Pensée juive sur Isaïe 27:13

(Sifrey on Numbers section 42) Why does the Torah say concerning offerings on New Year's day etc. (Numbers 10,10) "they will be for you as a remembrance before the Lord your G'd, I am the Lord your G'd?" Since the Torah had said earlier in Leviticus 23,24, "on the first of the seventh month will be a Shabbaton for you, remembrance of shofar sounding, a holy convocation." On that occasion G'ds majesty is not mentioned. Therefore, it says in Numbers 23,21, "the Lord his G'd is with him, and the shofar sounding of the King accompanies him." So here you have mention of G'ds majesty and the blowing of the shofar side by side. It also says "it will serve for you as a remembrance;" so you have mention of "remembrances" already. The end of the line "I am the Lord your G'd," completes the picture, and we have "majesty." If this is so, why did the sages arrange in the liturgy of our prayers that we first recite "majesty," i.e. malchiyot, then "remembrances," zichronot, and finally shofarot? It is logical that one first acknowledges G'ds majesty, malchut, only afterwards does one ask Him to be remembered by means of the ram's horn, signalling freedom. How do I know that the ram's horn signals freedom? Compare Isaiah 27,13, "On that day a great horn will be blown and the outcasts (10 tribes) that were lost in the land of Ashur will come, as well as those who had been dispersed all over Egypt; they will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem." Still, from this I do not know who does the actual blowing of the shofar? Therefore, the prophet Zachariah 9,14, says "the Lord G'd will blow the shofar." Still, I do not know whence the sound emanated (if the invisible G'd does the blowing) Therefore Isaiah 66,6, states "the voice of the uproar comes from the city, emanates from the temple."

If the assumption about the emotions represented by the sequence of tekiyah-shevarim -teruah respectively is correct, then the custom of blowing tashrat during malchiot, tashach during zichronot, and tarat during shofarot, makes sense. This in addition to the consideration that it would impose needless diversion of the congregation from concentrating on the prayer itself, and that therefore a minimum of sounds are being blown during the actual amidah prayer. Malchiot, i.e. proclaiming G'ds Majesty, is welcomed by the completely righteous who can afford to react to these sounds with joy and equanimity, i.e. tekiyah. The completely wicked person, on the other hand, shrinks from such an encounter and is represented by the teruah sound of the shofar. The great majority of people who fall somewhere between those two categories, view the coming of a reward for their meritorious deeds with a certain feeling of gladness, while trembling at the thought of the impending retribution for the sins they have committed. We are, after all, enjoined by the Psalmist “serve the Lord with fear, but rejoice while trembling.” (Psalms 2,11) In order to emphasize the worthwhile nature of the mitzvot, tekiyah is blown both at the beginning and at the end of each sequence of blasts, and the tekiyah gedolah, the long final blast underlines the desire to recall those events that reflect our good deeds. The binding of Isaac on the altar was one such event. If we were to blow a teruah gedolah, this would represent the exact opposite feeling on our part, and is therefore completely out of place. The reason for blowing the shevarim, which is considered a median teruah sound, is twofold. Having to rely on citing the good deeds of our ancestors rather than our own, is not so complimentary to ourselves. There is also the fear that setting in motion the process of reminding G'd of the outstanding deeds of our ancestors, He might recall our own misdeeds instead. Shofarot, the last of the three central benedictions of the mussaph amidah, qualifies for blowing the teruah sound, since the objective of that benediction is to bring home to us the frightening aspect of the shofar. The teruah, after all reflects that type of the shofar blast during the amidah. It is significant to realise that G'd Himself uses the shofar as an instrument of proclaiming freedom, and that He blows it Himself, (see opening Sifrey) Therefore, when the proper person blows the shofar, he can turn it into an instrument that confuses Satan and confounds him. The question raised in the Sifrey, "I still do not know who blows it," as well as the answer "it is the Lord G'd who blows it," suggests that the person most qualified to blow the shofar is he who is close to G'd. Just as the High Priest- if not free from sin-, cannot serve successfully in representing the nation, so the baal tokey-a, the shofar blower who is not a G'd fearing individual cannot accomplish by his blowing the shofar what the congregation expects of him, i.e. to rebut our accusers, (see Zohar Leviticus on verse two chapter four)