Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz: Rosh HaShana -The Shofar Transports our Souls Into The Holy of Holies

my baby [Music] thank you all for coming I know it's a very very busy time of year uh in fact I'm surprised that I came but I appreciate the live audience today's share is dedicated of David mosheben of rum Fishel Jonathan Israel Ben David Moshe Maria batrava Ruben Moshe Ben may all of their nishamas be elevated in the Merit of the Torah learning that they support in addition I again want to reiterate that he will now has a very very important fundraising campaign to provide yumptive needs for the poor the needy of this upcoming yamam Tobin Baruch Hashem there's been a lot of progress that's made but still Mort stucka will help more people it's important to know that 100 of all funds collected will be given to the Anem directly and uh again as I said every week particularly during the yummy narayam season Rosh Hashanah the 10 days of repentance Yom Kippur we say repentance prayer and charity they take away or they mitigate the severity of a decree so the one thing that all of us can use during this time of year are more mitzvos and more stuck up so this is a very worthy cause to contribute and a link to the campaign can be found on the website and on in the description box okay so we're coming towards the end of 57 83 there is an old tradition that the last week of the year every single day in that week can rectify whatever you did wrong on that particular day so now it's Tuesday night which means I'll take a Shiva Shima toga now we're dealing with uh Wednesday because Tuesday night is Wednesday so if you've ever had any bad Wednesdays of various or whatever it is you can Rectify your Wednesdays your Tuesday night Wednesdays by chuva this very last week of the year and there is a concept that God looks at the air based on how you leave it rather than how you begin it necessarily so this is a very very very significant week in our preparation for the great Yom hadin of of Rosh Hashanah what I want to talk about tonight because there is no regular Parsha of the week this job is because it is Rosh Hashanah I want to talk about the big Mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah and that is the Mitzvah blowing the shofar now the very first point I want to note in the blowing of the chauffeur is that this year we're not going to do it on a Torah level remember the obvious point we observe Rosh Hashanah for two days but Rosh Hashanah in the Torah is not a two-day holiday it is a one-day holiday we observe two days because going back to the days when Witnesses have to tell you the new moon we were never sure even in Jerusalem if it was this day or that day so we keep two days in other words the same reason why in the diaspora you always keep two days Rosh Hashanah is unique because it's the only holiday that's the first day of the month so as a result even in Jerusalem there was uncertainty when rosh grodish was see every other holiday shook us and the like we knew when Rosh Hashanah was to calculate sukkas but Rosh Hashanah was in a state of uncertainty but under Torah law it's very very clear that Rosh Hashanah is a one-day holiday now therefore what do we find when the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbos what's going to happen there is no shofar blowing we're not going to blow shofar on the first day of Rosh Hashanah why is that so blowing the shofar is not one of the 39 forbidden there's no malacha in blowing a shofar so the mishna says Rosh Hashanah that when Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbos we do not blow the shelter now it's a little more complicated than I'm able to go through right now technically at in the time of the Temple you were able to blow the chauffeur even in Jerusalem but let's say it is we don't blow chauffeur anywhere fact the reform movement has a little bit of a dilemma with this because the reform movement many only keep one day of Rosh Hashanah but they they do want to have a chauffeur uh so so they they debate there's a debate within the reform movement if they're only going to keep one day of Rosh Hashanah should they should they blow the show for end shopping but again that's not relevant to us we do not vote your friend Shabbos now the question is why not so the gemara and masakis Rosh Hashanah quotes rabba rabba is an amor from the tamludic from the gemars times that says this is a rabbinic decree the rabbis were afraid that in my anxiousness to fulfill the Mitzvah of shofar let's assume I'm not skillful enough I don't know how to do it I might go and carry it in a public domain without an Arif to go to a skilled person to teach me how to blow gazera don't blow chauffeur on Rosh Hashanah lest you carry the show for for Amos in a public place to learn how to blow it now this is quite an amazing thing first of all how can a rabbinic decree take away a Torah commandment sounding the chauffeur on Rosh Hashanah is a Mitzvah in the Torah the rabbis are making a decree don't do this because you might transgress that granted that we're supposed to listen to the rabbinical Authority but can hazal be okay can they uproot a Torah commandment surprisingly the answer actually is yes have a power to uproot even the Fulfillment of a Torah law if it is done passively not doing it they couldn't tell you to eat trade for something but when the Akira when the uprooting is by not doing it that is called Chev there is such a KOA but the second question is this is such a far-fetched problem first