How wonderful to see everyone together. Parents reunited with children (as are my parents Bruce and Laurie Herman), brothers reunited with sisters (as is my sister, Rachel Herman), cousins, uncles and aunts, grandparents and grandchildren. This is my favorite time of the year-reconnecting after a busy summer to be together as a congregational family.

Sound of the Shofar-by Lucille Frenkel

Call of the past and out of the past,

You rouse us to face to the future.

Sound of the ram’s horn, it’s meaning precise

Reminds us to recall the sacrifice

Of a past which begot so we may beget

Finer future.

          There is one thing which is unusual this year, and I’m not thinking of the fact that we’ve been out of our offices for 7 weeks. Because Rosh Hashanah begins on Shabbat, we will not be sounding the Shofar tomorrow morning. On Shabbat, as opposed to most Jewish holidays, one is not permitted to carry from one domain (a home) to another (a synagogue) by means of a public thoroughfare. The Talmud teaches, “All are under obligated to blow the shofar, but not all are skilled in the blowing of the shofar. Therefore, there is a danger that one will take the shofar and go to an expert to learn (how to properly sound it) and he will carry it 4 cubits (6 feet) in the public domain.”[1] Thus, a tradition developed not to blow shofar on Shabbat.

          While we will not blow shofar tomorrow (you’ll have to come back on Sunday to hear it) that does not stop me from talking about what the shofar represents-a clarion call of hope for New Year 5784. In so doing, I am going to tell a story from one of the hardest times in our people’s history to inspire us and give us hope for the coming year.             

Read The Clarion Call of Hope[2]

          As Rabbi Pearce tells in the story, the sound of the shofar has so much meaning in a way words cannot convey. When we listen to 100 blasts of it on Sunday, we will be able to not only think of the trials and tribulations our people has gone through in the past but also the strength that we have when we come together as a community. We will have the opportunity to think of all the blessings and hope that we feel as we begin a new year on the Jewish calendar.

          After Yom Tov, please check out the video of Avinu Malkeinu from the Israeli philharmonic featuring the shofar.[3]

          Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova.

---

[1] Babylonian Talmud Rosh Hashanah 29b

[2] “The Clarion Call of Hope,” in Jewish Stories from Heaven and Earth by Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=WWQFETiRNlhHWyDD&v=az1dEW2LTIw&feature=youtu.be