Rosh Hashanah | 2026.09.10

Good evening and welcome to what is normally mining the riches of the parshat. Tonight, of course We're going to speak about Rosh Hashanah Thursday night September 10th 2026 what we're going to experience this Shabbos on The first day of Rosh Hashanah is truly bizarre Shabbos is the first day of Rosh Hashanah On Rosh Hashanah, there's a mitzvah to blow the shofar, but on Shabbos we do not blow the shofar because it's Shabbos. When Shabbos We're not allowed to carry items in a public area And our sages were worried That someone might forget to bring the shofar to Shul before Shabbos And then they may forget that it is Shabbos And carry it in a public area in violation of the laws of Shabbos because that's the difference between Shabbos and Yom Tuf. When Yom Tuf were allowed to carry Shabbos were not Now even though we live in an area where there's an Eruv and the concept of an Eruv means that we're allowed to carry on Shabbos However, there are areas That do not have an Eruv And so our rabbis were concerned that there may be confusion between one place and another place confusion would develop But what is truly difficult to understand Is how does that remote problem remote possibility of a problem prevent every single Jew Everywhere from hearing the shofar on Shabbos And the question is stronger Because yes, we will blow the shofar on Sunday the second day of Rosh Hashanah However The mitzvah deraisa the biblical mitzvah is only one day In the Torah Rosh Hashanah is one day. Yes, we observed two days even in Israel. It's two days We've discussed that but in terms of the mitzvah deraisa the biblical obligation. That's only on Shabbos When we blow the shofar on Sunday, yes, we're fulfilling a rabbinic mitzvah mitzvah deraiban. Yeah, okay very important I don't mean to minimize But by not blowing on Shabbos that means that we have no mitzvah deraisa at all We're giving it up. We're sacrificing it. No fulfillment of a biblical mitzvah shofar this year And the question is even stronger Because blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is different from other biblical mitzvahs Other mitzvahs We're required to do If we can't do the mitzvah We're exempt For example, if you live in a place and there's no lula venestria gonsokos, you can't get a lula venestria gonsokos, so you're exempt You have no option let's say a person Is god forbid is sick And they're so sick. They're not able to a man and not able to put on to fill Okay, so you didn't put on to in that we have a concept in jewish law on astrakman apatre if a person is is Through no fault of their own Unable to fulfill a mitzvah Okay, so they're exempt And in such a case we're not culpable. We didn't do a sin If it wasn't possible, it's not possible. There's no sin involved But the mitzvah blowing the shofar on rosh Hashanah is different Because our sages tell us the gomar says the misakti rasha shana call shana she ain't token bat-khilasa marian la basofa Any year Where we don't blow the shofar at the beginning of the year By the end of the year it's not going to end up so good It is completely negative because it is By proclaiming god as the melek the sovereign when we blow the shofar That is part of how we merit being inscribed in the sehfrak. I am the book of life So when we blow the shofar our sages tell us and the and our sages describe this god Rises from his throne of strict justice and moves to his throne of mercy We by blowing the shofar cause God to move we the people sitting in the shul by our actions cause This change so to speak this Transformation in god in the way that he'll deal with us Not only that but we've discussed this before When we blow the shofar we affect ourselves The nabi says Ur-ru-ya-she-ne-mi-sh-i-n-ask-em wake up sleeping people from your sleep the shofar and his alarm clock Who can hear the piercing sound of the shofar without becoming Aware alarmed The shofar is a siren Means wake up it means today My life is on the line A yon hadian a day of judgment And also when we blow the shofar we remind god and ourselves of the akheta Akheta see it's like the binding of isek it was the horn of the animal the ram That was offered god's commanded to offer instead of his son yitzkak when god saw that avram was willing to sacrifice because god had commanded him to do something And that remains for us an act of supreme sacrifice. Yes, it's a very difficult story It's a very difficult narrative, but it's an act of supreme sacrifice And that is our legacy in our prayers. We say this explicitly To this day we appeal to god to be kind to us because we are the inheritors Of that conviction of avram And we make that appeal to god by blowing the shofar. That's what reminds god reminds us of this Incredible event But this shabbos. There's no shofar kaza rabbi said Shemayavirena arba amas bishus arabem maybe a person would carry it For amas, which is about eight feet in a public domain And that would involve violating a prohibition against carrying objects And so our rabbis tell us that it's more important to guard the shabbos Than to blow the shofar. Yes They had the shofar on the base of mages. They blew the shofar on the base of mages. It's a very good question But there's a very important answer There were no rabbinic prohibitions Relaying to shabbos in the base of mages. They play musical instruments on shabbos in the base of mages They did sacrifices, which is a biblical prohibition Um Because the so that's a different category, but that all of the rabbinic laws do not apply in the base of mages It's a very good point, but Okay, so I say to say it's more important to guard shabbos than it is to guard to to to bullish over But but how can we give it up? We need the shofar You know It's not a mitzvah to eat healthy food Excuse me. I didn't mean to say that I read her wrong. No, I'm sorry. No, no, it is a mitzvah It's a mitzvah to eat healthy. I'm sorry. I said just the opposite. Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry It's a mitzvah to eat healthy food But even if for some reason it was not a mitzvah, we would still do it right because it's good for us We don't blow the shofar on russia shana only because god commands that we also blow the shofar because it's good for us it helps us So how are we going to make it through this year? Without shofar on shabbos, how are we going to be aroused to the introspection into the improvement that we're supposed to have on russia shana without the shofar How are we going to remind god about the akhada the binding of isek without the shofar? their number of answers I believe the best answer is suggested in a novel named paradise It was written by tony marison It's a beautiful novel It's mature subject matter, but it it is a a wonderful novel and I recommend it highly I recommend all of tony marison's novels and it's Incidentally amazing how the story which describes the experiences of blacks in the united states Mirrors our jewish experience through history the parallels are are uncanny so The story goes like this There was a town of black families in the early 1900s in oklahoma And the town was called haven in times turned bad There were a few opportunities for work And they decided the people of this town decided That they were all together going to move on mass everyone together And so they all packed up And they traveled to a new spot to another small town called ruby The new town is called ruby And the novel is about their children That is the generation Whose parents moved to ruby And they are trying with difficulty To continue with their children The traditions and the cultures of their parents and their grandparents And again, it's uncanny how we face such similar challenges Now In the original town of haven The most important spot Was a gigantic oven They would all use it for communal cooking Everyone would bring their pots to the communal oven to do their cooking Like chulit, yes And it was also the meeting place it was the focal point it was the center of town Now this was a religious group of people They lived with an awareness of God's presence And there was a motto inscribed on the oven An inscription on the top of the oven It was a motto by which they lived their lives Beware the furrow of his brow Those are the words Beware the furrow of his brow It's referring to God Beware that not to do something that God forbid would cause God to have a little bit of an angry expression God forbid The highest priority in life Is to be a person Is to avoid upsetting God Beware the furrow of his brow Now when they moved They took the oven apart piece by piece Brick by brick And they carried it with them and when they reached ruby the first thing that they do Before they tend to their own needs before they unpack their belongings The first thing they do is they put together that oven And in a certain sense The novel is about the difficulty of this next generation Transmitting and living up to that motto Beware the furrow of his brow That's the story of paradise By Tony Mars God says to us keep Shabbos And what that means is that there is no reason There is no benefit There is no goal as important as not violating what God has commanded us Unless of course there is a threat to life In which case God tells us that life takes precedence but leaving that aside Otherwise Shabbos is the priority Beware the furrow of his brow Even though The likelihood of someone wrongly carrying a chauffeur on Shabbos It may be infitesimal It could very well be had the sages not ordained this rule It could be that in the entire history of the Jewish people it never happened that a person carried the chauffeur wrongly on Shabbos Maybe But it's worth it It's worth it for every Jew In every place In every year where Rosh Hashan the first day falls on Shabbos Not to blow the chauffeur to give up all the benefits of Shofar to ensure That Shabbos will never be violated to refrain Altogether from blowing on Shabbos for all time. We'll blow the next day. Okay. It's not exactly the same But observing Shabbos Is not something On which we can take a chance now I would say and I certainly hear this from a lot of other people It's not as inspiring It's not as uplifting To omit the chauffeur on the first day of Rosh Hashan the people are going to come on Rosh Hashan And people look forward to it the sound of the Shofar is is um It's impressive. It's moving. It's Memorable It provides spiritual awakening and introspection and something we look forward to what is Rosh Hashan without the Shofar But here's the thing I would say it's not as inspiring without the Shofar But it's not my call No goal Supercedes the possibility even the remote possibility of violating God's will That's what it means beware the furrow of his brow. That must be our highest value and there's another term for this There's another term for this awareness and that is Malchus To proclaim God as a melech as a sovereign Over and over again in our prayers on Rosh Hashanah One of the main themes is to proclaim God as a melech. We are ma'm lech ha'kodesh barakhu we Assert the sovereignty of God Now normally on Rosh Hashanah we blow the Shofar as part of this Malchus The Shofar is the coronet. It's the sound that announces the approach of the sovereign It's a sound that reminds us that God is melech. God is the king But this Shabbos on Rosh Hashanah We express an even higher level of malchus of recognizing the sovereignty of God by not Blowing the Shofar. I heard this story from Rabbi Melio Bederman. I've shared it with some of you a number of years ago but This is the story that I need to hear tonight And perhaps you as well There's a bus station Ben-Ai Brak. Ben-Ai Brak, of course, is a religious neighborhood suburb of Tel Aviv in Israel And there's a bus station and buses from all over Israel come and go like all intercity buses Bus stations every city has a bus station