The shofar in Israel is being blown every day in August except on the Jewish sabbath....this having begun on the 24th....six days ago....and ending on September 22. This is in preparation for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which immediately follow.
There was a very nice and informative article in the Jerusalem Post titled....Why The Shofar Matters Now: A Call For Unity, Strength, And Hope." Some of the words are touching....as the shofar is described as the only musical instrument that cannot carry a tune....for it can only cry.
If you have ever heard the shofar blow then you remember the staccato bursts...which this article describes as sobs from a mother crying for her child that went off to war but did not return. You might also remember that famous photo of a rabbi blowing the shofar in June of 1967 when Israel captured the Western or Wailing Wall.
The sage....Maimonides....is quoted on the shofar,..."Awake, sleepers. from your slumber!" Mount Sinai and Jericho are recalled...and Isaiah writing of the day when a "great shofar" will blow.
So it is a good article to take in....but as you might expect....it does more than recall the power of the shofar on the battlefield....for it reminds the Jewish reader that true victory does not come from numbers or weapons: It comes from "spirit....tanks can defend but they cannot inspire...jets can deter enemies but they cannot explain life....the shofar reminds us: our greatest power is our will-our faith, courage, and refusal to give up."
The author tells the reader to listen closely when the shofar is sounded on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kipper....for more than an echo will be heard....but Israel's soul....weeping....waking....uniting....enduring...and believing still."
Ultimately....and I'm sure the Christian reader here recognized....when the author mentions 'spirit'.....he's not referring to God's Spirit....but man's. He acknowledged that armies and military might do not win wars....but he doesn't admit that Israel's "will.... and faith and courage and refusal to give up"....cannot win wars either.
Modern day Israel is no different in this than we are in America. We use the word faith...and we overuse the word God....for we feign dependence upon God....but when the rubber hits the road....in our mind....it's the American spirit that is going to win the day.
It was smack dab in the middle of the 2014/2015 tetrad of blood moons....with a solar eclipse to boot that Donald Trump famously came down that escalator. The date was June 16, 2015. The tetrad came to an end and everyone....everyone who to one degree or another believes that God gives such signs....shrugged it off as nothing catastrophic happening. That could not have been further from the truth....because Trump has since that day....successfully led us away from trust in God....to power and armies and princes and money.
It doesn't sit well in our refined and precise....'Reformed' in my case....educated and enlightened minds....to believe that God does indeed use the sun and the moon for signs....but He does....for God does not change, He also often chooses to use Jewish holy days as signs....as He did with Israel's worst day....October 7, 2023....the last day of Sukkot.
So the High Holy Days are coming up again....and not only Israel....not only Israel and America....but the world is tottering on the precipice of disaster. The signs that God gives are meant to help us not only to prepare....but to be encouraged....and at peace when things do happen. These days were never holy in themselves. The date on the Jewish calendar did not make them holy....but the Holy God who assigned them made them holy. The ground at Moses feet was not holy in itself....but that God was present.
Note: The author was Jewish rabbi and physician....Jonathan Lieberman
