מה מברכים על השופר? | הרב אליהו ובר

Regarding a law that relates, it may be related to our matter here, We say in the blessings: "And over countries, it is said which is for the sword and which for peace, which for famine and which for plenty; and creatures are remembered on it, to be recorded for life and death." Who is not remembered on this day? The Holy One, blessed be He, remembers everyone on Rosh Hashanah , as we say in the prayer: "This is the day of the beginning of Your works, a memorial of the first day." Rosh Hashanah is the day of the creation of the world, the birthday of the world, the beginning of Your works. And it appears in the Gemara that it is an essential part of the structure of the prayer; that is why they discuss whether it is possible, if it is appropriate to say it on Yom Kippur of the Jubilee year or not, it is an essential part of the day's prayer, to say that the Holy One, blessed be He, remembers all the countries on this day . And all the nations. Right now is the opportunity for the people of Israel, as we received such a beautiful promise from Balaam in the name of the Holy One , blessed be He, "a people that dwells alone," and after that, Moses our teacher says, "The Lord alone did lead him," and "Happy are you, O Israel, who is like you," and it is written there also, "Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone," it is written there the term "alone," that the people of Israel dwell alone; there is a book that says there is one version that it is not Moses our teacher who said "The Lord alone did lead him" but Balaam who said "a people that dwells alone," and there is an opposite version, not Balaam who said "a people that dwells alone" and Moses who said "The Lord alone did lead him," in any case, the people of Israel, thank God, we merit to be alone; all the nations yesterday decided not to trade with the Jews who are settled in the Land of Israel in Judea and Samaria, but that is truly the whole people of Israel. Because even someone who...even someone who happens not to live in Judea and Samaria, certainly his aspirations are to live there; if he doesn't...if his aspirations are not there, then I don't know where he belongs. In any case, both Judea and Samaria. Samaria belongs to the Kingdom of Israel, Judea belongs to the Kingdom of Judah. This connection of Judea and Samaria, that is the heart of the people of Israel. And the entire people of Israel, the entire people of Israel together, " Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, to a land of grain and wine." Ah, whoever knows what is happening there in Samaria, what we will read, God willing, on Rosh Hashanah: "You shall yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria," like that, "to a land of grain and wine," even there, "and His heavens shall drop down dew." But the Gentiles do not want to be connected to this, so the Holy One, blessed be He, on Shabbat will judge them and say to them: "Yes, you are not connected to this?""True, not connected to this, no problem." There was...we just heard about some country, I think it's Ireland, I don't remember, that they didn't want to use some addition of the State of Israel on their planes, and in the end, they didn't manage to land the plane in some story, told you some country just a month ago, oh, I don't know. And there is no...you don't want to be connected to this, then no, there is nothing to do, we don't force anyone to be connected to this. They will perish on their own. V: If someone thinks they can manage without the Holy One, Blessed be He, without the Name, God of Israel, the King whose kingdom rules over all—if someone thinks they can manage like that, then they will be shown. They will be shown how one manages without the Name, the God of Israel. A: That is the theme of the blessings: Malkhuyot ( Kingship), Zikhronot (Remembrance), and Shofarot (Shofar blasts). So, while we mention the kingship of God in Malkhuyot, it is actually the part in Zikhronot: we mention the greatness of God and the kingship of God, because the shofar truly expresses God's greatness in every direction. There is, uh, a blessing before blowing the shofar; we bless: "Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to hear the sound of the shofar." There is a dispute among the Rishonim; I believe Rabbeinu Tam holds that one must bless "on the blowing of the shofar" if the commandment is the hearing [or] the blowing? I am not familiar with that topic. And this blessing is not written in the Gemara. No, many blessings for commandments are not written in the Gemara; not every blessing is written in the Gemara or the Siddur. True, it says in the Gemara that they bless at the time of the blowing, that there is—some say they bless at the time of the blowing...The Gemara says... Yes, yes, correct. So there is, uh... there is the blessing "on the blowing," really for the one who blows. But in the Gemara it is not there; the version of the Rishonim is that the blessings are indeed on the shofar blasts, and that is the deeper understanding of the blasts. The blessings for the blasts are Malkhuyot, Zikhronot, and Shofarot. One blesses on the shofar the blessing of...Malkhuyot. And just as in Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals) we do not bless "Who has sanctified us...and commanded us to recite Birkat Hamazon" because Birkat Hamazon is the blessing itself, and also