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BEGIN WITH A GRIN
The prayer of a Jewish mother as she lights the candles on erev Rosh Hashana:
Dear G-d, I have two requests for Rosh Hashana: a thin body and a fat bank account. I hope that this year You won’t
mix up the two.
DON’T BLOW IT
This year, Rosh Hashana falls out on Shabbos. Much ink has been spilled about this unique timing, generating a slew
of chiddushim and explanations in Nigleh and Nistar. We will be discussing the changes that will ensue when it falls
out like this in the era of the Geula, with hopes and prayers that already this year, we will be able to actually do this!
Every child knows that when Rosh Hashana falls out on Shabbos, we do not blow the shofar on the first day. Those
more knowledgeable among us know the reason. The Gemara (Rosh Hashana 29b) explains, “Everyone is obligated
in the blowing of the shofar and not all are expert in blowing the shofar. A decree was made, lest one take [a shofar]
in his hand and walk with it to an expert to learn, and will carry it four cubits in a public domain.” In other words,
due to the concern lest ignorant people carry the shofar in the public domain and will transgress the prohibition of
carrying on Shabbos, the Sages abolished the mitzva of blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashana when it falls out on
Shabbos. This decree is called, Gezeira d’Rabba, for the Amora who said this in the Gemara. Even a cursory reading
of the Gemara there makes it clear that even when the Beis HaMikdash stood, long before Rabba, this decree was
enforced. It is an ancient decree from the beginning of the second Beis Ha’Mikdash (if not earlier) and it is called the
Decree of Rabba not because he innovated it but because he is the one who explained it.
This decree applies not only on Rosh Hashana but also on Sukkos (for we do not take the lulav on the first day of
Sukkos if it is Shabbos), and believe it or not, on (Shushan) Purim too. If the fifteenth of Adar is on Shabbos, those
living in Yerushalayim celebrate Purim over three days!
The mishna (Rosh Hashana 4:1) says that despite this decree, “In the Mikdash they would blow, but not in the
country.” Why in the Mikdash? And what does “country” mean?
The Sages permitted blowing the shofar in the Beis HaMikdash in the presence of the members of the Sanhedrin
which was located there, because they maintained that the sages of the Sanhedrin would prevent the broader public
from carrying the shofar in a public domain, which is why in front of them (and only in front of them) there was no
reason for the decree.
As for “country,” the Rishonim have differing opinions. Rashi explains that “country” means (even) Yerushalayim.
According to Rashi, they blew only in the Beis HaMikdash. Rambam (in his commentary on Mishnayos) explains that
Yerushalayim in its entirety is called “Mikdash,” while “country” refers to the rest of Eretz Yisrael, excluding
Yerushalayim. According to Rambam, they were permitted (actually, obligated) to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashana,
when it fell out on Shabbos, all over Yerushalayim.
On the spiritual plane, in Chassidus, much is said about the significance of this decree. The first to deal with this was
the Alter Rebbe in Likkutei Torah. According to Chassidus, the mitzva to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashana is bound
with the essence of the day. Rosh Hashana is about coronating G-d as king over us, and a coronation is done with
(trumpet) shofar blasts, as the Gemara (Rosh Hashana 16a) says, “Say malchuyos before Me so that you coronate
Me over you… and with what? The shofar.”

Rabbeinu Saadya Gaon explains that the connection between the shofar blowing and coronating G-d as king is “for
this is what kings do at the start of their reign; trumpets are blown before them to announce everywhere, the start
of their reign.”
Furthermore, blowing the shofar arouses the G-dly delight in creating and maintaining the worlds. G-d, on his part,
doesn’t need the worlds and the created beings in them; He is above it all. The blowing of the shofar and the utter
bittul with which we coronate G-d on this day, causes G-d to “come down,” as it were, to relate to us and to want us
and our existence. Blowing the shofar arouses new life-force from the Creator for the sustenance of the worlds in
the coming year. Practically, the entire life-giving energy flow which is drawn down to the worlds over the next year
comes through the blowing of the shofar. The shofar arouses a new energy flow from G-d’s essence.
If so, says the Alter Rebbe, what happens when Rosh Hashana falls out on Shabbos? How do we coronate G-d? How
do we get new life-giving energy for an entire year if we don’t blow the shofar?
The question becomes stronger. Is it possible that because of a remote concern that only pertains to the ignorant,
who don’t know how to blow, and don’t know the laws of Shabbos and the prohibition of carrying in a public
domain, that the Sages will cancel a lofty mitzva so that great and holy men can’t do it, a mitzva that is central to the
continued existence of the entire world?
KNOW WHEN TO BLOW
The explanation is that the purpose of the shofar is to arouse G-d’s delight and will to rule over the world. Every
year, the desire to rule has to be aroused again, and in order to accomplish this, the delight in maintaining the world
must first be aroused.
How is this delight aroused? Through the shofar. Blowing the shofar expresses the inner cry of a Jew to G-d. It’s a
wordless cry which bursts forth from the depths of the heart and it reaches the essence of G-d and arouses His
delight in sustaining the world. This arouses in G-d a new desire to rule and He accedes to the requests of the Jewish
people to “rule over the entire world with Your glory.”
However, when Rosh Hashana is on Shabbos, there is no need to arouse the supernal delight since Shabbos itself is a
manifestation of divine delight. Delight is an essential part of Shabbos, for it comes after the completion of the work
in creating the world in six days. Delight results, as it were, upon seeing the completed work. This delight, on the first
Shabbos, is aroused and repeated every Shabbos, so that Shabbos itself accomplishes what blowing the shofar
accomplishes.
But this raises the question: If Shabbos elicits the G-dly delight in and of itself why was the shofar blown in the Beis
HaMikdash when Rosh Hashana was on Shabbos? Wasn’t that superfluous?
The Alter Rebbe goes on to explain that there’s delight, and there’s delight! G-dly delight has a number of levels, and
by blowing the shofar in the Beis HaMikdash they were able to arouse a loftier level of delight than the delight
aroused by Shabbos itself. To summarize: The G-dly delight drawn down by the blowing of the shofar in the ‘country’
is drawn down on Shabbos by itself, which is why we don’t need to blow the shofar, and a minor concern lest
someone desecrate Shabbos was enough to cancel the blowing of the shofar on this day.
In contrast to this, the level of G-dly delight generated by blowing the shofar in the Beis HaMikdash was loftier, and
this could not be done away with so readily. The sad reality is that nowadays, after the destruction and before the
Geula, even if we blow the shofar and stand on our head, we won’t be able to drawn down this lofty level. But that’s
going to change…
The Rebbe once said that in the Geula, when the entire world will be elevated, it will be possible to accomplish in