of all most communities today have Arabs so even if I were to carry My Chauffeur outside there's no problem I'm allowed to carry My Chauffeur outside so you're telling me every Jewish community in the world cannot blow Chopra and Rosh Hashanah because maybe there'll be a place without an Arab that a guy would carry it that's pretty far-fetched there aren't that many places without a riffs and number three even where there is no errors uh there also is no genuine public domain meaning a public domain has to have like 600 000 people Etc so most places are not Torah violations of County and yet what do we see the sages took Shabbat so seriously that for a minuscule chance that somebody might desecrate the Shabbat they took away the great and glorious mitzvah of the Kia shofar now you have to remember that Takia chauffeur is not just a Mitzvah it is a mitzvah but Takia chauffeur has spiritual power it changes the media of judgments and severity to Mercy and compassion we'll talk about how that process works it awakens compassion and empathy and sympathy from it brings blessing into the world the gemara actually says it's kind of a pun the word Marie in means like to blow the truest out but Marian also means bad things can happen so the gemara says the following call Shana shainlo any year where they don't blow the shofar in the beginning of the year may we and blow the shofar bad things will happen in other words if you don't get the Mary in of the shofar you get the Mariana bad things so the Cairo we would think that there's a tremendous spiritual loss that we're suffering by not having the mitzvah shofar and Rosh Hashanah now if you're going to answer me well listen we never lose it totally because we are going to have the Mitzvah of shofar on the second day of Richardson right there's never a Rosh Hashanah where you don't have chauffeur but again let me just remind you the observance of shofar on the second day of Rosh Hashanah is a rabbinic enactment insofar as the Torah is concerned it's only day one and if it's only day one if we don't have chauffeur we don't have chauffeur even if rabbinically we make it up on day two so how could it be does that mean God forbid 57-84 which is coming up we don't have the chauffeur to awaken Divine Mercy I'm going to be subject to God's decree that any year in which we don't blow the chauffeur in the beginning will be a year in which God forbid bad things happen how can that be I mean look at what the sages are taking away from us so there's a beautiful explanation that's given with a certain muscle and the Marshall was this was a great be actually very famous for Sita sharabi the minhasa Allah who died in 1937. right before the beginning of the the Holocaust he was the mooncatcher baby and it was actually known for an extreme anti-zionism which is not really the discussion tonight he made the submaribi look like Theodore herco I mean he was a moon catch who was a real real real real tough in fact interestingly enough one of the most popular zionists written by the Hungarian Rabbi Rabbi soccer who died in the concentration camp and he wrote about the importance of settling marriage Israel he had been a Mankato who went to the other side so he's kind of the Hungarian rough cook he had been a very very strong antivirionist and through because of the Holocaust he changed his position but the Miracles did not and he died a little before the Holocaust and I think the last Rosh Hashanah of his life or close to it gave the following dressia based on a story that had just happened to him he had a grandchild that he deeply loved a child that he just loved you know every and when it's a grandparent knows the feeling and you know the child loved to hear his zadie blow chauffeur and the whole month of Elo we blow chauffeur aftershockers and every day the boy would either go to show and hear his grandfather blow chauffeur or if the boy didn't go to show the grandfather would blow extra for him so the boy could hear the chauffeur beautiful now there is one day in the month of owl that we do not blow the shofar and that is the last day aerev Rosh Hashanah we do not blow the chauffeur versus China is Friday Friday we do not blow the shofar and the reason is because we want to make a break between optional blowing and mandatory blowing meaning meaning Rosh Hashanah is a mandatory blowing the month of evil is a customary blowing so to show if we would blow continuously people would just think Rosh Hashanah is just a continuation of Elo so we want to make a break and differentiate between optional and mandatory now this little boy didn't know all of these didn't understand them so he said to his zaidi and heir of Russia can you blow chauffeur for me and the zadie said it's era of Rosh Hashanah we don't blow chauffeur anymore the boy started crying the boy started sobbing and even the great Sadiq he couldn't listen to his grandson Christ so he said okay I'll blow one sound for you and he blew the chauffeur once and the grandson was placated this is the mice that happened there of Rosh Hashanah the next day on Rosh Hashanah Dominica got up and he said I have to do chuva I violated I broke the din you're not supposed to blow shofar near Rosh Hashanah but I couldn't help it my grandson was crying my heart was opened I had to blow the chauffeur even if it wasn't the right time I have to do chuva he then turned to akadishburg ER we say in davening every day and on Rosh Hashanah tikab ISO blow the Great shofar to bring mashiach to in gather the Exiles but you God