What memories are stirred by the call of the shofar?
I remember being young attending Rosh Hashana services with my parents and sister and hearing the blowing the shofar. That was always one of the most exiting parts of the service. I remember watching and thinking the person blowing the shofar made it look so easy. I wondered: How can the person blowing the shofar be so good at something they only do once a year? I realized as I got older that blowing the shofar must not be as easy as it looks. That there must be more to it. While that skill may be visible only once a year, that it must require commitment and dedication and work.
As I reflect on how I first viewed the blowing of the shofar – that it was something easy – I realize that my views about blowing the shofar had parallels to how I used to think about being Jewish. That being Jewish was easy. In fact, it was easy, and even more than that, it was something I could take for granted. Today – for me – being Jewish doesn’t feel easy. But it also doesn’t feel hard. Having thought about it, I realize that being Jewish feels important. Being Jewish feels like it is important enough that it deserves commitment and dedication and work. Just like being able to blow the shofar. We know from other parts of our lives most things that are easy don’t carry the same value as those things that we decide are worth working for, worth putting in the time and effort for. Because what we put into something is in many ways what makes that thing truly meaningful.
But having said this, I didn’t exactly know the purpose of the shofar. So, what do we do when we don’t know something and need to find out? Of course, I asked ChatGPT. When I asked ChatGPT what the purpose of the shofar, the first point that came back amazed me.
The first point said the purpose of the shofar is:
A Call to Awakening: The blast of the shofar is meant to wake us up from spiritual complacency. It’s like an alarm clock for the soul, urging us to reflect, return to our values, and begin the process of teshuvah (repentance, return to God and to our best selves). It was the word “complacency” that really struck me.
And so now what I’m going remember about the shofar is this awaking from what was to some degree a spiritual complacency to a much deeper, a more deliberate and meaningful experience of being Jewish.
Shana Tovah