Elul – Come Blow Your Horn!

29 Menahem Av 5779

Source

by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher | first published here links & light editing by HDG

Why do we blow Shofar during the month of Elul? Is it just to give the Bal Tokah (the Shofar Blower) a chance to warm up and practice for Rosh Hashana?

Rosh Hashana is a time to step back and regain our lost vision. The call of the Shofar is how we do it. The Rambam states that the message of the Shofar is to “Awaken those who are asleep.”

The Rambam’s analogy to sleep is profound. Because the dreams we experience in our sleep seem so real at the time; yet, the moment we wake up we realize that our dreams were merely illusions.

So too, we often live life in a spiritual slumber. We dream of accumulating material possessions and all the latest high-tech gadgets and we forget about our true purpose in life. Some people think that life is all about acquiring the newest and the latest high-tech toys. As Danny DeVito said in the movie Other People's Money: Whoever has the most [possessions] when he dies, WINS.

The Shofar reminds us that Danny DeVito’s philosophy is false! The Shofar is
G-d’s wakeup call, His spiritual alarm clock, to remind us of why we are in this world. It calls us to regain our vision, to transcend our daily mundane affairs and to return to who we really are. According to the Zohar, the Shofar is G-d’s dialogue with our souls. The Shofar sounds beckon us to live a Torah way of life by making the world a better, kinder, and more compassionate place.

It is significant that Rosh Hashana, the Day of Judgement, takes place on the anniversary and birthday of the creation of Adam. There is a profound connection between these two aspects of Judgement Day. The fact that G-d created the world and the human being means that life has a Divine purpose.

At the heart and soul of Judaism’s world view is that life has an elevated purpose. G-d created each and every one of us to carry out a unique mission, by fulfilling His Mitzvot. People can forget the true purpose of life, and slip into a dream-like world, where trivial matters such as smart phones, assume inflated importance, and spiritual values are forgotten.

The Shofar, with its simple cry and sigh, awakens us to see the world the way it really is, instead of how it appears on TV, when we are in a state of spiritual slumber. G-d has given us the incredible gift of Rosh Hashana, to wake us up and reconnect us to Him! The Shofar reminds us who we are and why we are here in this world.

Reconnecting with our soul and with our true Divine purpose in this world brings with it great joy. This is why Rosh Hashana — though it is a day of Judgement, soul searching and introspection — is also celebrated as a joyous Festival.

Rosh Hashana is THE DAY on which we celebrate the profound joy of discovering our unique purpose in life, of renewing our sense of “NO ONE CAN DO IT MY WAY.”

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More from R' Sprecher:

 

"...fishers shall stand by it from En-Gedi..."

25 Menahem Av 5779

En-Gedi: Fishers will stand here fishing — Ezekiel 47:8-10 Source

"...it is called the Dead Sea because of the lack of vegetation and plant life around it. But we might need to find it a new name, with all this new plant life growing." - Chaya Cikk, Israel Unwired. More here. Emphasis mine - HDG

This is an interesting development, hidden due to all the crazy things going on. Fresh water is accumulating in and around the Dead Sea and eventually, according to two prophecies, it will become a freshwater lake, with fish in it!


Zecharia 14:8 | זכריה י"ד:ח
 


Ezekiel 47:8-10 | יחזקאל מ"ז:ח-י







If you have ever been to En-Gedi — and I have, more or less, only because HQB"H gave me the opportunity to go through it on my way to my cousin's wedding not quite a year after my aliyah — you know it took a lot of work to get it to where it is now, a beautiful, self-supporting oasis in the desert. Her parents, on my father's side, raised her and her siblings there, and contributed to its development before going back to "the old country." Only she is still in Israel with her husband, happily raising her children somewhere west of En-Gedi.

This would not be a place where fish would begin proliferating in Dead Sea waters, or plants would be growing beside these waters, if not for HaQadosh Baruch Hu telling His prophets long ago what would come to pass in the end.

This is not the final fulfillment by far; however, it's most perceptibly another step along the way. Natural developments are also signs of geulah shlemah!

Noam Bedein, tour guide, explains what he sees happening in the Dead Sea near En-Gedi.

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A few things have happened to take our minds off the progress the Land is making under our feet, and some thoughts about them from my colleagues and higher-ups:

Mashiach is Very Close | Jonathan Pollard: Why I was Forced to Break My Silence | Terrorists who Murdered Rina Shnerb Captured | Meanwhile, the killings continue — against Israelis | Reflections on Tribal and National Loyalty | We Are in The Last Days of This World | Educating Jewish Children part 1...and part 2 |