don't blow that chauffeur because you say it's not the right time we're not ready but I felt the pain of my grandson blew the chauffeur even though I shouldn't can you God do the same and see the pain of your children and below the great show for just one show for blessed and he said I did what I did out of love for my grandchildren my grandson you can do what you need to do out of love for the Jewish people this is uh but still when it's not Shabbos we're intro I'm sorry we're in these Shoppers we're in trouble we're missing it so they give the following muscle another muscle that they give and the muscle is that a king once had an advisor and the advisor was very close to the king and the King even had a very good relationship with his wife he had a kosher when I was not anything basically he especially loves his wife his wife is a very fine woman Etc and at one point uh the advisor or the minister got into big trouble and in those days you know you messed around with the Kings and stuff you could be executed very easily and all of the defense attorneys that the guy wanted to get felt they couldn't really help because you're really in big trouble so the person was resigned to his faith but his wife said let me talk to the king you know the King has a special connection to Me Maybe as your wife I could show the love that I have for you how much I care about you and the king would ever recommend so the wife was able to secure rahamim for the minister that nobody else could so here's the muscle you know the medrish that the Shabbos is considered to be the wife the spouse of the Jewish people it says every day of the week has a z-book Sunday is connected to Monday Tuesday is connected to Wednesday Thursday is connected to Friday Shabbos is odd odd day out Shabbos is not right who is Shabbos connected to Demetrius says knesses Israel that we are so to speak the husband of Shabbos Shabbos is the comma Mela the same way that the wife who's so beloved to the king was able to plead Mercy for a minister that was undeserving so when we don't have shofar to elicit Divine Mercy Shabbat itself is a source of Divine Mercy you don't need the shofar on Shabbos because Shabbos will give you whatever it is that chauffeur would give you because chauffeur is the time I'm sorry Shabbos is the time of love Shabbos is a time of compassion and therefore Shabbos is the wife that can step in save the husband that the husband is undeserving so as a result even though obviously we're losing a great Mitzvah right the Mitzvah the Kia shofar but indeed Shabbos is in fact giving us which we need to have and that's why we don't have the problem the statement of the gemara that any year in which they do not uh blow chauffeur in the beginning will be a bad year that's referring to where it's not Shabbos and for whatever reason they didn't blush over that's a very very bad thing but when it Shabbos Shabbos takes the place of the Holiness and the rakamim that show for normally illicits so that's something to to think about by the way just a little interesting historical controversy I did mention that according to the rambam in the time of the temple they blew shofar throughout Jerusalem even on Shabbos there was kind of a Maverick Rabbi he was a very hush of a rabbi Rabbi kibi Joseph Schlesinger in the end of the 19th century beginning of the 20th century who actually took the halach position that even today you can blow chauffeur and Shabbos in the old city of Jerusalem so he went to the chief Rabbi abusalem this goes back to the early 1900s to get a heter and they all said no they all said can't do it so there's an old tradition among that he still followed his sack and in the privacy of his home he blew the shofar and people recall walking by and they hearing a chauffeur blast even on Shabbos because he felt that the rambam's directive that you can blow show for in your shalayim did not only apply when there was a temple and even applied they tell another story that a great other Rabbi of Jerusalem the aderis were actually of Cook's father-in-law been with stoma he stood surreptitiously outside of Kiva schlessinger's house so he could hear the chauffeur blowing because his question was listen even though I consider it to be forbidden to blow but if somebody's doing it anyway at least I want to try to get the Mitzvah he maintained that listening to it I'm getting in the Mitzvah right so he actually wanted to listen he didn't want to do it publicly because that would look like he was endorsing the practice but he said I'm going to take advantage of this rabbi's transgression he's doing in Aveda I'm not doing an Avera by listening to it so if I'm not doing enough era by listening to it so I'll get a mitzvah so he actually felt that if somebody in violation of halacha were to blow a shofar on Shabbos it would be kadai for you to go and listen to it because that way you would get to Midfield children yeah so yeah let me go back a little bit there actually is this is interesting there actually is a Mach Locus the Babylonian why you don't blow chauffeur and Shabbos when I told you it's a gazera a decree lest you carry the shofar for almost that is what the Babylonian atonement says the Babylonian settlement says it is a rabbinic decree however the Jerusalem atonement actually says on a Torah level you do not blow chauffeur when Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbos and the reason that so is there are two references to blowing the chauffeur sound and Rosh Hashanah in parsha's Amor it talks about a