Shofar Service, 5774 {with visual accompaniment}
Introduction
The mitzvah is not to sound the shofar but lishmoa kol shofar – to heed the voice of the
shofar. What does it mean to “heed the voice of the shofar”?
Maimonides taught: kol shofar is meant to awaken us. Like sleepwalkers, we pass through
our days with eyes open but minds asleep. The voice of the shofar announces: Wake
yourself up. Let my sound penetrate to your core.
Our shofar service is built on three themes.
Malchuyot: God’s sovereignty. There is a creative Source of all being. We reawaken within
ourselves awe and wonder. We ponder the immensity of creation and question our place
within it.
Zichronot: sacred relationship. The awe-inducing Source of all being cares not only for the
infinite reaches of space but also for me. We awaken ourselves to a sacred partnership.
Shofarot: Two shofars: the shofar sounded long ago when God gave the gift of Torah; and
the shofar to be sounded again at the end of time, when the flawed work of creation will be
completed by the work of our hands and the grace of God.
Malchuyot – The Awesome Source of an Awe-Inspiring Creation
First theme: Malchuyot – The Awesome Source of an Awe-Inspiring Creation.
It’s a warm summer afternoon. I’m on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I catch a moment
alone, away from the crowds. I marvel at the beauty – the subtlety of striated colors moves
me to tears. I wonder: tens of thousands of years have elapsed, tiny changes occurring at
every moment, the canyon today an unfinished masterpiece. I consider – how small I am
against this immense canyon.
I am like nothing. Tomorrow I’ll be gone and the canyon will endure. My contingency
frightens me.
The sun has set. I’m looking at the sky. Hundreds of stars – you can’t see that in the city,
you know. I am aware that the light I see is, in a sense, no longer there. Emitted tens of
thousands of years ago, its sources long ago burnt out. My mind begins to hurt. And I know
that beyond these stars are billions of other stars just like them. Galaxy beyond galaxy. I
try to imagine how far space goes – and my mind shuts down. I cannot imagine. I cannot
comprehend.
I am infinitesimally small. I am a product of evolution, nothing more. I am alone in the
universe. I wonder: of what meaning is my life? Of what import are my actions when
compared to the vast spaces and substances that animate the cosmos?
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Is the Creator of all this – the Source of my life – aware that I exist?
I am alone and I am frightened.
{Randi: 2 berachot – vitzivanu lishmoa kol shofar; shehechiyanu}
Rabbi:
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Calls the Shofar:
Tekiah ~ Shevarim-Teruah ~ Tekiah
Tekiah ~ Shevarim ~ Tekiah
Tekiah ~ Teruah ~ Tekiah
Zichronot – The Source of the Cosmos Cares For Me
Second theme: Zichronot – The Source of the Cosmos Cares For Me
A woman comes to talk. She is tired, she says. Her husband has died, the kids have moved
away. Life is hard. Things haven’t turned out the way she expected. She says to me: I feel
alone. But I am not alone.
Sometimes she feels a loving Presence. It touches her deeply and she knows she is
connected to something beyond herself. She has been lost at times in a pain so deep that
nothing else existed, yet a powerful Presence carried her forward. Her heart has received
a love that she may or may not deserve – but that enters her life nevertheless.
The Source of creation has created love just for her.
That love gives her an abiding feeling of meaning and purpose. Her life counts for
something. The vast cosmos was created in such a way as to support her striving. She
knows, too, that there is a moral structure to the universe that inspires her to live a life of
goodness.
The Creator of all is concerned for each of Her creations and reaches out to them – in love,
in concern, in compassion, in covenant. A hand is stretched out – and she reaches out in
return.
She does not have to be alone. Her life can have significance. She can live a life of meaning
and of purpose when she responds to the outstretched hand.
Rabbi:
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Calls the Shofar:
Tekiah ~ Shevarim-Teruah ~ Tekiah
Tekiah ~ Shevarim ~ Tekiah
Tekiah ~ Teruah ~ Tekiah
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Shofarot – Responsibility For the World, Hope For Ourselves
Third theme: Shofarot – Responsibility for the World, Hope for Ourselves
First, I recover a world of awesome beauty and power. Then I discover a love and purpose
that sustains me. Finally, my eyes uncover the unfinished work of creation.
I learn of a tragedy – a child is murdered on his own porch, working people go without
medical care, a government gasses its own people.
I feel pain.
And I feel called.
The consequence of God’s offering love and meaning to us is that we are responsible . . . to
extend it ever further.
Shofarot - there are two: the shofar sounded at Sinai; the shofar to be sounded at the end
of time. Sinai’s shofar is the shofar of Torah, whose call is to finish the work that has yet
to be done. The other shofar? That is the shofar of hope – a promise that the work to
which the Torah calls us will not be in vain.
Located as we are – in this cosmos, in this galaxy, on this planet, in this country, in this city
– we are condemned to a life of hope, we are conscripted to ensure that hope does not die.
In the end, our efforts will not suffice – we cannot fix the world by ourselves. But we are
partners with God and in God’s own time our hope and our labors will be fulfilled.
Rabbi:
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Calls the Shofar:
Tekiah ~ Shevarim-Teruah ~ Tekiah
Tekiah ~ Shevarim ~ Tekiah
Tekiah ~ Teruah ~ Tekiah G’dolah
Conclusion
Wake up, the shofar calls. Heed my message, the tekiah insists.
Feel the grandeur of creation. Recognize the finitude of your existence.
Know that a loving Presence reaches out to you to provide meaning and purpose.
Respond with the gifts that are yours in order to finish the work of creation.
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