Pensamiento judío sobre Deuteronómio 5:25

Attah zocher, is the paragraph in the mussaph prayer dealing with the zichronot, remembrances. At the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, when G'd appeared and the people heard the sound of the shofar, they also attained the highest moral level they were capable of. G'd Himself said of that moment "who would give that they could remain like this!" (Deut 5,25) Since the shofar contributed to Israel achieving such a lofty spirituality, whenever a shofar is sounded by the Jewish people it will recall to G'd that beautiful moment in time. He will be appeased remembering the grandeur of that moment. The reason that a keren, bull's horn is unfit for blowing on Rosh Hashanah, is because the bull uses the horn in a bellicose manner. He gores with it, batters with it; not so the ram's horn, (compare Psalms 69, 31-32) See also our comments in chapter nine in connection with “the woman You have given to me.” As the sound of the shofar then is distinct in instilling fear, so the different notes blown on it also reflect different emotions. Already in Numbers chapter ten, the Torah tells us that the call to arms or assembly is sometimes the teruah sound and sometimes the tekiyah sound. It depends on the nature of the occasion. The plain unbroken tekiyah sound, is associated with “the day of your joy.” However, whenever Israel breaks camp, teruah is blown, since departure always involves an element of nostalgia. The need to move testifies to the fact that the place one moves from was somehow imperfect. If the teruah by itself, signals being troubled, being sad, and the tekiyah by itself signals joy, then a combination of these two notes i.e. shevarim signals a state of mind which is somewhere between the other two emotional states.

There is one general answer to these three questions, and to all questions of the same character: it is this: Although in every one of the signs [related in Scripture] the natural property of some individual being is changed, the nature of man is never changed by God by way of miracle. It is in accordance with this important principle that God said, “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me,” etc. (Deut. 5:26). It is also for this reason that He distinctly stated the commandments and the prohibitions, the reward and the punishment. This principle as regards miracles has been frequently explained by us in our works: I do not say this because I believe that it is difficult for God to change the nature of every individual person; on the contrary, it is possible, and it is in His power, according to the principles taught in Scripture; but it has never been His will to do it, and it never will be. If it were part of His will to change [at His desire] the nature of any person, the mission of prophets and the giving of the Law would have been altogether superfluous.