remembrance of chauffeur blowing in parsha's pinchas it talks about yomtrua a day of chauffeur blowing says based on its interpretation of those phrases that sometimes you actually blow the shofar and sometimes you only remember the shofar and that is when Rosh Hashanah is on Shabbos you remember the chauffeur and you don't blow and when Russia is not on Shabbos you actually blow the chauffeur so according to Sami yushami although it doesn't give you the reason you actually do not blow chauffeur an adult racial level now the bubbly mentions that as a possibility but it refutes it so so the babli's maskana the babli's conclusion is that it's only a rabbinic decree but to tell me you xiaomi says it's a Torah law based on the difference between and yomtrua interestingly enough I don't want to get overly technical the Liturgy the liturgical structure of the amida actually reflects the usami's position because again if you look at a master you'll see that when we say in the amida and you have given us God with love we normally say as Yom trua the day of trua a holy day you'll notice on Shabbos this year instead of saying yomtrua you will say a remembrance of trua and that is based on the you shall me that zikrantrilla is the exemptor if there's such a word of not blowing the chauffeur on on Shabbos so there is there is a mucklocus now the usami doesn't tell us why the third would exempt to but once again it may be along the lines of the muscle that I gave that Shabbos is a time of rakamim so therefore you don't need the chauffeur to stand in okay so that's a little bit about the first day of Rosh Hashanah and the idea of not having a chauffeur and how do we survive and how do we make sense of a day without chauffeur by the way I don't I don't mean to compare this at all but the carrier rights a small Caraway groups they don't have low Chopra in Russia and they observe Rosh Hashanah they don't blow chauffeur because they claim interestingly enough that the Torah does not say explicitly blow chauffeur the Torah says a day of shouting now we interpret that to mean the sound of the shofar we interpret it to mean that but they say it refers to prayer so the carrier rights define whether it's the ground true or joint that's not important to them they focus on truer on prayer which of course we pray as well as opposed to our rabbinic tradition the oral law that says trua is the sound of the chauffeur one of the sounds of the chauffeur so Cara writes uh do not have a chauffeur at all well okay well we'll talk about that again there are different ways of understanding chauffeur chauffeur might be laughter rather than crime but I'll I'll actually get get to that in a moment so now let's talk a little bit about chauffeur because we are going to blow show for the second day and even on Shabbos when we don't blow shofar we think about shofar we think about the meaning of children so the meanings of shofar are very very multifaceted we go back all the way back through up sadya gaon who gives 10 reasons about chauffeur it's connected to the the ram of Yitzhak we remember the Hashem remembers the merits of the akedah it's connected to the chauffeur of the giving of the Torah it's connected to the chauffeur of in gathering the Exiles is connected to the chauffeur of resurrection of the Dead it's an alarm clock that reminds us to wake up from our sleepwalking so it awakens us to chuva it is a summons to judgment it is a coronation of a king many many associations and it's funny because some of them are happy associations some of them are historical associations some of them are associations about future events and some of them are reminders that we got to get our life in order so chauffeur is a very multi-variable experience and again if even if you look in the standard art scroll maxor it'll give you refside and the 10 reasons it's a one-page thing and it's worthwhile to look at that because basically that is what we would say is the possib shots of all of the different things that chauffeur represents but I want to augment with sadragon with some additional thoughts that different commentaries have said let me first start with representative the great 19th century German rabbi and he basically says that the shofar has three basic sounds we have the Takia which is the long straight sound uh then we have the shivarium which is a elongated crying uh like groaning moaning uh uh uh yeah there's my cloaks and exactly how to do it but that's basically base some go up some do uh uh uh okay either way we're not going to get into the numerous controversies about the exact sounds of it but the schwaram are three uh groans and then we have the trua which is inside which is staccato typically nine interestingly more or less all three sounds ultimately should be the same length so the length of the three chevers should be equal to the Takia and the nine truest should be equal to the three shiversity in other words the amount of time of the blowings is actually identical for all three of those things so we do have the basic sounds Takia shivarium true and then we end with a Takia but in terms of sounds we have these three variations so our first says this is actually describing the process of chuva because in many many ways the sound of the show for is a remnest to the human soul because God created us on Rosh Hashanah what do I mean created us he breathed into us the spirit of Life the truth is we're not created our nashama is not created God created dogs and cats and cows and goats we meaning our essence is