Parashat Hashavua - VaYelech/Yom Kippur

For whom does the shofar sound? Most commonly, the shofar is understood as our wakeup call for the new year. As Maimonides teaches, its signal to us is loud and clear: “Sleepers, awaken from your sleep, and slumberers, arise from your slumber! Search your ways, return in teshuvah, and remember your Creator! / עוּרוּ יְשֵׁנִים מִשְּׁנַתְכֶם וְנִרְדָּמִים הָקִיצוּ מִתַּרְדֵּמַתְכֶם וְחַפְּשׂוּ בְּמַעֲשֵׂיכֶם וְחִזְרוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה וְזִכְרוּ בּוֹרַאֲכֶם.” (Laws of Repentance 3:4)

The Baal Shem Tov (Ukraine 1698-1760), who is considered the founder of Hasidic Judaism, teaches a very different idea (as retold by מהר״ש, פרק ע). He tells the story of a king and prince who decide that “the prince should travel to other nations to gain wisdom and knowledge of how other people act / שיסע למדינות אחרות ללמוד חכמות ולידע הנהגת בנ״א.” The king provided him with everything he needed to enable him to surpass what he would have learned at home with his father / למען יגיע הבן למעלה יתירה יותר מכמו היותו אצל אביו בביתו.” The prince traveled far and wide, “until he had sold everything he owned; he ended up so far away that even his father wasn’t known there at all / עד שמכר כל אשר לו, ובין כך הלך למדינה רחוקה עד שגם אביו לא נודע שם כלל.” Moreover, “he was away for so long that he even forgot his native language, and when he returned he could not even identify himself / מחמת אריכות הזמן שכח גם לשון מדינתו, ובבואו למדינתו מה יכול לעשות מאחר שגם הלשון שכח.” He was also so changed in appearance and disposition that he wasn’t recognizable. He was utterly lost even at home.

What was left for him to do? “He started to cry out in a loud voice so that his father would recognize his voice, and when his father recognized his voice he said, ‘Isn’t this the voice of my son crying out of distress?’ And his love for his son was awakened, and he hugged and kissed him. / שהתחיל לצעוק בקול גדול בכדי שיכיר המלך קולו, וכשהכיר המלך קולו אמר הלא זהו קול בני צועק מתוך דוחקו ונתעורר אצלט אהבת בנו וחבקו ונשקו.” 

This cry, says the Baal Shem Tov, is the sound of the shofar. It is not a sound to awaken us, it is a sound to awaken God. But is it possible that we would be so unrecognizable to God, that God wouldn't know who we are and what we need? Sometimes, I think, it feels that way. And sometimes over the course of a year it might feel like we have strayed from our own identities, or forgotten how to express ourselves even in the most fundamental fashion, our native language. This, says the Baal Shem Tov, is “the sound of the shofar, an internal cry from the depths of our hearts that somehow expresses regret for the past…and awakens the King of Kings, the Holy Blessed One, to show his affection / וזהו התקיעה בקול שופר שהוא בחינת צעקה פנימית מעומקא דלבא איך שהוא מתחרט על העבר…ועל ידי צעקה זו מתעורר ממה״מ הקב״ה ומראה חיבתו.”

It is that affection, teaches the Baal Shem Tov, that leads to the forgiveness we receive on Yom Kippur. And then ultimately, on Sukkot, we receive God’s embrace, in the form of the schach that covers and surrounds us in our Sukkah.

This year may we feel recognized and heard, by God and others; may we seize the opportunity to start anew with our mistakes forgiven; and may we also ultimately feel God’s peaceful embrace on Sukkot.

Shabbat shalom and Shana tova

Rabbi Jack Nahmod

MS Judaic Studies Head (Ivrit/LQ/Tefillah)

Rabbinic Adviser