OUR VIEWS

The Sounds Of Silence

ave you ever tried to sit in
silence for more than a
moment? Difficult isn't it?
A little bit uncomfortable?
Sometimes frightening!
Silence can be frightening because
in silence we often hear things to
which we are unwilling to listen.
Rather than appreciating the silence
and its sounds, we construct our
lives so that we are surrounded by
noises that drown out the silence
and prevent us from hearing what
the silence reveals.
When we do that we lose an
opportunity to connect more fully to
ourselves, to those who surround us,
and to God.
This week, we enter the month of
Elul. As we celebrate the new month
on Rosh Chodesh, we begin to blow
the shofar in preparation for Rosh
Hashanah and the accompanying
mitzvah of hearing tlae sounding of
the shofar.
Our tradition tells us that the
Hebrew letters that make up the
word Elul are an acronym that

E

Tzvi Schostak of Southfield is president
of Kollel Torah MiTzion-Detroit, vice
president ofYeshivat Akiva, a board
member of Young Israel of Southfield
and a faculty member of the Florence
Melton Adult Mini School of
Metropolitan Detroit.

describes the intimate relationship
between the Jewish people and God
— Ani ledodi v'dodi 141 am to my
beloved and my beloved is to me.
The challenge of the month of Elul
is a daunting one: no less than recon-
nection with God. How do we devel-
op this deep connection to God? The
answer is by listening and by hearing.

Sound Worth Hearing

As we prepare to blow the shofar on
Rosh Hashanah, we must remember
that the mitzvah is not to blow the
shofar, but rather to hear the blow-
ing of the shofar.
The blessing, which precedes the
blowing of the shofar, expresses our
connection to the One who com-
manded us to hear the sound of the
shofar.
How odd! It is rare that Jewish law
commands us to hear — we are usu-
ally commanded to express our love
and commitment to God and Torah
through a prescribed set of behaviors.
On Rosh Hashanah, not only are we
commanded to hear, but also what
we hear are not words, but sounds.
Not teachings of the Torah or of our
rabbis, but sounds, special sounds —
tekiah, shevarim and teruah.
Our sages, of blessed memory,
liken the sounds of the shofar to the
yellalot and yevavot of the soul.

and Your word."
These sounds give expression
We are taught not only to
to the yearnings, desires,
observe
mitzvot but also to
pain and sorrow of the indi-
hear mitzvot. To hear that
vidual and of the communi-
aspect of mitzvot that cannot
ty. These unrevealed emo-
be put into words. To hear, so
tions, sometimes so difficult
to speak, God's heart and
to bear, find their voice
soul, and to become the
through the shofar.
TZVI
beloved partner God seeks.
These sounds do not come
SCHOSTAK
from the ram's horn, but
Community
rather from our souls
Learning To Connect
Views
through the shofar. In com-
This process of connecting
manding us to hear the sho-
far, God enjoins us to listen carefully to God teaches us how to create
more meaningful connections to our
to our hearts and souls and to hear
family and friends. Once we have
our pain and disappointment, our
learned to listen more openly and
yearnings and our desires — to
honestly to our hearts and souls, it
become aware of those parts of our
becomes easier to really listen and
self that oftentimes are difficult to
connect to others.
expose, recognize, accept and verbal-
All of this takes practice, and so
ize.
we blow the shofar every day during
Hearing the shofar is an opportu-
the month of Elul, not only as a call
nity to become more intimately
to repentance in preparation for
familiar with ourselves. As we more
Rosh Hashanah but also to help us
clearly face our true selves and our
begin the difficult path of hearing
role in a relationship, it becomes
•
our inner selves.
stronger and more meaningful.
This year, make sure you hear the
Through a fuller understanding of
shofar not only on Rosh Hashanah
ourselves we can connect to God in
but also throughout the month of
a powerful and more meaningful
Elul. Appreciate the silence that
way.
comes just before the shdfar is
Judaism values listening and hear-
ing. Each and every day, as part of our sounded and let your heart and soul
blast forth with every tekia, shevarim
prayers, we say, "Praiseworthy is the
and teruah.
person who hears Your command-
Remember, God too is listening. ❑
ments and takes to heart Your teaching

Learning From Lance

Glencoe, Ill.
love to ride my bicycle. I usual-
ly just do it for pleasure. I do it
to lower my weight and to get a
cardio workout.
Once, and only once, I really want-
ed to prove something, so I rode my
bike from Minneapolis to Chicago to
benefit local AIDS organizations on
the Heartland Aids Ride. Five hun-
dred miles and, in the process, I raised
$10,000! After that, I had reached my
peak and I put away my water bottle
and padded shorts.
Two years later (that's how long it
took to get me back on a bike after
500 miles), I pulled my shorts out
again and rode recreationally once a

I

Steven Stark Lowenstein is rabbi at Am
Shalom in Glencoe, Ill., and is married to
Julie Stark of Huntington Woods. His e-mail
address is stevenlow@aol.com

8/22

2003

32

week with my friend Michael. We
would call each other the day before
our ride: "Hey, it's Lance; are we rid-
ing tomorrow?" We had some fun ...
10 miles, 20 miles ... breakfast on the
way ... good conversations. It was a
pleasure.
One day last November, Michael
informed me that Lance, the real
Lance, Lance Armstrong, was coming
to Chicago for a benefit bike ride to
raise money for his cancer survivor's
foundation.
Michael had enrolled us and we
were two of 25 amateur riders sched-
uled to meet at Skokie Country Club
for a recreational ride through the
North Shore of Chicago with then
four-time Tour de France Champion
Lance Armstrong. I couldn't believe it.
But Michael assured me that this was
an "amateur" ride.
From the moment we walked into
breakfast in our fleece jackets and

.

University in Evanston the
night before and was on his
way that afternoon to
Children's Hospital to talk
with cancer patients. His
message was uplifting and
-
inspiring.
Lance's training bike had
been flown in from Austin
RABBI
STEVEN STARK so we could all look at it.
He was already training for
LOWENSTEIN
this
most recent Tour and
Special
needed
to log in his daily
Commentary
miles. It was time to line
up. When I introduced
Getting Ready
myself, he joked that I was the first
Lance arrived at breakfast and
rabbi he had ever ridden with.
observed how cold it was here in
Perhaps there was a rabbi in the Ride
Chicago. He promised that he would
for the Roses, his annual charity ride
take it easy on the ride. He spoke of
that draws tens of thousands of riders
his foundation and his own struggle
each year. He was very excited to be
with cancer. He showed us a video
riding with a real rabbi in this smaller
and gave us all signed bike shirts and
group.
a copy of his book Its Not About the
Spiritual help to warm things up.
Bike. He had spoken at Northwestern

sweat pants, we knew we
were out of our league —
way out of our league. The
23 other riders were all tall,
thin and in really good
shape. They all had the
fancy shoes, light racing
bikes and color coordinated
stretchy outfits. The ride
alone raised more than
$100,000. We were going to
be part of history.

