I Spirituality
THE SHOFAR'S BLAST
True Sound
As we approach the NewYear,
we are proud to continue our mission
of caring for older adults.
Thank you for your support.
Our best wishes
for a happy and healthy
NewYear, 5769.
Seeing green in the shofar
— and its call to action.
Edmon J. Rodman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Los Angeles
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Jewish Home S Aging Services
6710 West Maple Road, West Bloomfield
on the Eugene and Marcia Applebaum
Jewish Community Campus
May the coming year be filled with
health and happiness for all our family and friends.
L'Shanah Tovah!
May the coming year be filled with
health and happiness for all our family and friends.
L'Shanah Tovah!
B8
September 25 * 2008
1433980
s green the theme of the shofar
this Rosh Hashanah season?
In a year of sustainability
and carbon footprints, high gas and
hybrids, the shofar is the simplest,
most eco-friendly method of reach-
ing the Jewish community with a vital
message.
The shofar, if you pause to think
about it, is a rhapsody in green.
Lightweight and easily transport-
able, it sports no moving parts — the
shofar blower or ba'al tekiah's own
mouth becomes the mouthpiece. Yet
it's dependable enough to deliver the
complex musical message required to
begin a new Jewish year.
A totally natural product, its avail-
ability is a byproduct of an already
ongoing ancient enterprise — sheep
herding. Powered by one human, and
empowered by a congregation, the sho-
far requires no batteries, power cord or
transformer. When we hear it, we are
the ones who become transformed.
An instrument conceived thousands
of years ago in, by today's standards,
a near noise-free environment, the
shofar still has the power to hold our
attention. Yet sans headphones or ear
buds, the shofar delivers a sound like
no other, penetrating our kishkas and
our consciousness.
It's the great proclaimer, announcing
in a low-energy way some high-energy
concepts.
In Israel, the shofar's call also was
used to introduce the Torah concept of
the jubilee year: Historically, on Yom
Kippur, the shofar announced that the
land was allowed to lay fallow while
also proclaiming "liberty throughout
the land" and the release of all servants.
The jubilee in Hebrew,yovel, is
derived from the Hebrew word for
ram's horn — yobel. Yovel and the
related concepts of shmitta, a Shabbat
of rest and rejuvenation for the land
every seven years, are land-use con-
cepts practiced today through crop
rotation and organic farming.
Each year we are commanded to
hear the sounds of the shofar — we
cannot celebrate Rosh Hashanah with-
out hearing them. But what is it that
we are supposed to hear?
The shofar, held high for us to hear
and see that day, presents an under-
heard and overlooked message: Jews,
now and in the future, will always need
to have a relationship with the natural
world, with the world of animals and
their environment. A relationship that
will need to run far deeper than what
"my daddy bought for two zuzzim," as
the traditional Passover song "Chad
Gadya" proclaims.
When issues of treatment of live-
stock to be used for kosher slaughter
come to light, the sound of the shofar
can remind us that the horn that
announces the times of our lives
comes from something that also was
alive — an animal that must be sus-
tained with compassion, with humane
treatment, fed even before we feed
ourselves.
Shofars can only be fashioned from
the horn of a ram, antelope, gazelle
or goat. A world where the environ-
ment is so polluted — where there is
no clean water, no toxin-free feed, no
land available — will be a world that
will not hear the blast of the shofar. On
that day, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Teruah,
the day of the blast, will be our "silent
spring."
This year as you hear the blasts,
wake to a green meaning in the tones:
Tekiah, the long blast: the wake-up
call. Understand it to announce the
stewardship we have been given over
the earth and the responsibilities
thereof.
Shevarim, three short blasts: a warn-
ing that change is coming. The crack,
crack, cracking of polar ice due to
gobal warming.
Teruah, nine quick notes like ticks
of the clock: Reminding us that when
it comes to the environment, the day is
short and the task is great.
This Rosh Hashanah, we can be the
prophets of change, shaping in short
bursts and long beautiful curves and
spirals our actions and intentions to
green and repair our world. ❑
Edmon J. Rodman is a writer and toy
designer whose most recent creation is
"Do-Re-Mi Musical Building Blocks."