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Study and Theory/
Rosh Hashana

The shofar and its roles

The shofar in the Bible had different uses:

A shofar of war

The shofar was used as an alarm device to assemble the defenders or to launch an attack like Gideon (Judges 7:22), " And they blew the three hundred horns, and the LORD set every man's sword a against his fellow, even throughout all the host;" It is precisely because of this that he is also the shofar of Teshuvah, echoing and terrifying, as if to proclaim, "Improve your deeds," as with the prophet Amos (Amos 3: 6): "Shall the horn be blown in a city, and the people not tremble?" 

 

A Shofar of music

It is a shofar for all year round in order to delight people with it, and with it they would crown the king on the day of his coronation. The shofar of the song and the melody is the shofar of the Book of Psalms. As in psalm 47, which is said seven times before the shofar blowing of the Rosh Hashanah: "God rose with a trumpet, God in the voice of the shofar. Sing God sing: Sing to our king, sing."

 

A shofar of revelation

At Sinai, the shofar played a central role in the audiovisual spectacle of all times: (Exodus19) "And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightning and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a horn exceeding loud; and all the people that were in the camp trembled ……. and when the voice of the horn waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice"

 

A shofar of freedom

The shofar of liberating the slaves and the lands on Jubilee and the seventh year of sabath – produce "Then shalt thou make proclamation with the blast of the ………… And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." It is the shofar that inspires consolation and salvation, peace and tranquility in the world. Freedom and liberty, liberation and equality. It is the shofar that will gather our rejected exiles and bring peace to the world.

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