Because you have three you have three true both all of them are preceded and followed by a tiki. According to this you should have only nine breasts. How do we get to the number 30? Well thear tells us that there's a discussion uh regarding what was the exact cry of the mother of cestra. Was this thear asks was it gi was it like a sound of like moaning or groaning right which is a know we know a longer sound right? This is what we call avarim, right? It's a longer sound, right? It's a groaning, right? Or perhaps yali yali. Or perhaps it's a more of a sound of a whailing sound or a more of a hysterical cry, a staccato, right? D. Right. We call, what do we call that? We call that chura. Right. So the gar is unsure. Is it the sound of a groan or is the sound of a hysterical crop? Is it more of a longer one like aim or is more of a staccato like a what we call a true and we know later there's actually a third option. Maybe it's both. Maybe it's both, right? Which is what we call. So there's three options of what that is. What does that sound? Which means, if you think about it, how many blasts out do we need to hear? We do all three. We do all three of these combinations. Which means, how many blasts do we have to hear? We have to hear all three of these potential combinations. We have to hear. We have to hear three times, which is nine. We have to hear, which is another nine, which is now 18. And then we have to hear three times. Well, is two. So, that's what we call 12. So we have to hear another 12 blasts, right? Four * 4 * 3 12. So 12 + 18 30. That's how we get the number 30. So those that's the source for the 30 blasts, which is the essence of the mitzvah. So even the essence of the mitzvah is based on the mother of Caesar's cries. It's just a question of how did she cry? Did she cry like this? Did she cry like that? What's the correct type of crying that it's required on rashan? Which means that again just furthers the question >> we have. Correct. So it just furthers the question we have both in terms of the minhog the number of blasts that we blow according to the minhog of blowing a 100 blasts the mamra says we blow 100 blasts that and in addition we have the the uh the the basic requirement of hearing 30 blasts is also based on the mother of cis. So why are we learning from the source of someone who is so evil, someone who is an enemy of the Jewish people? So the the uh so we know in Peric the Sanhedrin tells us that we know I have a son Aka. So it's a very special name for us in our family. Okay. The name Aka is a um I should say Aka Rebaka was a descendant of Cistra. Cystra believe it or not we know Rebea was a convert. Okay. Cistra according to was the great ancestor of none other than Rebea himself. So says the pitic what are we trying to do here? We're try we're trying to extract and redeem the Jewish people. We're trying to extract and redeem us ourselves from those terrible terrible crimes we might have committed. Yes, it's true. We might have been as terrible as Cisra, the mother of Cisra. We might have done so many terrible wrong things. But even from all those kipot, even from all those external coverings, even from all those terrible things that we've done wrong, we can flip it and become the people Hashem wants us to become. This is the concept. The Gar tells us if someone has sinned, we know if a person sins, he commits even sins on purpose. This donote commits sins on purpose. The tells us if a person does sincere out of love for Hashem that the wrong things that he's done can actually flip. He's done them wrong on purpose. They can flip and become merits for him. Not just that Hashem wipes them clean. They can flip and become merits that even the wrong things that he's done can actually serve to his benefit. And that's the concept that we see Rabaka, the great Reba emerged from the mother of right. The great Raba emerged with something so terrible that from the terrible, from the darkness comes the light. From the things which are so terrible, they're so wrong can emerge a great hero of the Jewish people. We know that the there's one point in history, one of the reasons we named him our son. There's a great moment in history where they actually the world the Garra says the world was totally desolate of any Torah. Totally desolate. And the Garra says there's one person though who kept the world going, which was Ribbaka. Ribbea had 24,000 students who all tragically died in a plague. After that how many students did have >> first >> zero and the Gar says at that point the world was desolate it so most of us after 24,000 students have passed away what would he do you throw in the towel that's it I'm retiring that's it I'm done so in Judaism we don't believe in retirement even if people retired we don't believe in retirement there's no such thing right we go and we do different avod we serve hash in different ways. There's no such thing as retirement says now is my time to act. He goes and he went ahead. He established for himself five according to different according to the bali five students and from the those five students emerge the world of Torah that we know it today. So this is the the braha this is the braha the blessing of having a ka that can emerge even from the worst of circumstances. Yeah. >> Ah the Garha says if a person does cha does person does does chuva out of a sense of awe of fear of God then hashem wipes the slave queen. But this is a lower level of chuva. The highest level of chuva is do chuva out of out of love for god. That's the chuva which can actually take those sins and turn them into merits. That's actually the highest level and that's what we strive for on uh on rash which is a hard thing. It's very hard. the day of judgment and we're tra we're we're uh we're tra trepidating before hashem and uh the puk says though in we say the concept of gilu that there's a concept of rejoicing rejoicing in front of hashem with trepidation that