with Shema, we do not bless "commanded us to recite Shema," because there are the blessings of Shema around it, even though it does not say there the...The words: "Who has sanctified us...and commanded us," but that is the blessing. The blessing is also in the Torah blessing that we have when reading the Torah in public; there are special blessings for it. We do not bless "Who has sanctified us...and commanded us" also for the reading of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah; its blessings are Malkhuyot, Zikhronot, and Shofarot, and...Only someone who blows outside of the prayer service, like someone who was in a field and a shofar was brought to him, as the Mishna says. So he blows, he makes the teruah sound, and he blows three times. In that case, he blesses "Who has sanctified us...and commanded us to hear the sound of the shofar," or according to the opinions of the Rishonim "on the blowing of the shofar"—we are striking the point of hearing. What? What is the point? Now, therefore, someone who blows before the prayer, someone who blows the shofar blasts as is customary today in all the communities of Israel after the Torah reading and before the Mussaf prayer, in that case, he blesses as it is written in all the Mahzorim (prayer books): "Who has sanctified us...and commanded us to hear the sound of the shofar," even the Shehecheyanu blessing . But what happens to someone who, for some reason, arrived late to the synagogue, or for any other reason they only blow in his synagogue during the prayer? In that case, he does not need to recite a special, separate blessing over the shofar, because he is blessing the blessings of Malkhuyot, Zikhronot, and Shofarot. Now, there could be a case—an interesting one...I was saying Malkhuyot, yes...there is an interesting question, what happens with a person who has already...said Malkhuyot, Zikhronot, and Shofarot, and now arrived at the synagogue to hear the shofar. Did he make a blessing? Perhaps he was in a synagogue with a shofar, or if it was Shabbat on Rosh Hashanah, he prayed with the Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofarot sections. Afterward, he happened to arrive at a Beit Din; the Beit Din has specific rules—I won’t go into all the rules of when, but a Beit Din blows the shofar. Now he arrives while they are praying; do they say it all again? After all, they also say Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofarot, and they blow the shofar. What is happening here? Does he need to make the blessing to " hear the sound of the shofar" again? He is not saying Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofarot now—he already said Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofarot. Now he arrives to hear it; ostensibly, in such a case, he would indeed need to recite the shofar-blowing blessings: " to hear the sound of the shofar," and that's it. Therefore, one must know the details approaching this Rosh Hashanah, that if they are blowing the shofar and these are the first blasts for a person who has never heard Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofarot, and hasn't heard the shofar, he does not need to make a blessing on the mitzvah of hearing the shofar. But someone who has already said Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofarot and now hears the shofar, certainly needs to make a blessing again on the mitzvah to hear the sound of the shofar. And this year is interesting; there can be all sorts of people in the world regarding the shofar. In places that are far, far away and have no Beit Din, far from the Beit Din, they observe Rosh Hashanah for two days. On the first day, they don’t blow because it falls on Shabbat; they only blow on the second day because it falls on Sunday, and then they recite the blessing to hear the sound of the shofar and Shehecheyanu on the second day. There are places that are located right next to the Beit Din that sanctified the month, and they only blow on the first day when it falls on Shabbat, because the Beit Din that sanctified the month —or even the authorized courts adjacent to it—blow only on Shabbat, and then on Sunday they don't even need to observe the holiday. This only happens where they sanctified the month ; in the reality of our calendar, it is not very common. Ah, today we don't have authorized courts; perhaps by the coming of the Messiah it will be so, but now we follow the calendar. Ah, there are other variations that can happen. There is a third possibility of people who are far from the Beit Din, but there is an authorized court nearby that sees the sanctification of the month. And then they don't know when the Beit Din sanctified the month. They need to observe two days, but they blow on both days. And there are those who are close to the Beit Din, but they are not at the Beit Din. So on Sunday they won't observe Rosh Hashanah, and on Shabbat they won't either. So there are those who blow on both days, some who don't blow at all, and some who only blow on Sunday. Okay, interesting. Anyway, I will repeat it one more time: regarding the issue of shofar blowing, when they blow during the prayer, you do not need to make a blessing for it. And the Holy One, blessed be He, shall help us that we may merit in this place to hear the sound of the shofar and the trumpet, and the sound of the shofar of the King, the Lord; may this be His will, and let us say Amen.