Welcome to our lovely overseas program year 5772!!!

Hello [NAME],
From our Beit Midrash
Elul / Rav David Abrahamovitz
As the month of Elul has commenced and the sounding of the shofar resonates throughout the walls of our shuls, it is befitting for us to examine the virtue of this unique mitzvah.
Bamidbar 10:9 reads;
וְכִי תָבֹאוּ מִלְחָמָה בְּאַרְצְכֶם עַל הַצַּר הַצֹּרֵר אֶתְכֶם וַהֲרֵעֹתֶם בַּחֲצֹצְרוֹת וְנִזְכַּרְתֶּם לִפְנֵי יְקֹוָק אֱלֹהֵיכֶם וְנוֹשַׁעְתֶּם מֵאֹיְבֵיכֶם:
“When you go to wage war in your land against an enemy who oppresses you, you shall blast short blasts of the trumpets, and you shall be recalled before Hashem, your G-d, and you shall be saved from your foes.”
From this verse we see that a “blast” is a way to beseech Hashem, and a means of bringing salvation to our nation.
The sound of the shofar is a tefillah.
Is this not a juvenile prayer? Is there anything profound about the sounding of a horn? Should we not have a more complex lamentation designated for these Holy days?
The “Baalei Haamukos” describe the shofar as a “means for prayer.” We all have aspirations and challenges. There are constantly many desires in our hearts. We pray to Hashem to help us with all of our desires and tribulations.
At times when we begin to pray we do not have the ability to verbalize all that our hearts feel and endure. The heaviness of our hearts is not always alleviated by our “verbal prayers.” We are not always capable of expressing ourselves.
The unique prayer of the shofar cries out from the depths of our souls. It is not limited to the words we can utter. It beckons Hashem to listen to our needs and wants that are even unknown and unclear to us.
How beautiful is the tefillah of our Shofar!

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