The Shofar and I Have a Dream

In honor of the month of Elul and the anniversary of I have a Dream.

A Story: Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days learning all of the Torah and the oral law. After forty days he descended with the tablets only to find that the people below had given up hope of his return and that the men had built a golden calf. After destroying the calf, begging G-ds forgiveness for the people, and setting the tribes in their order, Moses went back up the mountain.

This time, however, his brother Aaron, the often silent priest, and his sister Miriam, the singing prophetess who found water in the desert, realized that the Israelites needed help retaining hope, and faith, and a belief in the future.  So the two of them ordered that the shofar be blown everyday in camp so that everyone could hear the sound of hope, the sound of faith, and the call to leave the life of slavery behind as they became a holy nation.

According to Jewish tradition, Moses was on Mount Sinai during the month of Elul, and returned to the camp on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, commonly called the Jewish New Year. This holiday, however actually is seen as the birthday of the planet, the birthday of creation. So the Shofar is also a reminder of the promise of a new day, a new chance, and new opportunity. In fact, there is a midrash, an interpretation, that suggests that G-d went up in the blast, ascending the mountain with Moses in the sound of the shofar. The sound of these blasts not only gathered the people of Israel together, it also elevated the divine spirit.

These blasts also remind people that we are moving into the days of atonement, which requires a return to G-d, called Tshuva.  The Shofar calls us to “At-one-ment”….between individuals and  with G-d.