For our Biblical ancestors, the sounding of the shofar was the central mitzvah—obligation—of what came to be known as Rosh Hashanah. Apples and honey, God on the throne of judgment, round challah, and a birthday of the world all came later. The Torah teaches, simply:

וּבַחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם כל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ י֥וֹם תְּרוּעָ֖ה יִהְיֶ֥ה לָכֶֽם׃

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded.

This is not the only time in Torah, or in our tradition, when we are commanded to sound the shofar. Saadia Gaon, the great 9th century philosopher, identifies ten ancient occasions when the shofar was used. According to his teaching, we were to sound the shofar to announce Creation and the Revelation at Mount Sinai; we needed to hear it to call attention to the exhortations of the prophets. The shofar is the sound of freedom. The shofar proclaimed a military advance and it alerted us to a military retreat. It marked calendrical occasions such as the commencement of a new month—and, of course, Rosh Hashanah. In his understanding, the shofar preceded a Divine proclamation, and he imagined one day it will proclaim the messianic redemption.

For the Torah though, the three main uses of the shofar were to announce Rosh Hashanah, to proclaim liberty (Leviticus 25:9), and to call the army to battle (Numbers 10:1-10). Rabbi Raymond Apple writes about this seeming contradiction, and what it might have to teach us about the beginning of a New Year:

It has two principal, seemingly contradictory, purposes—as a call to war (Numbers 10:1-10) and as a proclamation of freedom (Leviticus 25:9). Turned into personal spiritual terms: the first purpose sees the individual struggling with themselves, battling an inner enemy, feeling guilt for the year’s wrongdoing; the second purpose sees the human soul, cleansed of its transgressions, committing to a new regimen that is full of positive possibilities.

When the shofar sounds for the first time on Wednesday night, what possibilities might you hear?

—Rabbi Sari Laufer