Today, the first day of the month of Elul, was the first day of the sounding of the shofar at morning minyan, the first time that most of us have heard a shofar blast in many months. There is so much power in the sound of the shofar, so many personal resonances that vibrate with each blast, from my childhood High Holiday memories to my last congregation where, as the cantor, I was also served as the ba'al toqe'a (the shofar guy) on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.
There is a moment, particularly during the sounding of the teqi'ah gedolah, the longest blast, of near total reflection - of processing past and present in the context of that evocative sound. This is the holiest moment, the one that we come to the synagogue to join in. This is the power of the shofar, the ability to resonate our memories together with our hopes for the future. This is the moment that I look forward to every year.
One shofar blast is worth at least a thousand words.
Worth a thousand words indeed. Thanks for this.
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