In our time, there's great immediacy and momentum to the direct notion that we still stand there, listening to the shofar, like the people stood in the desert millennia ago.
One people, before they entered the Land of Israel, peacefully as it turns out, as immigrants, not conquerors, over many generations. There, in the Land, they joined the tribes.
Listening to the shofar worldwide as a people connects us with them. We're still back there. The shofar's different motives functioned like a Morse code, providing essential information. We probably invented such coded communication.African drums, another such code, appeared hundreds of years later.
Lastly, speaking of words, it has become known not too long ago that the proto-Sinaitic alphabet , the first alphabet, was invented by a slave working in Serabit El -Khadim, Southwest Sinai.
The line about explanations being sophisticated ways of hiding got me. I run a small team and I notice this constantly in myself before anyone else: the second something goes wrong, I've already got three reasons ready before I've even sat with what actually happened. Rosh Hashanah asking you to just stand there without the story is honestly harder than any resolution I've ever made. The shofar not needing to be smooth to be true, that's staying with me. Shanah tovah.
Couple of thoughts. The shofar reminds me of the ancient and still modern Hawaiian use of the conch shell to signal and call others which I learned about during the 8 years I lived on Oahu. Finally, I know from the article that Jewish folks don't make New Years resolutions. Is that correct? From this Catholic I say to all of you, Shanah tovah.
How beautiful, it gives hope.
Shana Tova Joshua. Your article struck a nerve in me. Thank you.
Shanah Tova
Beautiful. Thank you. Shana Tova.
Shana Tova. Thanks for an inspiring article.
In our time, there's great immediacy and momentum to the direct notion that we still stand there, listening to the shofar, like the people stood in the desert millennia ago.
One people, before they entered the Land of Israel, peacefully as it turns out, as immigrants, not conquerors, over many generations. There, in the Land, they joined the tribes.
Listening to the shofar worldwide as a people connects us with them. We're still back there. The shofar's different motives functioned like a Morse code, providing essential information. We probably invented such coded communication.African drums, another such code, appeared hundreds of years later.
Lastly, speaking of words, it has become known not too long ago that the proto-Sinaitic alphabet , the first alphabet, was invented by a slave working in Serabit El -Khadim, Southwest Sinai.
Sounds like us ,too.
Beautiful. This brought to mind that often quoted line from Leonard Cohen z”l - “there is a crack in everything - that’s how the light gets in.”
The line about explanations being sophisticated ways of hiding got me. I run a small team and I notice this constantly in myself before anyone else: the second something goes wrong, I've already got three reasons ready before I've even sat with what actually happened. Rosh Hashanah asking you to just stand there without the story is honestly harder than any resolution I've ever made. The shofar not needing to be smooth to be true, that's staying with me. Shanah tovah.
Shana Tova
This is beautiful and so powerful! Thank you!
This is so profound! Can’t stop re-reading and thinking about it. Thank you for expressing it so perfectly.
Lovely discussion, Joshua. The ideas associated with tekiah I found particularly insightful and very helpful. Thank you. Shanah tovah to you.
Shana tova Joshua. What a beautiful read. Thank you 🙏🙏
As always, beautifully written Joshua. Shana Tova, Robbin
Shana tova mevurechet umetuka 🍯🍎
Thank you for such a beautiful and enlightening look into the shofar
Couple of thoughts. The shofar reminds me of the ancient and still modern Hawaiian use of the conch shell to signal and call others which I learned about during the 8 years I lived on Oahu. Finally, I know from the article that Jewish folks don't make New Years resolutions. Is that correct? From this Catholic I say to all of you, Shanah tovah.