God's breath God didn't create his breath God's breath is God right so it's very very important idea that in a sense we were not created we simply emanate from God's totality and that happened on Rosh Hashanah so if you think about it when I blow the shofar I'm kind of recreating the moments of creation that God blew his breath into us the shofar or the sounds of the shofar is the nishama so here is how reverse looks at the different sounds of the chauffeur the Takia which is straight pure Unbroken represents the initial nishama that God breathed into us it was holy it was pure it was good but what do we do with that nishana we break it shivarim we break it by sin we break it by not honoring it we break it by not taking care of it now again in a very deep kabbalistic sense we never really break our national maybe we lose our connection to it we Sully it we get it dirty but it looks like we're smashing it up huh you're right Harvest theoretically of course cars can be undone with juva but but you are correct without shuva we can destroy our nashama but the even even the even then what was it because people asked the question how could you destroy uh God you know even then one way of understanding the obliteration of car race is that the spiritual energy of the nishama gets reabsorbed in the totality of God without a with a loss of individual Consciousness so the car race means the person no longer has consciousness of any existence but the actual spiritual energy gets reabsorbed in the totality of God's Essence so nothing is ever lost in a sense but but the individuation is lost you are you are correct so Takia is that pristine creation of God shivarim is the Havoc that we created with our average true ah that sounds like whimpering and crying is the balchuva who cries to come back to God the process of chuva and what do you always blow after a trua another Takia because that illustrates you you've repaired the damage you're able to be reunited with God once again you're back where you were and not only that but the Takia that is blown after the truer at least the last one takiya gedola is one is a louder and stronger then the Takia before because the place where the balchuva stands is even greater than that who never sent you're in a better place so according to rev Hirsch when I listened to the different sounds of the shofar I'm hearing the processes of birth disintegration chuva and repair that is part of my responsibility to repair the damage to my soul and reconnect to God in a very good place and so that's one one aspect of it now refutner continues the analogy of the human soul right the blowing of the chauffeur's reminiscent of the human soul but he has a very very striking analogy and he says that the Kia show for is actually the opposite process of how God created me created Me by blowing into me shofar is I'm blowing out and I'm taking my breath and I'm blowing it out it's a reversal refutner actually says shofar is undergoing the symbolic experience of death you are giving your life back to God you know uh in the days before there were computers and I actually remember this I don't remember this uh when you went when you when you rented a car let's say you rented a car for two days and you wanted to extend it by a day so there was a whole like formal ceremony you had to show up you had to bring the car back you kind of had to give the keys in and they did a new contract that you know gave you gave you back the car for another day meaning you couldn't just say I gotta keep the car for another day whatever it is no you have to return the car and then they evaluate you know with their damage or whatever it is and maybe they wouldn't give it to you for another day right they had to be that way Rosh Hashanah is very much that way we are given life in one year increments at the end of the year we got to go back to God the footner says we give them back our life and we say God I'm asking for a renewal you know I need this I want it I have a family I have people who depend on me please please please can you give me quite literally a new lease on life so refutner says it's a very very striking picture the footner says blowing back your blowing your shoulder is returning the car you're giving your life back to God praying that God should give it to you for another year at a time and part of the idea is it makes a person realize how much we need Hashem how vulnerable we are how precarious right now again it's always hard to talk about this because the one thing I I don't want to do and I don't even think is so helpful to people is for people to get anxious and tense and nervous and you know obsessive compulsive these are ultimately days of Joy Rosh Hashanah is in the Tanakh itself at the beginning of the second temple told Israel told the Jews to rejoice in serving God so Rosh Hashanah is a happy day but it's a happy day with a certain seriousness to it so that's why we don't say oh well you know it's not happy in the same way is happy there is a happiness that we're proclaiming God as king and we're acknowledging that our life is in the hands of God and the chauffeur Blaster footner says is an aspect of returning the car and asking for a chance and of course it's interesting that because it's connected to that when we're asking for the car back we're asking also saying hey Hashem remember the Al Qaeda too right in other words we have some merits by which you know perhaps you can give us back our life for another for another year you know again we we take a lot for granted uh