MEANING IN MITZVOT
 by Rabbi Asher Meir

Each week we discuss one familiar halakhic practice and try to show its beauty and meaning. The columns are based on the commentary “Meaning in Mitzvot” on the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, which is serialized on Yeshivat Har Etzion’s “Virtual Beit Midrash”, www.vbm-torah.org.

Rosh HaShana on Shabbat
Although the central mitzvah of Rosh HaShana is to sound the shofar, this mitzva is not fulfilled when Rosh HaShana falls on Shabbat, as it does this year. The beginning of the fourth chapter of tractate Rosh HaShana considers several possible reasons for this ancient custom.

First the gemara points out that while Rosh HaShana is “a day of sounding the horn“ (yom truah - Bamidbar 29:1), one verse refers to it as a commemoration of sounding the horn (zikhron truah - Vayikra 23:24) - suggesting that sometimes the shofar is not blown. However, this approach cannot explain why the shofar was blown on Shabbat in the Temple. (Interestingly, the Yerushalmi accepts this aproach, adducing a further Scriptural inference to explain the exception in the Temple.)

Perhaps blowing the shofar is actually forbidden on Shabbat? This can not be the explanation. The gemara explains that blowing the shofar is indeed a “chokhma”, a wisdom or skill, but not a “melakha”, an actual labor which is forbidden on Shabbat.

Finally, the gemara concludes that the true reason for omitting the shofar on Shabbat is that “everyone needs to hear the shofar but not everyone knows how to sound it”. So we are afraid that in order to learn, someone will carry the shofar four paces in a public domain - which is a forbidden melakha. (Rosh HaShana 29b.)

Let us delve further into this practice. What is the inner meaning of the sounding of the shofar, and what in the character of Shabbat precludes hearing it then?

BLOWING THE SHOFAR - CHOKHMA BUT NOT MELAKHA
We can garner one hint from the fact that while the shofar is blown throughout Elul, it is not blown between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. The plaintive cry of the shofar is meant to awaken us to repentance. But being awake is not enough - we still need to apply ourselves to the hard work of changing our ways, before our judgment is sealed on Yom Kippur. Elul and Rosh HaShana are a time of awakening, but teshuva takes place primarily during the Days of Repentance, as their name suggests.
In other words, sounding the shofar is a “chokhma” but not a “melakha”. It arouses us to contemplation, but is only a prelude to the repair of our ways. Contemplation is suited to Shabbat, but not teshuva. Shabbat is not a day devoted to repair - neither material nor spiritual. It is a day when we view our work as completed. 

“LEST HE TAKE THE SHOFAR... AND CARRY IT FOUR PACES IN THE PUBLIC THOROUGHFARE”
Of all the forbidden Shabbat labors, the most subtle is carrying. Yet this melakha is also one of the most important in terms of the attention it receives in the major halakhic works. And from a spiritual point of view, Rav Nachman of Breslav teaches that this prohibition is so important that all of the 39 labors are included in it! (Likutei Halachot Shabbat 7:30.)
We explained in our column on Vayakhel that “reshut hayachid”, a private area, suggests the domain of the One, the dominion of holiness. Whereas “reshut harabim”, a public area, suggests the domain of the many, the dominion of division and denial. Carrying from one to the other (or through a public area) thus symbolizes moral evaluation, which is the very foundation of our personal repair. 

There is nothing inherently wrong with hearing the shofar on Shabbat, to remind us that we need to apply ourselves in the coming days to mending our ways. But this may cause people to then take the next step of meditating on their bad traits, treading so to speak in the “reshut harabim”, and endeavoring to rectify them. Of course this is a wonderful undertaking in and of itself, but it is not what Shabbat is all about. (Based on Likutei Halakhot Breslav, laws of Rosh HaShana, end of halakha 5. We are not worried that those present in the Temple precincts will act improperly on Shabbat.)

ZIKHRON TRUAH
The Zohar explains that zikhron truah refers to “mentioning the shofar blowing”, learning the precise inner meaning of each of the three series of shofar blasts (Zohar Emor, III:100b). Whereas we saw that the Yerushalmi renders zikhron truah as “remembering the shofar blowing”, as opposed to actually carrying it out. Combining these renditions, we may say that when we cannot carry out a mitzva, learning about the mitzva can sometimes be a partial substitute. This is one of the reasons we study the sacrifices, fulfilling the verse “And may our lips compensate for bulls” (Hoshea 13:3). So studying the laws of shofar is an appropriate alternative for anyone who is prevented from hearing its stirring call.

Rabbi Meir is in the process of writing a monumental companion to Kitzur Shulchan Aruch which beautifully presents the meanings in our mitzvot and halacha. He is also directing the Jewish Business Response Forum at the Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility, Jerusalem College of Technology - Machon Lev. The forum aims to help business people run their firms according to Torah, by obtaining prompt, relevant responses to their questions. 

Hasidic Wisdom 
Woe is us! The world is full of light and mysteries both wonderful and awesome but our tiny little hand shades our eyes and prevents them from seeing. 
- Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav 

If one does not recognize one's own worth, how can one appeciate the worth of another? 
- Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye 
From the book by Simcha Raz (Elkins/Elkins)