they're not mutually exclusive that a person can be trepidating a person can be fearful of what's going on but at the same time have that love of god in his heart and this is what we strive for in rash we're yes we're a little bit nervous We go into with confidence though. That's why the isash is a person should go ahead and a person should shower. He should take a haircut, shave, look nice, look presentable, put on white clothing. We don't wear black on rash. It's not a day of morning. Yes, we're being judged, but we go in with confidence. We were white. We go in with confidence because we know Hashem is going to give us a proper judgment. Hashem is going to give us a favorable judgment. And the year ahead will be filled with blessings. Yeah. >> Very good. Right. So again, they're not mutually exclusive. They go hand in hand. And it's our responsibility to feel feel that love for Hashem even in moments when we're we're feeling the the a of the day of trepidation as we stand before and judgment. Nonetheless, we can still have a love for God. Okay. Okay. We have time. So, I'll share with you one perhaps two if we can get in two more ideas hopefully of uh what we're trying to accomplish. Now, so far we've been talking a lot about the chauffar, but there's an elephant in the room this year. Did I give the wrong sheer this year? Maybe I should say this next year. Come back. No. So what's what how are we >> Shabbat? >> Oh yeah. Okay. >> So apparently next year is also Shabbat. So we definitely have to talk about this next idea >> this year. How can we possibly go into Rashashana without the ultimate tool? We're going into Rashashana without our chauffar. It's a yam truff bless. How could we possibly go into rashashana without the ultimate weapon? And we know the garra tells us to add the question. The garra says in every year that we do not blow the chauffear at the beginning of the year from the word from the word rais the end of the year will be bad it'll be uh it will be terrible be evil won't be good for the Jewish people. So how do we explain this? The we have the rabanim here. We know it's gar. It's explicit garra in the tells us that if you don't bowl a chauffar at the beginning of the year, it's going to be a bad year for the coming year. So how could it be that the that the decided not to chauff? Now why is it we don't bowl the the chauffar in rash that falls on shabas? Why not? So it became mukta. Why did it become mukt? Out of a concern that that someone will take their chauffear to an expert who will teach them how to bowl the chauffar so they can perform the mitzvah on rash and they're going to take their chauffar where outside the in violation of Shabbat. So for this reason out of a concern of one one theoretical person who might carry who might take the chauffar outside the streets to learn from someone who doesn't know how to bowl the chafar he's going to learn from someone he's going to carry the shafar in the streets in the public domain on shabas not in a karm in a public domain because of this we're going to cancel a mitzvah for the entire Jewish people how can we explain So we're risking in the safety of all for this one theoretical person. So now there's many answers to this question. I want to share with you my favorites. Okay, this is the we know of he says that the chauffar it's not a magic charm. What makes the power of the chauffar so potent? What makes the chauffar so powerful that it gives us a guarantee for a good year to come? If you look at the shape of the chauffar, it's very telling because what is the preferred shape of the chauffar? Should be bent, right? We don't bow a chauffar that looks like a like a like a flute, right? That's not straight. We want to have preferably a bent chauffar. Why is we want to have a bent chauffar? The garra tells us because when we see the bench, it will remind us that we have to turn our we have to turn our hearts towards Hashem. We have to turn our personal desires, our personal, we have to take them and turn them towards our avote. We have to take them and turn them towards our service of God. So the whole purpose of the chauffar is we're trying to demonstrate our willingness to bend our hearts to do Hashem's will. So this is the greatest possible aa that we can have. The giving of ourselves, the giving of up of of our will, of our desires for the sake of Hashem. That's our right. Think about what Abraham went through when he was ready to to slaughter. This was Ara had a when he was 100 years old. He waited till he was 100 years old to have a yeets. And the says that he loved him very very much. And he really gave up everything for yeets. He wanted him so badly. He was going to be the future of the Jewish people. He knew Hashem said through you're going to have all the wine of descendants. Who of your ancestry will come through and he was willing to give him up for Hashem. That was Abra's. That was Abraham giving up from himself for his divine service. says the our greatest is being willing to bend our desires for Hashem. So, we go in front of Hashem and the Yadin and we say, "Yes, it's true. I'm defenseless. Yes, it's true. I'm I'm losing out on my greatest weapon, my greatest tool in my toolbox to serve you, Hashem. I'm losing it out." But why? To do your to do your mitzvah of listening to the to do your mitzvah of protecting the Shabas. And for this reason, I'm willing to give up everything. My greatest tool in my toolbox to do your that is the of the chauffar. We're not losing out on the chauffar. We're performing the purpose of the chauffar by demonstrating our will to listen to the to listen to hashem's to listen to hashem's will is we give up from ourselves. We give up from ourselves to serve hashem. That's our now there's other answers as well I don't want to go into because we don't have so much time right now. uh based on the the idea that the chauffar represents bina and shabban it represents bina so