you know God forbid when somebody went through a very very serious illness or disability and after maybe a long time they were able to regain them again I know you know they're able to regain their health and regain their function how much they appreciate being able to walk being able to do things being able to drive whatever it is be able to work because when you didn't have it you know you knew what you didn't have and when you have it you see it's a gift that Hashem gives you this gift now in many ways if people were fortunate enough not to have the sorry they ought to be more grateful they didn't even have the problem and yeah that's the closest reminds us it's the other way around that we often take things for granted we take hashems like I said for granted many of you might have parents grandparents Aunts Uncles who maybe Holocaust Survivors or maybe came from persecuted environments like the old Soviet Union or Iran or whatever it would be and whether they come to America or come to Israel they tend to be very patriotic very appreciative of living in a free country as opposed to the native born American or the native born Israeli I was born this way you know I don't have any particular appreciation right so Rosh Hashanah is serious in a sense that it makes us try to focus that every day is a gift it's nothing we're entitled to and therefore we give our life back to God and we say as we say in our Donald in your hands do I place my spirits and then I don't know laments Hashem and when I know that God is with me I will not be afraid no matter what happens Hashem I will not be afraid so that's a second perspective professor of Hershey's idea these are all these are not inconsistent these are just complementary ideas that the sounds of the shofar are the process of chuva refutner in a more General way is the shofar is the reverse of Hashem breathing into you you're giving your life back to God let me mention a third idea from these the greatest rabbit the gamar the mission says in Rosh Hashanah that although it is preferable to use a Ram's Horn for a chauffeur because a ram commemorates the Acadia but with the Edward you can use other animal horns and in fact a lot of Shoppers they know those big Shoppers that the taemonium use are really from antelopes and the like all right so they're certainly kosher there's a Mach Locus what about a chauffeur of a non-kosher animal can use a moose horn okay that's a Mach Locus but certainly uh kosher animals their horns are Kosher but there's one kosher very kosher animal that you're not supposed to use for a chauffeur you cannot use the chauffeur of a cow or a bull a bull horn or a cow's horn is not a kosher sugar why not what's wrong with that I mean it's a kosher animal so the gemara gives the reason because since a cow or a bull is reminiscent of the calf the golden calf you don't want to seek Mercy by invoking the thing that you sinned with this is a famous expression that has entered even modern Hebrew language Ain categor ain't categor means a prosecutor is not the optimal defense attorney the prosecutor has been looking for all sorts of reasons why you don't deserve to be helped he's not going to see the good parts of your case and therefore the egal right the calf or the cow's horn whatever it is it brings up sin therefore you don't plead to God for Mercy with that now people often say you don't want to remind God of the sin of the golden calf when you're seeking Divine Mercy now obviously that that's not the sensible God doesn't need to be reminded of things God obviously knows without being reminded but it means there's a certain arrogance in like flaunting when you're asking God for mercies it's more of an arrogant Behavior now the garage was an analogy to this from Yom Kippur about you know the Cohen Godot has two standard Uniforms on Yom Kippur one uniform has gold threads in it in fact that's the uniform he wears during the year and he wears it on Yom Kippur as well that is called big day sahaf then when he goes into the kodachim however four times altogether he uh changes he takes off his big days of her before he enters and he puts on pure white linen garments so the Cohen God all actually changes his garments five times he goes from gold to white gold to white gold he changes five times during the Yom Kipper service and the basic rule with seminar I'm just to simplify it is when he goes into the kodachem he can only go in with pure white garments when he's not in the colors of him he can wear his gold garments so the question is why can't he wear gold when he goes into the Kardashian once again just as a cow or a bull is reminiscent of the sin of the golden calf gold is reminiscent of the sin of the golden calf so when he goes into the kodachim we don't want to bring the sin of Ami Israel into the Quran so this idea that the prosecutor does not become the defense attorney we apply in two scenarios that is why you can't use a shofar of a cow or a bull and that is why the coach the Cohen guttle does not enter the code is big days I have only big day Levine right now here's a problem the gemara asks a very very good question you would think that these two rules are consistent but they're actually contradictory because on Yom Kippur we're only concerned with bringing up the golden calf when he's in the holy of holies even on Yom Kippur when he's not in the holy of holies he wears gold so the concern of not bringing up the golden calf only applies in the cul-de-sac station but if that's the case what's the problem with the