The Shofar Blowing Ceremony by the Rebbe MH"M - Rabbi Boruch Boaz Yorkovitz shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 I was asked to tell what I remember about Rosh Hashanah with the Rebbe. We were there for many, many years—from the late 5720s, through the 5730s and into the 5740s. What everything was like, the shofar blowing and all the rest on Rosh Hashanah. Many people will remember a different detail. Some will say it happened one way, and others will say it happened another way. The truth is, it wasn’t the same every year. One person saw one thing, another saw something else. They may not contradict each other. In any case, we’ll try to describe a little of what went on there in 770. First of all, the atmosphere in 770 on Rosh Hashanah night—that’s the time of the withdrawal Above, the very difficult time until the shofar blowing. You could see a great seriousness in the Rebbe. His face was serious. And the truth is, it wasn’t only the Rebbe. All the chassidim davened; Maariv was davened with avodah. It was very interesting to see that even the intellectuals—I won’t name names—everyone davened with avodah that night. Then came morning, when the Rebbe entered. He usually brought several siddurim. He brought his regular siddur, and also the siddur of Rabbi Shabsai of Rashkov, the Arizal’s siddur. The Rebbe brought that black siddur too. Sometimes he also brought another siddur, the Mitteler Rebbe’s siddur. The Rebbe came in, followed by Rabbi Groner and Binyamin Klein with the bundles of pidyonos. The bundles of pidyonos certainly grew from year to year; they really had to carry them. They had put them inside and tied them up. They were full, full, full of pidyonos, many pidyonos that had come in beforehand. And there was a table next to where—

03:07 Speaker 2 next to where the Rebbe stood, beside his shtender. There was a table, and they put all the bundles on it. Later, when the Rebbe went up for Maftir, he also brought the shofars with him. There was a large silk cloth, and inside it were all the shofars and those things. The Rebbe carried it like that, went up, and read the haftarah. On the first day in particular, with Chana’s prayer in the haftarah, the Rebbe wept—he cried with so many tears. His whole face... The Rebbe would stop in the middle to catch his breath; he couldn’t continue. There was a great deal of crying. After the haftarah—yes, the gabbaim also put all the bundles on the bimah. All around the Rebbe’s bimah, on every side, there were bags and bundles, the pidyonos from all over the world. With a very serious expression, the Rebbe began arranging the shofars. It’s very interesting how he arranged them. Everyone may describe it a little differently, but this is what happened as I saw it. I had a place where I could see everything very close up. The Rebbe took the large silk cloth and laid it out. Then he took something like this—I have several things from the Rebbe, so I’m using them to show you—and put down another cloth, what do you call it? Then he put down another one. This isn’t it; it’s just something similar, though not really the same, because his was redder. But it had—

06:08 Speaker 2 white sections that, over time... The Rebbe spread it over the first cloth—or rather, over this cloth—and tucked it in. Now, some people saw it one way and some another; apparently it varied from year to year. The Rebbe would generally take the edges and, how do you say it, fold in the edges of the red cloth. That’s what I remember from many times, at least. Then the Rebbe put down another cloth, and on it he placed the shofars. There were three shofars. One was black; that was the Tzemach Tzedek’s. I’m not certain of that, but there was one darker shofar, a little longer than the one I have here. It was basically a goat’s horn, and it had belonged to the Tzemach Tzedek. Then there were two more shofars. One had been given to him by the father of—someone had brought it to him from his father, the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Rebbe placed all the shofars like this, in the shape of an upside-down shin. The wide ends faced his body, and the narrow ends pointed this way. That’s approximately how he did it, and then he covered them again. Then the Rebbe began. Sometimes he adjusted them again and again, fixing them repeatedly. After that, the Rebbe took his tallis, held it tightly with both hands, and threw himself and the tallis over all the pidyonos. The Rebbe remained like that—no, before that, he held it like this and said, “For the conductor, of the sons of Korach, a psalm.” Then he threw the tallis over all the pidyonos. I remember one year the Rebbe threw the tallis so far that it went right up to his kippah, his yarmulke. It almost came completely off—

09:15 Speaker 2 [unclear]. It stopped on the Rebbe’s head. Then the Rebbe threw himself over the pidyonos and said the psalm seven times. It took him much longer than the congregation. You couldn’t see the Rebbe then, because he was completely covered, but you could see him moving. Those who were close said they heard a sound, yes, they heard a sound. It took some time before the Rebbe stopped, lifted the tallis, and began the verses. When the Rebbe began the verses, his face was simply radiant, completely flushed red. As he began, his tallis was pulled down almost over his eyes. That’s how it was. The Rebbe covered half his head, down to... like this. Then he began the verses. The way he chanted them was so powerful, with such a distinctive tune. They asked me to try to imitate it. The Rebbe began: “From the narrow place I called to G-d; G-d answered me with expansiveness.” And then the verses: “Hear my voice according to Your kindness, Hashem; give me life according to Your judgment. The beginning of Your word is truth, and each of Your righteous judgments endures forever.” Each time the Rebbe said a verse, his voice grew louder. “Guarantee Your servant’s welfare; let the arrogant not oppress me. I rejoice over Your word like one who finds great treasure. Teach me good sense and knowledge, for I have believed in Your commandments. Please accept the offerings of my mouth, Hashem, and teach me Your judgments. G-d ascends with a blast, Hashem with the sound of the shofar.” Then the Rebbe again threw himself over the pidyonos and continued—I don’t know whether he continued saying what everyone says, or [unclear]. I don’t know. The truth is, there are three stages here. The first stage is “For the conductor, of the sons of Korach, a psalm.” There we’re speaking about the greatness of the souls of—

