Why
the Shofar is Sounded on Rosh Hashanah-A chilren's midrash
A
long, long time ago, the world was empty-there was no world. No
stars, no moon, no sky with patches of clouds, not even a sun pouring
out its light all over the place. No mountains or deserts, oceans or
rivers, no meadows or plains. Not even a tiny patch of grass and
certainly no fragrant flowers. No moos could be heard-there were no
cows; no meows of furry kittens and no matter how far you looked,
there wasnt a puppy in sight. There was nothing. From aardvark to
zebra, not a single living thing. Absolutely nothing.
Well,
not exactly. There was God. God was everywhere. Everything was God
and God was everything. But God was lonely. And all that emptiness
was, well, kind of boring,
So
God decided to make a world, a sky, the land and seas, the sun, moon
and stars, trees bursting with fruit, and crawling, creepy things,
fish that swam and birds that fly. And of course, fluffy kittens and
cuddly puppies.
How
beautiful everything was. How exciting, how interesting,
However,
one thing was missing. Me-you-people. And so God made Adam, the first
person. From very corner of the world, God took earth and from all
this soil a human body was fashioned. From head to toe-hair, eyes,
ears nose and mouth. God made skin all over, and inside were veins
that carried blood, a heart that pumped the blood into all parts of
the body, nerves that carried messages to the brain, arms and legs
and fingers and toes.
Finally
it was done-Adam was finished. He lay there like a statue-quite a
creation.
But,
something was wrong. Adam didnt move. God hadn’t really completed
the work.
There
was one last thing that was left to be done. God blew breath, air,
into Adam’s nostrils. A few moments passed and suddenly Adam’s
nose began to twitch. Then his eye lashes fluttered, his leg moved,
his hand twitched , a sound rose in his throat . Adam was now
alive-he began to breathe . Now she could run so fast that she ran
out of breath; now he could put his head in the water and hold his
breath until he felt his lungs bursting inside. Now she could blow
into the cold winter’s air and see her breath form smoky clouds
rising above her. Standing up for the first time, he looked up at the
beautiful blue sky, took a deep breath and spoke his first
words:Thank you!
Time
passed. More and more people were born. Towns and villages sprung up
everywhere.The world was filling up and getting noisier and noisier.
One
day, in a special land called Israel, in the Galilee mountains, a
shepherd boy was leading his sheep and rams to a grazing spot so that
they could eat and grow strong and healthy. It was a luscious autumn
day. The deep blue sky stretched out for miles and all around were
the songs of birds welcoming the New Year.
The
shepherd could'nt have been happier. Suddenly, he spotted something
lying on the ground. It looked like the horn of a ram. But there was
no ram-only the horn.He picked up the horn and holding it in his
hands he wondered, What can I do with this horn? He rubbed his hand
along the rough edges, looked into the hole from the top and from
the bottom. There was nothing inside.
Perhaps
the horn helped the ram hear the whispers in the mountain winds, she
thought. !So she placed one opening against her ear, hoping that it
would help her hear distant sounds that she otherwise could not
hear. It made no difference. He carefully licked the side of the
horn-perhaps it would taste sweet like the honey of the comb. His
nose wrinkled with a look of displeasure; the taste was dusty dry
and flat. He looked through the small hole like looking into a
telescope expecting to see far away things up close. He was quite
disappointed when that did'nt happen either.
He
was puzzled. For a few moments he did nothing.Then she brought the
horn to her lips and blew air into the horn. Nothing ; just the
silent sound of his breath. Feeling so frustrated that this
beautiful horn could serve no good purpose-it didnt help her hear or
see , didnt have any taste and felt rough and bumpy – all she could
do is purse her lips tightly to hold back her anger. The tip of the
shofar was pressed against her lips. She breathed a big breath of
disappointment.
The
quiet morning air was suddenly pierced with a loud wavering sound.
Excited she blew into the small hole of the shofar again and another
loud sound came bursting out of the other side.
The
sheep and rams began bleating, their “baas” forming a chorus of
song carried by the soft morning breeze. Filled with curiosity the
shepherd blew again and again. Strong sounds, followed by short ,
stubby sounds and sounds that floated in the air rose into the vast ,
open sparkling sky.
My
breath makes sounds, it makes music, the shepherd thought. How
wonderful! People everywhere heard about the miracle of the breath in
the shofar. Like the shepherd they too were amazed and thrilled.
It
was decided by the wise men of the land that every New Year Day the
shofar would be sounded to thank God for the gift of human breath.
Since then, on Rosh Hashanah which is the birthday of the world and
Adam's birthday too, the shofar reminds us to thank God with
gratitude and love for the very breath of life.
So,
when we listen to the shofar we realize how special is every breath
we take.The next time you breathe,which of course is right now and
all the time, pay close attention to your tummy rising and falling as
you breathe. It's a miracle that we dont have to do anything ; but
the breath goes on by itself, making us alive . Now we walk and run
and skip and jump, all because of the air we breathe.
Thank
you God for Your breath of life.
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