we have the chauffar the kak of the chauffar anyways because we have the bina okay more mystical answers but I think this is very nice you see how much I think this is very telling also of what we're trying to accomplish not just on but every of the year right think about the of shabas how some special Shabbat is we're willing to bend over backwards so much to prevent one Jew from potentially violating Shabbat Think about how special it is. Every single week we have an opportunity to observe Shabas. How special of an opportunity is that every single week we have the opportunity to show Hashem how much we love Shabbat, how much we care for Shabbat, how much we want to give up for Shabbat. What a braha. And uh I think it's you know sometimes you go through like a major event you know and people are shocked by the because the sometimes we we give so much we give so much importance to this special event but sometimes we forget about how important the thing we have on a regular basis is that's in our back pocket. The regular routine the regular day in day out the regular Shabbat we have each and every week. So we think ah not so important but the reality is which of the two or shabas which of the two mix shabas which one of the two is mentioned 12 times in the Torah Shabasto doesn't have as many mentions certainly not just rash right Shabbat is m part of it demonstrates our our our uh belief in creation our belief in Hashem it's part of who we So for this reason again we do not pull the chauffar on Shabbat as important as the mitzvah is but it demonstrates our willingness to love Hashem willingness to give up for Hashem. Okay I said we try and get in one last idea. Let's see if we could do it. Five minutes left. Let's see if we could pull off. Okay. So we know we as we mentioned before the mitzvah of the chauffar is we hear and there's a question of what the is is it is it or is it those are the three options and but we always have a which is this flat sound before it followed by some form of crying some form of irregular irregularity right So on a basic level if you think about what this means what this symbolizes so so we have the concept we know of represents Hashem's mut right when they go ahead and they appoint a king so we know you coronate a king so it's a very important event and there would be chauffeur blasts which would happen when the coronation of the king and those chauffeur blast would be to there would be nice flat sounds now the middle sound is a sound of crying it's a sound of brokenness it's a Sound of difficulty. A person struggling either through groaning or through hysterical cry. It's something which is very difficult a person is going through. It represents the trials and tribulations represents human life, right? We go through a lot of difficulties and it's very difficult sometimes when we're going through life and we're just trying to put one foot in front of the other. We're just trying to make it to the next step. We see a lot of difficulties that we're encountering. We see a lot of challenges and at those moments sometimes we feel like how am I going to make it through? How am I going to make it to the next level? So Hashem promises us yes it's difficult but you will make it through because just as right now you're going through these trials and tribulations. You're going through a moment of of brokenness from the word to break. You're going through a moment of difficulty of of trials and tribulations. Hashem says, "I'm going to promise you that at the end it's going to be good. You're going to get there." And that's what Hashem expects from us. That's the process of chuva. We go through a moment of brokenness to become more complete. We go through a moment of brokenness where we have to go ahead and tear ourselves up so to speak, but the with the goal of coming back to Hashem, returning to the state of fullness, of completeness. And uh the Kadusha we know the famous defender of the Jewish people. He tells a beautiful parable. He explains this through a beautiful Masha and he says imagine you have uh a king and this king he's uh he goes one day he gets a little bit uh he is not feeling so good and he goes a little bit uh a little bit tipsy maybe and he goes out into the forest and he gets lost and he's lost in the forest and the king doesn't know where he's going and he's trying to find his way and he's unsuccessful and the people of the town at a certain point they see who is this guy who was a little bit tipsy so he took off his his uh royal garments and he's walking around he's in a days he doesn't have his royal garments anymore so the people of the town they don't even recognized him and no one is helping him and he's stuck and he's in the middle of the forest and all of a sudden one zakin one wise man comes along and he recognizes the king and he says I I recognize that even though you're not wearing your royal garb I recognize that you are the moch And he goes ahead and he directs the Malik back to the palace. And he goes ahead and he helps him regain his position. And the king is so thankful to this wise man, so thankful to the Zakin. And he rewards him handsomely and he gives him royal garb and he gives him a position of authority. And the Zakin is very, very thankful. Fast forward a few years. This elderly gentleman, this Yeah. You want to just close the door in the back? I'm sorry, we'll wrap up. Okay, this elderly gentleman, the very end, he uh he unfortunately, fast forward a few years and he commits a capital offense and the king has his man brought forward and they're about to execute him and the executioner asks him, "Do you have any last requests?" And he says, "Yes, I would like please that I should the royal clothing that I'm wearing, the official royal garb that was given by the king should be removed from me and I should be given back the clothing that I was wearing on the original day when I helped the king return to the palace.