13:28 Speaker 2 the Jewish people. Here we’re speaking about kera satan—breaking the prosecuting forces, sweetening the severities. I’m saying this because I was asked to convey the tune with which the Rebbe said the blessings: “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to hear the sound of the shofar. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who has granted us life, sustained us, and brought us to this time.” Now, the shofars had been positioned down here, right? Before the blowing, the Rebbe changed the whole arrangement. He adjusted it again so that the shofars were on the outer side, closer to his mouth. Not as before, when the wide ends were down and the narrow ends up. Now the wide ends were up and the narrow ends down. And the Rebbe began blowing. There are differences of opinion about the blasts. First of all, everyone agrees that there was a tekiah, and the shevarim were three blasts with a sharp ending. The Rebbe spoke about this at length. The Rebbe Rashab blew them with that sharp ending, and the Rashag asked the Rebbe whether that was an instruction for everyone. The Rebbe said that if the Rebbe Rashab did it publicly and thereby fulfilled the obligation for everyone, then it was indeed an instruction for everyone. One person may ask what you do, and another what he does, but it is an instruction for everyone. So there are... All right, I’ve done this once already, but I can do it again. The shofar wasn’t completely straight; it leaned more to the right, as I remember it. It may have differed from year to year, because in some years they changed the shofar. They wanted an easier shofar for the Rebbe to blow, and then, a few years after 5738, the Rebbe

17:01 Speaker 2 And afterward he went back to his earlier shofars. And the—okay, the halachos of tekiah, shevarim, teruah—we’re not studying that, I’m not teaching that. But the tekiah was usually short, as halachah requires. There was a pause between the shevarim and the teruah. The shevarim were three sharp sounds, with pauses between them—not a breath, but a pause. And then the second tekiah was much longer than the first. I don’t... Yes? Let’s go through it once. Basically, it went like this. There were three stages. First was “Lamnatzeiach,” when the Rebbe was completely covered. Then came the verses of “Kera Satan,” when you could see the Rebbe’s eyes, but he was still somewhat covered. And then came the shofar blowing. The way the Rebbe blew shofar is interesting. It’s a sight I can’t really demonstrate. Let me try. When blowing shofar, the Rebbe took his tallis and... like this. Just a moment, I’ll show you. The edge of the tallis was on his forehead, and he tucked it in near his ears. That’s how the Rebbe blew. So from the forehead down, you could see the Rebbe’s face uncovered. It’s very interesting. Perhaps the Rebbe didn’t want anything between the shofar blast and his ear, or something like that. But that was how the Rebbe looked. Interesting, very interesting. Up to that point was the solemn part. Afterward, the verses of “Ashrei ha’am” were sung to a joyful tune. The contrast between the shofar blowing and the crying beforehand, and “Ashrei ha’am,” was beyond comparison. They would then sing the verses of “Ashrei ha’am” like this: “Fortunate is the people who know the shofar’s call; Hashem, they walk in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all day, and through Your righteousness they are exalted. For You are the glory of their strength, and through Your favor our horn is raised.” That was the shofar blowing. Now, there are many details within it. There were

20:49 Speaker 2 some years... Usually, the one who called out the blasts for the Rebbe was Rabbi Shmuel Levitin. Rabbi Shmuel Levitin was the rav of the Rebbe’s household, essentially. And in the year—Rabbi Shmuel Levitin passed away in Elul, or something like that, Elul 5733 or 5734, I don’t know exactly. For several years there was no one calling out the blasts. The Rebbe blew the shofar with one hand and held the other hand on the siddur, calling them out himself. That was in 5734, 5735, 5736, until—I think it was until 5738. From 5738 onward, the Rebbe asked Rabbi Tenenbaum to call out the blasts. It’s very interesting. Were there changes? There were changes, but basically that’s how it was. All right. So, well, the main thing is—we... Oh! I didn’t forget, yes. Afterward, when the Rebbe left, he came down from the bimah carrying the bag that held all the shofars. Before that, he had handed one shofar to Rabbi Tenenbaum for him to blow, since Rabbi Tenenbaum was also up there on the bimah. Then the Rebbe came down. The Rebbe kissed the two Torah scrolls, and the two Torah scrolls were brought down first. The Rebbe followed directly behind them, all the way to where he stood. He watched the Torah scrolls until they were returned to the aron. Then the Rebbe began turning toward the whole congregation, looking at their faces—the baal tokeia looking at the people, yes? That’s the idea. The Rebbe made a point of looking, row after row. That was when everyone was looking at the Rebbe. I was tall, so people would tap me on the head, on my hat, so that others could see the Rebbe too. But it was a very uplifting moment. Ah, everyone has his own thoughts about it. That was a time when the Rebbe brought down the—

23:48 Speaker 2 The whole point of blowing shofar is to sweeten the judgments. And whoever the Rebbe looked at, he sweetened the judgments for them. He turned toward the entire congregation, and in some years he made a point of looking at a particular person, looking right at that person. He also looked toward the women’s section. You couldn’t see anything there, but the Rebbe’s eyes passed over there too. It was truly a tremendous moment, because everyone knew that looking at the face of the baal tokeia—looking at the Rebbe at that moment—was something very important. And that’s the end of the account of the shofar blowing. Above all, may you be inscribed and sealed for a good year, a good and sweet year.