Rosh Hashanah: The Real Shofar
Rabbi Saadia Gaon (892 – 942 CE) was one of the most important and significant philosophers of his age and the Head (which is a translation of the word ‘Gaon’) of the great and influential Yeshiva of Sura in Baghdad. It was one of the most respected academies in Babylon and throughout the Jewish World.
He lists ten
reasons for blowing the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah:
1. Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of the creation of the world (through his forming Adam and Eve on this day, which was why the Earth was created) and so we are crowning Gd as the creator of the Universe on this day and the Shofar proclaims Him as sovereign of the Universe.
2. Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, the Ten Days of Repentance. The Shofar is therefore the means by which Gd wants us to hear a last warning to repent before we are finally judged on Yom Kippur, which is the culmination of these days.
3. A Shofar was sounded on Mount Sinai at Gd’s revelation when He gave us the Torah. We responded by saying that we would carry out His commandments (Na’aseh Venishmah – ‘we will do and we will listen’)
4. Our ancient prophets’ warnings and exhortations are likened to the blasts of the Shofar. As the prophet Ezekiel wrote (chapter 33, 4-5) “He who hears the sound of the shofar and does not take warning, the sword will come and take him away. His blood will be upon his own head…but he who heeds warning will save his soul.”
5. The Shofar reminds us of the destruction of the first Temple which took place while the sounds of our enemy’s trumpets were ringing in our ears. When we hear the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah, we pray that our temple will be rebuilt.
6. The Shofar, or Ram’s Horn recalls the willingness of Isaac to be sacrificed (there are opinions that the binding of Isaac took place on Rosh Hashanah). When we hear the Shofar, we ask Gd to forgive us in his merit. As we know, Abraham sacrificed a ram in his place.
7. The sound of the Shofar fills our hearts with awe and reverence. This is appropriate when we are in the presence of Gd, pleading for a positive outcome on Yom HaDin – Judgement Day.
8. Hearing the Shofar reminds us of the ultimate Day of Judgement which we hope will happen soon.
In In the same vein, it is a portent of the coming of Mashiach when we will experience the ‘ingathering of the exiles’ to the Land of Israel. We will shortly read the Mussaf prayer where we say, “And it will be on that day that a great Shofar will be sounded and those who were lost in the Land of Ashur…will come and prostrate themselves before the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.”
10. Finally, it is
there to remind us of the future resurrection of the dead which will be heralded
by the sound of the Shofar.
This comprehensive
list sums up some or many of the reasons we have heard over the years for the sounding
of the instrument.
From its earliest mention in the Torah, Rosh Hashanah (which is first called by this name in the Mishna) is called ‘Yom Teruah’ in the Torah. The word ‘Teruah’ specifies the centrality of the Shofar to the Yom Tov.
Hearing the
sound of this ancient instrument is therefore the mitzvah appertaining to
the festival. It’s more important than dipping
an apple in honey or partaking of honey cake (although, many of us could not envisage
Rosh Hashanah without the latter!)
You may legitimately enquire as to why, if this is so important, we do not blow the Shofar on Shabbat and I am happy to answer separately, but this constitutes a different Drasha entirely!On 29th September 2016, Rabbi Sacks, of blessed memory, wrote an extremely prescient article for the Wall Street Journal titled ‘Rosh Hashanah and the Robots’.
https://www.rabbisacks.org/archive/rosh-hashana-and-the-robots-wsj/
He predicted
the impact of AI (Artificial Intelligence) by quoting the documentary filmmaker
James Barrett who, in 2013, ten years ago warned “of the rise of artificial intelligence - that is robots
that are-all around smarter than humans.” in his book ‘Our Final Invention’. Mr Barrett argued that “for the first time, humans will face a competitor that
can outthink them at every stage and that the Earth may be nearing the end of the
human era.” I note that there is an updated edition of the
book that came out a few months ago (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Final-Invention-Artificial
Intelligence/dp/1529434629/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2F6UAL4US1B36&keywords=our+final+invention+james+barrat&qid=1694344417&sprefix=our+final+invention%2Caps%2C253&sr=8-1). Rabbi Sacks then quoted another source, Robert
Ford, who in 2015 wrote a book on a similar theme entitled, ‘The Rise of the Robots
- Technology and the Threat of Mass Unemployment’ where he stated the following:
‘Humanity has hardly begun
to realize how far humans will be displaced from the world of work. Robots have so far only taken over relatively
mindless tasks, such as some of those in manufacturing. Soon more professions will be hit. Driverless cars and trucks will put millions out
of work, while innovations like medicine without doctors will kill opportunities
for even the most highly skilled workers.
Fewer and fewer humans will be needed to run the world, and they will have
enormous power over the rest.’
It does not
take a great deal of imagination to relate these predictions to our current times. Although we have mercifully not reached the dire
and terrifying spectacle of fully driverless cars or having Android doctors treating
patients, the recent technological developments in the use of Artificial Intelligence
are very concerning.
Recently,
we have witnessed an AI created deepfake video advertisement on social media to
try to convince us that Martin Lewis OBE, who has dedicated his life to assisting
us to save money, is promoting an app associated with Elon Musk. Both the computer-generated image and voice of
Mr Lewis are fake and their intent is to scam people out of a great deal of money.
In a similar
vein, Hollywood’s film production has virtually ground to a halt as screenwriters,
actors and other industry professionals are striking as a result of their grave
concerns regarding the use of AI to create screenplays or even films that they have
not been involved with. This in addition
to other grievances regarding their low pay.
For many years,
synthesizers have replicated the sound of instruments on recordings, and it is becoming
increasingly more challenging to recognise whether the sound has been formed by
a human or a machine. Without even realising
it, we have invited Artificial Intelligence into our homes, through the ubiquitous
presence of devices such as Google Nest or Amazon Alexa (not to forget, Siri on
iPhones). As wonderful as these devices are,
if we think about it, how much do we question the information they provide us with
or the information they are gathering about us?
It appears
that we are allowing technology to take over our lives to the extent that we are
in danger of sidelining the importance of sound. The type created by human beings, formed in our
breath and projected via our lips.
With the advent
of AI, we could believe that everything we hear or see is real. It is so accurate and at the same time, persuasive. The man in the advertisement looks like
Martin Lewis and sounds like him.
How could it not be him? We
trust his advice. Would he lie to us?
The concerns
regarding AI touch us at the deepest level of our conscious being. On a positive note, the examples I gave of Martin
Lewis’ concerns and those on the picket lines, remind us of our wish to use the
technology in a responsible and productive manner. All of the people I quoted are not calling for
the abolition of such technology. We all
recognise that the metaphorical genie has been ‘released from the bottle’. They are simply demanding that it be controlled
and that, at the end of the day, what matters is the continued presence of real
sound. Words written by real screenwriters
and scenes shot using living, breathing actors and actresses.
Real intelligence
teaches us the limits of artificial intelligence.
There are
many mitzvot associated with the blowing and hearing of the Shofar but in a nutshell,
it comes down to one factor. You can only
fulfil the Biblically ordained commandment if the familiar sound you hear, the same
one that was heard at Sinai, in all its iterations, is the product of a human breath.
Let us pray
that next year, we will hear the Shofar sounding to announce either the arrival
of Mashiach (reason #9) or the ingathering of our exiles (#8).
Wishing you
and your families a truly genuine Shanah Tovah – a year of good health, peace
and prosperity. May we only hear good news
from real people!
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