and there was a bus That would make every day the trip To and from Tifrach Tifrach is a tiny town Far far in the negative far away a tiny town Ben-Ai Brak To Tifrach Tifrach to Ben-Ai Brak back and forth every day. There's a bus The bus goes from Ben-Ai Brak to Tifrach Passengers get on the bus in Tifrach. They pay the bus driver When the bus arrives in Ben-Ai Brak The driver takes the money that he collected to the manager to the station manager in Ben-Ai Brak Now How many people do you think travel every day from Tifrach to Ben-Ai Brak? It's a tiny remote place maybe on the entire bus. There are three maybe four people And the bus driver when he arrives in Ben-Ai Brak Usually he is collected maybe 30 shekel to give to his station manager Now at the same time this bus driver arrives In Ben-Ai Brak from Tifrach There's another bus driver who arrives in Ben-Ai Brak From Yerushalayim Oh now the bus from Yerushalayim is packed People are sitting people are standing people in the eyes of Stardines Because everybody wants to go from Ben-Ai Brak to Yerushalayim Yerushalayim to Ben-Ai Brak And it comes in at the same time And that bus driver has a few thousand shekel that he collected that he gives to the station manager And the Tifrach bus driver is so jealous He brings maybe 30 shekel and the other driver brings in thousands of skull in And he just he said he can't live with it. He he can't live with it So the Tifrach bus driver decides i'm going to do something about this the next day Before he leaves the station in Ben-Ai Brak He changes the sign on the front of the bus The sign says Tifrach he changes is it to Jerusalem To Yerushalayim And he drives to Yerushalayim And he fills his bus with passengers because it doesn't matter anytime the day or night you will always fill a bus It's going from Yerushalayim to Ben-Ai Brak And they're packed like sardines And he comes back to Ben-Ai Brak and he is so proud He is so proud to come into the bus station manager With several thousand shekel in and he's beaming and he's bursting with pride And so the manager who didn't know what happened the manager says to him What was going on in Tifrach? That you had so many passengers coming that you brought all this money from Tifrach And the driver says oh no, it's a surprise. I have a surprise for you I drove to Yerushalayim today Look at all the money I collected. Look at all the money I'm bringing to you The manager was furious And fired him immediately You're gone. You're finished Driver didn't understand. What did I do wrong? I brought you so much money I did so well Why are you firing me? So the manager says listen, I'm going to explain this to you I want you to listen carefully Every bus driver is paid the same salary The bus company has to serve every town large and small There must be a bus from Tifrach every day just like there's a bus from Yerushalayim It's not your job to decide which route you take It's your job to be the one who follows the route that you're given It's not your job to bring in the most money That's not what your job is Your job is to drive the route that you are assigned And the value of your route is exactly equal to the value of the route to Yerushalayim Because we as the bus company We have to serve every town And because of you Our entire operation failed today We failed in our mission to serve every town God gives us a route Every one of us has a route Through the mitzvahs that God commands Sometimes the route changes And we're given another route Sometimes a different mitzvah takes priority Normally this is the priority Sometimes it changes Now we have a new priority A new route! We're assigned a new route Normally our route is to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah When it falls on Shabbos we have a different route We're given a different route, a different assignment Don't blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah It's not our job to decide which route we are given It's our job to faithfully fulfill the route we are assigned That's what it means to proclaim God as a mellach That's what it means to call God a king, a sovereign God's a sovereign that means We do what God assigns to us Not what we think is best Not what we decide we want to do And that's the deepest meaning of Rosh Hashanah That meaning of Rosh Hashanah Of what it means that God as a mellach Is even deeper than shofar Beware the furrow of His brow We don't blow the shofar on Shabbos We don't blow the shofar on Shabbos We don't blow the shofar on Shabbos We don't blow the shofar on Shabbos First day Rosh Hashanah Because we're given a different route We're given a different assignment And the greatest way to recognize the sovereignty of God Is to follow the assignments we're given So may the merit of our not blowing shofar This shofar, the merit of our sacrificing The benefit that we get from the shofar We're sacrificing it to God's higher priority of Shabbos May that merit help bring us a new year of joy And good health And spiritual growth and brahman blessings My friends, I just want to mention this Tonight we conclude Mining the riches of the parshah for the year 5786 I have such deep gratitude for every single one of you Because without you it wouldn't happen Thank God we've accomplished a lot of total learning this year And it only happens because you are participating It would not happen otherwise I say this all the time because it's true This is something that I look forward to all week long It's something that gives a structure to my life Keeps me out of a certain amount of trouble maybe And I appreciate it very very much I also want to just mention a thank you To Jeremy Fine who makes such delicious chulant Every week for us And with God's help We'll start the new year 5787 Continue learning together Continue growing together Continue benefiting from each other I wish you all shanatava Happy, healthy, wonderful, and joyous new year Thank you very much