chauffeur of the cow you're not blowing chauffeur in the kodachim you're blowing it outside of the goddessa so there's a question here yeah because you're reminding other people when other people will see it then they will maybe remember oh a cow like maybe they will remember maybe subconsciously no no yeah but but what's the problem I mean the problem I don't see it yeah and they say it yeah then they remember is that good or bad what do you think it's not good because that because they will remember because they will remember so many people will see it well but let me remind you though and Yom Kipper see anyone keeper when the Cohen guttle is not in the Kardashian people see him too see it's only the Kardashian that's private so people will see him on Yom Kippur too right it's not just so I think it's a bigger like like I don't know okay so so let me just let me just say what the gamari says the gamar gives a different answer this is an amazing answer the gemara's answer is that the moment of takiat shofar is so elevated and it is so holy it is as if all of us are transported into Dakota so yeah the rule that you don't bring up only applies in the Kardashian so why can't I use the Horn of a cow because I'm in the code effect session I'm in I could be in Berkeley California I can be in in Sioux City Iowa wherever I'm blowing chauffeur wherever I'm hearing shofar I am transported into the Kardashian amazing thing the holiness of that moment of the Kia shower and holiness so this is my way of introduction this is really the gemara so here's here's what this fasemus says you don't bring up anything sinful you don't bring up the golden calf Etc right you're in the colors says in that moment you don't even bring up prayer verbal prayer because our very words are tainted with sin we're sometimes insincere in other words the same way you can't use gold or you can't use a a cow chauffeur because a categor cannot be a San agar our very words are a categor because often there's a disconnect between our words and our thoughts our sincerity so what type of Prayer can you utter in the holy of holies it has to be a prayer that's untainted by hypocrisy it has to be a prayer that's genuine has to be a prayer that's real and that is the sound of the chauffeur the shofar is a prayer without words a show for is an emanation from the deepest recesses of your nishana it's a cry that hasn't been corrupted by the different conscious thoughts that we often bring to life therefore the moment you're in the culture you don't pray to God by verbalization you pray to God by exposing the depths of your kishka so to speak the depths of your nishama now this is the teaching and the authority was not mahadish this but the altarami talks about the idea that in The Godly soul there is already the love of God the reverence for God the altar Rabbi said a Jew does not have to learn how to love God a Jew does not have to learn how to Revere God it's in you it's there you have to learn how to access it you have to learn how to connect to it we build up barriers we build up things that distance us but there's nothing we have to learn we have to do we have to connect in fact that's why the word chuva is a remarkable word now Juve is translated as repentance really Trula means returning now returning implies you're coming back to a place you once were I'm returning return what am I returning to I'm returning to God returning to the Jewish people returning to me I'm returning to who I am so it's interesting although chuva uses the vocabulary of change I'm going to change I'm going to turn over right the vocab the active vocabulary of chuva is about changing but in the deepest level is actually not about changing it's about becoming what you already are so really you're not changing behaviorally you're changing because you were not behaving in a certain way or whatever it would be but existentially you're not changing in fact one might even make the argument it's impossible to change and after all if you're in Hashem is the Breath of God God is himself is unchangeable right so really you're connecting connecting returning so you hear what this was saying so this is so again just a review very quickly reverse looks at the sounds of the shofar as the process of juva looked at the sounds of the shofar as giving your life back to God the reversal of creation looks at the show for as prayer from the guts at a time when you're in the holy of holy so anything less than that Purity will not suffice so now let me mention a final but I think a 2-2-2 final thoughts penultimate he's a fancy word and then final thought thoughts from The Shane Michelle now Sheamus is a uh one of the greatest and it's particularly good for people uh when people ask what Hasidic safer is most accessible to a beginner to learn at least in the Hebrew so Sheamus shmuel is actually considered to be one of the best I don't want to say Beginner Books I mean there's a very deep thoughts in it but it's more accessible a set of swariam the shame Ishmael was himself the son of a very very great goddold the avni Naser Etc the soccer Trevor and he was the grandson of the enigmatic cutsky rabbit so he has a lot of different sources that he draws from the Sheamus Moore points out the following you know the sounds that we associate with the shofar were also used in a very different context than Rosh Hashanah they were used with the silver trumpets remember we have two musical instruments we have the chauffeur which we've learned Rosh Hashanah but then in Parcels we