About Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
Rabbi Jack Abramowitz served as Director of Programs for NCSY before becoming Associate Director of the Pepa and Rabbi Joseph Karasick Department of Synagogue Services. Rabbi Abramowitz holds degrees in Jewish studies, communications and Higher Education Administration. Among his accomplishments, he authored NCSY's Torah on One Foot series of educational pamphlets and created negiah.org, the first abstinence web site for Jewish teens. Rabbi Abramowitz is the author of The Shnayim Mikra Companion on Torah, The Nach Yomi Companion volumes 1 and 2 on the books of the Prophets and the Writings, and The Tzniyus Book.

Recent Posts

Taryag: A Mitzvah a Day

Questions? Contact us at taryag@ou.org

PARSHAT Pinchas
MITZVAH COUNTER
Mitzvos to date: 405
Positives:168
Negatives:237
That can be performed today:170
Plus those that can be performed only in Israel:20

405. Blast Off!: The obligation to hear the Shofar on the Rosh Hashanah


…it shall be a day of sounding the blast… (Numbers 29:1)

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, falls on the first day of the month of Tishrei. On that day, we are commanded to hear the sound of the shofar, a horn cut from a ram or other kosher animal. Our verse calls Rosh Hashana “yom teruah,” “a day of sounding the blast,” but the Torah does not spell out the obligation to use a shofar. Rather, it is learned from cross-analysis with Leviticus 25:9, where the word teruah is specifically used to refer to sounding a shofar blast.

A shofar must be curved, not straight. It comes from a male kosher animal but not from cattle. (A bull’s horn would be called a keren rather than a shofar.) The sound made by a shofar is a mournful wail. There are three styles of blasts corresponding to three different sounds of crying. In this fashion, everyone gets to hear a set of shofar blasts that sounds like crying to him.

The reason we sound the shofar is because Rosh Hashana is a time for teshuva (repentance). The shofar is meant to rouse us, to inspire us, and to turn our hearts back towards God. Additionally, the horn is symbolic of the ram that was offered by Abraham in lieu of Isaac in Genesis chapter 22. Abraham had been willing to sacrifice his beloved child to fulfill the will of God but in the end he was only required to offer a ram that had been caught in a thicket by its horns.

This mitzvah applies in all times and places; only men are obligated but women are accustomed to hear the shofar as well. In the Talmud, this mitzvah is discussed in tractate Rosh Hashana (16a-b, 26a-30a). It is codified in the Shulchan Aruch in Orach Chaim 585. This mitzvah is #170 of the 248 positive mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos and #30 of the 77 positive mitzvos that can be fulfilled today in the Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar of the Chofetz Chaim.



Submit a Comment

Name:


Email: (Rest assured, your email address will not be published.)

Comment:


Please enter the word you see in the image below:





© Orthodox Union - All Rights Reserved.
The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Orthodox Union and its agencies