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Rosh Hashana & Parshat HaAzinu
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

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Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land 

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"Our God and the God of our Fathers, blow the great shofar for our freedom and raise the banner to in-gather our exiles... for a listener to the sound of the shofar are You... Blessed are You HaShem Who listens to the sound of the blast of Israel with compassion." (Musaf Rosh HaShana)

These days are days of listening to the shofar, the listening of awe, the listening to the voice of HaShem, the key to our freedom, the key to the in-gathering of exiles, and the key to our redemption, as Mashiah tells R. Yehoshua ben Levi in the Talmud that Mashiah can come today - "if you listen in His voice".

One of the fascinating laws of the shofar is that if Rosh HaShana occurs on Shabbat the Rabbis decreed upon the general populace, save those in presence of the Beit Din, that the shofar not be blown, even though it be a Biblical commandment, as the Rabbis have the halachic power (at-least by principle) to make a decree even if it negates a positive (not a negative) commandment. The reasoning of this decree is that since blowing the shofar is a matter done by the masses, there may be someone among these masses that may un-knowingly take his shofar through the 'public domain' (rshut harabim), a matter that is Biblically prohibited on Shabbat (not on Yom Tov-Rosh HaShana), and out of responsibility for such Jews the Rabbis decreed on the entire people not to blow the shofar on Shabbat.

The only exception to this rule is the Beit Din of 'specially-ordained' (not the 'ordination' customary today) judges in the Land of Israel which has the power to set and sanctify months (the calendar we have today was originally set by such judges) as is learned from the verse: "for from Zion Torah shall be delivered and the word of God from Jerusalem". The reason for this exception is that such a Beit Din is entrusted that they will make sure that no one in its presence will desecrate the Shabbat. From the Babylonian Talmud it is somewhat unclear why such a Beit Din must be capable of sanctifying the month (meaning they must be ordained and in the Land of Israel). However, according to the Yerushalmi Talmud there is a clear inference made to the verse in regard to Rosh HaShana 'on the seventh month on the first of the month', meaning that just as a Beit Din capable of sanctifying the month on 'the first of the month' is needed, so too it is necessary to have such a Beit Din to perform the mitzvah of that day - shofar - when it falls on Shabbat.

Although it may seem that the Babylonian and Yerushalmi Talmuds differ in regard to the source of this law, we may actually join them by saying that the Babylonian Talmud determines that this law is by essence of Rabbinic origin decreed in order that no-one desecrate the Shabbat while the Yerushalmi learns from Biblical proof-texts the Divine inspiration behind this enactment (similar to the concept 'asmachta') which also influences the form of this decree. Thus, we may say that the Yerushalmi teaches us that in order to blow the shofar on Shabbat one must be an atmosphere of awe before a Beit Din which is able to influence the existence of Rosh HaShana itself on this date, and because of this awe no desecration of Shabbat will occur.

Such a Beit Din in the Holy Land highlights before all that their rulings are not mere human intellect, but rather Divinely inspired from the spirit of the Holy Presence in this Land, a matter that accentuates even more the atmosphere of awe in their presence. This teaching sheds light on the nature of these days, 'the Days of Awe', in general when the presence of the Heavenly Courts is more greatly felt upon the entire earth. In Hebron one is taken by awe before the three 'judges' Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yakov who HaShems 'confers' with and before the Holy Presence at this location, especially at this time.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #89:

"I grew up in Kiryat Arba, but my parents sold their house there and we moved to a different location. Many years later, I was dating a man from Kiryat Arba. 'It turns out' that he lived in the same house I did, for his parents bought the house from my parents! We married and live in Kiryat Arba today."

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Sources: Rosh HaShana 30a, Yerushalmi Rosh HaShana ch. 4 halacha 1, Rambam  2, 9 and Kidush Hahodesh 1, 8, Shabbat 89b