every place in the world what was achieved by blowing the shofar in the Beis HaMikdash on Rosh Hashana that falls
out on Shabbos. Therefore, we will be able to, and have to, blow the shofar even on Rosh Hashana that falls out on
Shabbos, anywhere, even outside of Eretz Yisrael, thus arousing an abundance of G-dly light for the world.
On other occasions, the Rebbe explained a number of interesting novel ideas, each time from another angle, about
what will actually happen when Rosh Hashana will fall out on Shabbos in the Geula. On erev Rosh Hashana 5740
(when 5739 came out as it does this year), the Rebbe said that since “in the future, Eretz Yisrael will spread out to all
lands” and “in the future, Yerushalayim will spread out over all of Eretz Yisrael,” it is possible, that it will permissible
and a mitzva (at least, according to the Rambam quoted above) to blow the shofar everywhere, just as they blew the
shofar in the Mikdash!
Another time, the third night of Sukkos 5748, the Rebbe mentioned the view of the Rif according to which one can
blow in every Beis Din of three judges, as long as they “are ordained by semicha until Moshe Rabbeinu.” The Rebbe
then innovated that since in the era of the Geula “the Jewish people will be very wise and know hidden matters,”
every Jew will be ordained with semicha going all the way back to Moshe Rabbeinu, and therefore, in every single
house (almost) there will be an ordained Beis Din that will be able to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashana that falls out
on Shabbos.
However the issue will be resolved, the main thing is, it should be already, now!
TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY
We will end with a story about the power of a shofar that was not blown. The one who blew the shofar in the shul in
Istanbul was an old man. All year, he kept to himself and spent a lot of time davening and saying Tehillim. Only on
Rosh Hashana did he stand before the congregation and speak, the moment before the tekios.
“In our country, Turkey, there once lived a Jew who blew the shofar on Rosh Hashana.
“For many years he was G-d fearing and observed the mitzvos but then, there was a change. He slowly became
distant from Judaism until he decided to convert to Islam.
“The Moslems greatly encouraged him and the apostate was given a position in the sultan’s palace. Since he was
musical, he was in the royal choir.
“One evening, a magnificent party took place at the palace. The apostate had an evil idea. He found an old shofar,
one which he still had from the time that he blew shofar in the shul. He took the shofar to the palace. How the
guests would laugh at the sound of the tekios, shevarim and teruos. It would be a mockery of the Jews.
“The skillful apostate brought the shofar to his lips, took a breath, and blew a tekia and a shevarim. He took another
breath in order to produce the sound of the terua but was unable to do so. He tried again, his face turned red, he
blew and blew, but he couldn’t blow a terua.
“He shamefacedly left the celebration. He knew there was more to this and when he couldn’t figure out why this
happened, he went to ask Rabbi Avrohom Hayachini.
“‘Why can’t I blow a terua?’
“R’ Avrohom wasn’t surprised.
“‘The sounds of the shofar are also meant to confuse the accusers. Of the three types of sounds: tekia, shevarim,
terua, the tekia corresponds to Avrohom Avinu, but Avrohom had a son, Yishmael. He came and demanded his
share. The shevarim correspond to Yitzchok, but he had a son, Eisav. Here too, there was some share for the nations

of the world. But the terua corresponds to Yaakov Avinu and it belongs entirely to the Jews. It pertains only to Jews,
as we say, “Fortunate is the nation who are yodei terua.” That is why you were unable to make the terua sound.’
“The apostate stood there silently. He turned pale as it sank in that he was like a goy who has no share with the
descendants of Yaakov. He felt a powerful urge to return to his people, his religion, and his G-d.
“He fell to the feet of R’ Avrohom and asked how to do teshuva. The rav told him to leave the city and move to a
distant city where he should spend days and nights on tefilla and reciting Tehillim.
“The man returned to his people and to his G-d and, as in former times, he blew the shofar on Rosh Hashana in the
shul,” is how the old man concluded the story.
One year, he told the story with particular emotion so that all the people identified with the feeling of teshuva of the
apostate and were also inspired to do teshuva.
The surprise was when the old man emotionally exclaimed, “I am the shofar blower who did teshuva!”
A shudder passed through the crowd. With great emotion, the man brought the shofar to his mouth and everyone
clearly heard the tekia, shevarim, terua. A few days later, the man died.
Good Shabbos and Yom Tov! May we be written and sealed for a good year!

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