Parashat HaShavua - Shoftim

In a meaningful coincidence, this year we began school on Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the month of Elul. During this month, we build towards the Yamim Noraim, the High Holidays, starting with the sounding of the shofar every morning. Ramban, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Spain 1194-1270), points out that the shofar actually does not exist as a shofar in the natural world. Rather, it exists as the horn (keren) of an animal until we change it into a shofar. As Rabbi Moshe Lichtenstein explains, this change according to Ramban is an improvement to the horn, or a “shipur,” a word that shares a root with shofar. Therefore, the act of changing a horn into the shofar embodies what the shofar then reminds us to do: change for the better.

The Ramban believes this change to the horns of an animal is so powerful, he associates it with a statement by Job in reference to the world’s creation, that “by God’s spirit the heavens were calmed / בְּרוּחוֹ שָׁמַ֣יִם שִׁפְרָ֑ה.” (Job 26:13) He says the third word of that phrase, shifra, is an allusion to the words shofar and shipur, mentioned above. In other words, what we do to improve an animal’s horn, and what we are reminded of when we sound the shofar, is that we have powers akin to those exercised by God in creating the world. Or, as Rabbi Lichtenstein phrases it, when “God took the first material and shaped it into form / לקח הקב"ה את החומר ההיולי הראשון ועיצב הימנו צורה.”

While we clearly must not confuse our own powers with God’s, we can – we must – still recognize the power we have within ourselves to create, and the responsibility we have to bring about change. Still, it is also worth noting that the story of Job from which Ramban takes his quote doesn’t usually evoke visions of human power. Quite the contrary! And the context of this quote brought by Ramban is actually a chapter in which Job describes time and again – in a not altogether reassuring way – how omnipotent God is. As the chapter concludes: “Who can absorb the thunder of His mighty deeds? / וְרַ֥עַם גְּ֝בוּרֹתָ֗ו מִ֣י יִתְבּוֹנָֽן.” (Job 26:14) Not I, perhaps. So then what useful message can we understand from this teaching of Ramban?

While I am not comfortable thinking in grand terms about my own creative power or my ability to cause dramatic change, I can still learn to take any steps that are within my power to be creative or cause change. This idea brings to mind a poem I read over the summer that I found meaningful, especially for starting a new year during an especially difficult time for us as a people. It is by Ashley M. Jones, Poet Laureate of Alabama, and it is entitled “Lullaby for the Grieving, at the Sipsey River.” I will share its opening and closing lines: 

make small steps.

in this wild place

there are signs of life everywhere.

sharp spaces, too:

the slip of a rain glazed rock against my searching feet.

small steps, like prayers–

each one a hope exhaled

into the trees…

maybe there are angels here, too–

what else can i call the crown of light

atop the leaves?

what else can i call my footsteps forward,

small, small, sure?

May we feel empowered in this new year to take steps forward, large or small, to create and cause change in meaningful ways, and may we have many opportunities together to appreciate and celebrate the “signs of life everywhere.”

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head
Rabbinic Advisor