Today, Rosh Chodesh Elul, we began the annual custom of sounding the shofar as we complete our davening, a jarring dissonant note before we begin our daily routine. But this year is one of those years when we are scheduled for an anticlimactic disappointment. There will be no shofar at the center of our prayers on the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
The rich reflection of the “Ellul shofar” will begin every day. Rooted in the tradition that we sounded the shofar as Moshe ascended the mountain to receive the second luchos, for many it is the embrace of second chances, for many it recalls the appropriate anxiety of our forebears reminding themselves of the error of the cheit ha’eigel and now committed that it will not happen again, and for many it is the uncomplicated stirring reminder of the avodah of Ellul.
Yet most years we will stop short of replicating the original, which sounded the shofar until Yom Kippur, and we let the shofar of Ellul specifically prepare us for the mitzah min haTorah of shofar on Rosh Hashanah. Not this year; this is one of those years wherein the thirty-day anticipation culminates in a silenced shofar. Chazal legislated that the reverence of Shabbos, combined with the concern that the excitement to observe the mitzvah of shofar may lead to a Shabbos infraction, is ample reason to silence the shofar as we observe it today.
It is in these years that many suggest that our concern for the observance of Shabbos and our allegiance to the dictates of Chazal are great zechuyos that augment and “carry our prayers upward” in a not-less-effective manner than the observance of the mitzvah of shofar and the attendant reflections of akeidas Yitzchok, matan Torah, and the upcoming Mashiach.
And yet I am frightened. I am frightened by the observation of Rav Yaakov Ettlinger, one of the German gedolim of the eighteenth century. He is known as the author of the Aruch L’ner on Shas and of the Teshuvos Binyan Tziyon, of which several entries became building blocks of Halachic practice.
In a dramatic essay in his Minchas Oni on Chumash he pointed out that years that began with the first day of Rosh Hashana being on Shabbos were often great years for Klal Yisroel and sometimes were years of great tragedy. A quick sampling will bear out that 1914, 1929 and most recently the year of October 7 all began on a Friday night. To be sure, Rav Yaakov Ettlinger notes that years of great good also began on a Friday night.
That led the prescient German sage to opine that those years our Shabbos carried our judgement. We were judged heavily on our level of observance of Shabbos. If our shofar which was silenced by our reverence for Shabbos was accompanied by a year of Shabbosos that were observed with great reverence, then indeed our silenced shofar, and in reality our Shabbos, became a great advocate and a great source of defense and blessing. However, perhaps if our Shabbosos were not observed with reverence and esteem, then the silenced shofar became “hollow” and neither the shofar nor the Shabbos could come to our defense.
That is why, in my mind, the avodah of this kind of an Ellul should include a personal and communal Shabbos upgrade. For some it will be reviewing Hilchos Shabbos; for some it will be allowing for more meaningful Shabbos davening; for others more uplifting zemiros; for many, opening our meals to welcome those who may be alone; many may consider attire that is respectful of the loftiness of all hours of the Shabbos day and conversations that are positive and optimistic; and, of course, Torah learning that challenges and enriches.
Accordingly, Rav Ettlinger would argue that those beautiful Shabbosos and our aspirations for the Shabbossos of 5787 will be recalled on the Shabbos that begins the year, and the judgement for ourselves and for our people will undoubtedly earn us great berachos for this year, bringing miracles that will outshine those of the past.
One final thought: our parsha, Shoftim, closes with the parsha of the murdered Jew found between cities. The city closest to the crime becomes responsible for the protocol that the Torah prescribes. The Ibn Ezra (21:7), as understood by Rav Moshe Shternbach (rov of the Eida of Yerushalayim), explains that this points to the “spillover” power of a community. A community which doesn’t revere life appropriately will find murder not so far away. Undoubtedly, good is even more powerful. Similarly, families and communities that lovingly embrace the observance and the sanctity of Shabbos will be recipients of the expanding serenity and joy that is its hallmark.