Last week I wrote about the שופר/Shofar, its shape, and the animal it comes from. I mentioned that we will not sound the שופר this year on the first day of ראש השנה/Rosh Hashana because it falls on שבת/Shabbat. What I forgot to explain was the reasoning behind this rule. Why don’t we sound the שופר when ראש השנה falls on שבת?
The answer comes from the תלמוד/Talmud, where the rabbis discuss what happens whenראש השנה occurs on שבת. They explain that in the בית המקדש/Beit HaMikdash/The Temple, the שופר was sounded on שבת. After the destruction of the Temple, however, a rule was put in place prohibiting the sounding of the שופר on שבת.
The reason they gave was a concern that a person might take a שופר from one domain to another on שבת and thereby violate the prohibition against carrying. The laws of carrying do not apply in the same way on an ordinary יום טוב/Yom Tov, which is why we are permitted to carry a שופר on ראש השנה when it does not coincide with שבת.
This is a very technical answer, and a difficult one to understand or relate to. The rabbis’ concern was that perhaps the person tasked with sounding the שופר for the community did not know how to do it properly. They might therefore take their שופר with them on שבת, go out, and find someone who was an expert to teach them, help them, or allow them to practice.
Again, this is very technical and seems so obscure you might reasonably ask why we’re still adhering to this rule today. I don’t know of anyone who has been assigned the role of sounding the שופר who has not practiced or prepared for this enormous responsibility and honor. At the same time, it’s clear that many people who sound the שופר have their own שופר, which they bring with them to services each year. In that situation, they are essentially carrying because the community needs them to have their שופר with them and to be ready to sound it.
Some may also be familiar with the laws of carrying on שבת and know that there’s a well-established workaround, an ערוב/Eruv, that allows people living within its boundaries to carry on שבת. In Atlanta, we have at least four different ערובs. Shouldn’t the people who live in those communities be exempted from this prohibition?
Well, what would it be like to live in a world where people in one neighborhood were able to experience the holiday in one way while those living outside that neighborhood were required to experience it differently? There needs to be one law for all of us to follow. And so, the law remains: we are prohibited from sounding the שופר when ראש השנה and שבת fall together.
In the תלמוד, the rabbis also debate where this prohibition comes from. One explanation they offer is based on an apparent inconsistency between two verses in the תורה/Torah.
דַּבֵּ֛ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ יִהְיֶ֤ה לָכֶם֙ שַׁבָּת֔וֹן זִכְר֥וֹן תְּרוּעָ֖ה מִקְרָא־קֹֽדֶשׁ׃
“Speak to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts.” (ויקרא/Leviticus 23:24)
And then:
וּבַחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם כׇּל־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.” (במדבר/Numbers 29:1)
For those reading the English translation, there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly peculiar or noteworthy. But when we look closely at the first verse, there’s a word that’s being translated in a particular way: זִכְרוֹן.
The word זִכְרוֹן means “remembrance.” That’s why the translation uses the word “commemorated.” But it can also be understood as “a remembrance of the sounding of the horn,” or, more specifically, a remembrance of the sounding of the שופר.
The rabbis suggested that perhaps this verse was teaching us that there are times when we only remember the sound of the שופר rather than actually sounding it. This explanation is ultimately rejected because, before the destruction of the Temple, the שופר was sounded there even on שבת. Nevertheless, I find it to be a beautiful way to understand our practice.
In the end, the rabbis seem to accept that our practices changed after the destruction of the Temple. One of the remnants of that change is that we no longer sound the שופר whenראש השנה falls on שבת. Perhaps we can understand this as one small way of remembering that our people and our religious tradition are incomplete and altered because of the loss of theבית המקדש/Beit HaMikdash.
This year, we will sound the שופר on the second day of ראש השנה, and we hope you will be able to join us and take part in this incredible ritual—one that awakens us to examine our lives, reflect on who we are, and find ways to make ourselves and our world better.
