KJ The Shofar - Kahal Joseph

The Sound of the Shofar
By Rabbi Haim Ovadia
Usually, I am not a procrastinator, but for
some reason, I have delayed writing this
article for the Shofar until the last
moment. Well, as we say, everything does have a
reason. As I was sitting down at the computer to
start writing, on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 11:42
am, when in rapid succession I was first
distracted by the noise the workers were making
on the roof, then my mind told me that nobody
is working on Kahal’s roof and that more than
just the noise, it seemed like a couple of
elephants are on the loose in the building and
then again in a split second I realized the last
time I have seen elephants it was in the L.A.
zoo. When it finally hit me that this is an
earthquake and that my bookshelves are
dancing tango I ran out of my office as fast as I
could, clutching the cell phone and trying to
check on everyone I know. As it turned out, it
was a moderate earthquake, but even as such it
rendered everyone scared and shook up. Not
only that, we all suddenly recalled that some
shelves are not fastened to the walls, that we
don’t have food supplies and first aid kits
available. Many of us also thought in those
panicky seconds, when we did not know if this
is the beginning or the end, of all the things that
we have left unattended. Apologies to be made,
errands to be run, books to write, e-mails and
letters to send, maybe we want to reconcile with
a close friend or a relative that we haven’t been
talking to for years, visit that one place you
must see before you die or read that highly
recommended novel all your friends were
talking about. And what about the kids and the
family Did we take good care of them Are
they going to manage on their own And then
it’s all over. This amazing and overwhelming
outpour of information, emotions and concerns
stops abruptly and we go back to our routine,
just checking the news from time to time and
recalling the scare we had. In a sense, this is
what rosh hashana and the shofar are all about.
The rabbis say that all natural phenomena were
created to straighten our crooked heart. It does
not mean that God wants to scare us but rather
that when we experience an earthquake or a
thunderstorm or a volcanic eruption we are
suddenly forced to be put into perspective. A
perspective of the cursory nature of life, on the
fact that we don’t have much control over the
natural world with all our wisdom, genius and
inventiveness. It reminds us how fragile and
ephemeral is this moment and that sometimes it
is too late to mend that which in our vanity and
arrogance we have torn and discarded. The
sound of the shofar, like a thunderstorm; like an
earthquake, shakes us up, it reminds us to take
stock of what we have and what we want to
have, what is precious and what is marginal,
what would we have carried with us when we
run away from a house threatened to be
destroyed by the forces of nature Our laptop
Cell phone our kids What part of our lives
will be saved and preserved for eternity This is
our decision, every day, but especially on rosh
hashana and kippur.
May we all have a wonderful and fruitful
year, a year of a deep understanding of ourselves
and the paths we are trailblazing for our
children, for our community, for the whole
world!
Shana Tova!
Rabbi Haim Ovadia
6 / THE SHOFAR SEPTEMBER 2008