Apple Dipped in Honey: For a Sweet New Year! - Jews in Green

Holiday Guide, Laws & CustomsNATIONALLiberator.Isymbolically serves as thebeginning of the preparation offood for Shabbat. Thus, anysubsequent cooking done on thefestival is considered to be acontinuation of the preparationbegun before the festival.This eruv consists of a matzah andsomething cooked, for example, aboiled egg or a piece of fish, and isprepared before the onset of thefestival.Sounding of theShofarWe are bidden by the Torah tosound a shofar on Rosh Hashanah,as the verse (Bamidbar 29:1)states: And in the seventh month,on the first of the month, it shall bedeclared a holiday for you, a dayof sounding a teruah for you. Theshofar is sounded every weekdaymorning of the month of Elul (Aug15 - Sept 11), except on the Sabbathand the day before RoshHashanah. Directions for theblowing of the shofar can befound in most prayer books.The sounding of the shofar is a callto look into one's soul andimprove one's ways. In the wordsof Maimonides, the shofar says,“Awake you sleepers from yoursleep, and you slumberers, arisefrom your slumber. Examine yourdeeds, repent and remember yourCreator.”Rav Sa'adyah Gaon writes that thesounding of the shofar on RoshHashanah contains ten symbolicelements:1. Rosh Hashanah marks thebeginning of the creation, the daywhen G-d created the world andbecame its sovereign. As it iscustomary to sound trumpets toglorify a king and proclaim one'ssubservience to him, similarly dowe show our acceptance of G-d'sdominion by sounding the shofar.2. Rosh Hashanah marks the firstday of the ten days of repentance.We therefore sound the shofar as ameans of announcing and warningthat this period has begun. It is as ifwe announce: Those who chooseto repent should do so now, and ifthey choose not to do so, let themnot come later and complain abouttheir fate. This too is the manner inwhich kings exercise theirdominion, announcing theirdecrees to the accompaniment oftrumpet blasts.The sounding of the shofar:…is a reminder of the revelation atMount Sinai, which was alsoaccompanied by shofar blasts.Thus, by listening to the shofar andremembering that event, we onceagain accept upon ourselves thatwhich our fathers accepted uponthemselves.… reminds us of theremonstrations of our Prophetswhich are compared to thesounding of the shofar, as the verses(Yechezkel 33:4-5) state: And if thelistener shall hear the sound of theshofar and not be careful, then thesword shall come and take him.And if he shall be careful, then hissoul has escaped.… reminds us of the destruction ofthe Beis Hamikdash and the trumpetcalls of the armies of our enemies.Thus when we hear the shofar, weshould pray for the rebuilding of ourHoly Temple.… reminds us of the shofar of theram at the binding of Yitzchak, whooffered his life to G-d but in whoseplace the ram was sacrificed instead.We too should stand ready to makeour lives a sanctification of HisName and we pray that this serve asa source of merit for us.… instills a sense of trepidation andfear that leads us to humbleourselves before G-d, as the verse(Amos 3:8) states: If the shofar issounded in the city, will people nottremble?… reminds us of the forthcominggreat Day of judgment, as the verses(Tzefanyah 1:14,16) state: The greatday of G-d is near, close and quick[to come].. . is the day of [thesounding of] the shofar and theteruah.… awakens our yearning for thefuture ingathering of the dispersedexiles of Israel, of which the verse(Yeshayahu 27:13) states: And it shallbe on that day, the great shofar shallbe sounded and those who havebeen lost among Ashur shall come[back].… reminds us of the resurrection ofthe dead, as the verse (ibid. 18:3)states: All those inhabitants of theworld and those who dwell in theearth, when a sign is lifted upon themountains you shall see and whenthe shofar is sounded you shall hear.7VOL. XII NO. 1ELUL 5767-TISHREI 5768 / FALL 20077