have silver trumpets and the sounds that were made for the silver trumpets also are Tequilas and through uh you know these different sounds so the Sheamus schmuel takes a little bit of license which I think is legitimate and he says maybe we can understand the Rosh Hashanah blowings by looking at what they meant in the khatsulturals blowings now in the khatsotros blowings we find that when the people heard a Takia that was a sign to gather together and when they heard the trua it was assigned to March forward and true include schwarim the broken Sons in other words these were the symbol these were the signs to travel not to travel Takia is come together is Sally Forth travel forth so says the shame Ishmael this could itself be the meaning of these sounds we're embarking on a new year a journey the journey in fact he explains why is a broken sound the symbol for traveling because he says amazingly enough because the Broken Sound of the Chevrolet trua on one hand resembles crying but it can also resemble laughing laughing and crying are very close sometimes you can laugh until you cry sometimes you can cry until you laugh um this is interesting when you see you see those little children sometimes I I sometimes I a child has a crying fit and then you do something funny and uh you like start laughing in the middle of the crying then he'll go back to crying or my son used to give me like a 10 second chance to see if I entertained him enough he was crying I tried to do something so he would stop he would stop he would stop if they're you know judicious a thoughtful person he would stop and examine if what I was doing was entertaining enough and if it wasn't he just resumed where he left us let's continue it's like amazing he just turn it on turn it off that way but we know that laughing and crying are very much connected that way and journeying is exactly that way you're going on a trip you're moving to a new place you're making Aliyah you're taking a new job you're getting married you're getting divorced you're not that I would advise it necessarily the point is on one hand you're filled with fear interpretation let's see if sometimes the hell that I know is is easier for me to take than the hell but I don't know you're leaving the old you're leaving the familiar it's scary but there can also be a sense of excitement the sense of exhilaration something new wow that's what a journey is a journey in life is laughing and crying at the same time so now let's apply it to the shofar the tequila tells all of us as we are beginning the new journey of life into a new year come together we can't focus on our egotism and our selfishness we got to care about each other we got to work together we got to love each other starting with ourselves self-love as a mukam branching out to family to community to call Israel to the world right that's the Takia come together and when we come together we're then ready to Journey with that mixture of laughing and crying laughing and crying for New Year there are things to be excited about new potentialities you never know God has many many surprises in his book Gary again I I don't mean scary only in the nasana tokef sense you know God forbid death and illness and I mean that's certainly scared but even regular you know things you know things are different how will things work out in the new year so these are four complementary perspectives through of sadragon that I wanted to share with you the process of chuva refutner the experience of symbolic death is the prayer without words when you're in the holy of holies the need to come together and then combine the laughing and the crying as you journey into the new challenges of life that 57.84 will undoubtedly bring to us let me just mention another thought one is a thought from ref cook it's arranging a lot of different people tonight the halacha of shofar is you have to blow from the narrow end to the wide end but you can't blow the shelf or even if you physically could but holocally it's not valid to blow from the wide end if you have cooked season that the nature of spiritual growth you start off focused on yourself but eventually you widen your commitments that's the sign of a person that's spiritually growing you become less fixated on yourself and more involved in the needs of others that's one understanding others understand the idea of blowing from the narrow ends as a reflection of the chuva process you know uh my chuva I often look at what I have to fix and looks like hopeless looks like a very narrow place I really don't have a place to go into I am not able to fix it up but the lesson is you do with what you could you do whatever you could do with that narrow opening then God gives you expansiveness this is the language described Shuba they say open up for me like the eye of a needle and Hashem says I will open up for you like the Gateway of the basement that's exactly what the chauffeur is right that's what the chauffeur is the narrow opening that I start with becomes one of expansiveness so these are again hopefully some things that we can think about as we enter uh the new year of of Rosh Hashanah and I want to wish everybody a casino a good blessed year a year of health and a year of redemption a year of simcha a year where we're able to accomplish what our mission is in the world it should be for us for the Jewish people for the whole world really and may we live our lives to honor akadeshbargo in every way that we can and it should be uh a good and a sweet year happy birthday everybody [Music]