Feature Tidbit for Rosh Hashana Not Shabbat and Rosh HaShana At first glance, it appears that when Rosh HaShana (just our example; similar idea for other coinciding dates) falls on Shabbat, there is a potential conflict between the two which resulted in the Rabbinic ban on the blowing of Shofar on Shabbat - Rosh HaShana. Some people will erroneously think that this is so because you cannot produce "musical" sounds with an instrument on Shabbat. Erroneous, because the Torah's command to sound the shofar would ordinarily push aside the rabbinic ban on making musical notes on Shabbat. In fact, the reason for the ban seems farfetched and less "actual" than the "first guess". Lest a person mistakenly assume that it is permissible to carry a Shofar in an area without an Eiruv on Shabbat, for the purpose of learning how to blow Shofar - after all, blowing Shofar is such an important mitzva, etc. etc. One may not carry a Shofar in an un-eiruved area on Shabbat, even if it would mean that an entire congregation would be without Shofar. (Even a rabbinic ban - such as climbing a tree - cannot be contravened in order to fulfill the Torah's command. Wait a minute! What about the ban against making the sound in the first place? The answer here is what could have been done on the day before and what cannot. - But we digress.) This is how far our Sages went to protect Shabbat from inadvertant violation. That's okay. Understood. But in a context of there being a clash between the interests of Shabbat and Yom Tov. This was a first glance, remember? There are opinions however, that we are not dealing with a clash. We are dealing with a new entity called Shabbat - Rosh HaShana. Not Shabbat and Rosh HaShana. The day is not pure Rosh HaShana, nor is it pure Shabbat. Let's put it this way. It is NOT that Rosh HaShana says blow the Shofar and Shabbat says no. It is Shabbat-Rosh HaShana that says no to the sounding of the Shofar. Rosh HaShana weekday is phsically different from Shabbat-RH. For the weekday Rosh HaShana days, the Torah says let there be a Yom T'ru'a. And so we blow the Shofar in compliance. Of Shabbat-RH the Torah says to consider it a ZICHRON T'RU'A - a day of remembering the T'ru'a. We still focus on the Shofar. We say the p'sukim and constantly refer to Shofar, we just don't blow it. And if we acknowledge G-d as King on Rosh HaShana, we do it with the Shofar on a weekday and with an extra awareness of Shabbat. And what is Shabbat if not an awareness of G-d's Creation of the World and His role as Master. That's certainly close enough to King for the Shabbat form of Rosh HaShana to co-ordinate beautifully with the weekday version. Shabbat Rosh HaShana adds a dimension without which the sounds of the Shofar would be flat. [The Rosh Hashana Homepage]
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