by Rabbi Deborah Brin
The first day of the Hebrew month of Elul begins on Thursday, August 17th. It offers us an opportunity to start getting ready for the High Holy Days. This year, Erev Rosh HaShannah is on Friday evening September 15th. One of the ways that we get ready for the High Holy Days is to read Psalm 27 every day. Go to the bottom of this article for a copy of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s version of Psalm 27.
For those who have a shofar, another way to prepare for the High Holy Days is to sound the shofar every morning during the month of Elul. We make a blessing before we sound the shofar, and the words at the end of the standard blessing formula are “to hear the sound of the shofar”. Even when the most obvious action that is taking place is the sounding of the shofar, what is critical, according to our tradition, is to hear the sound. Even when we are actually blowing the shofar we are still supposed to be hearing the sound we are making. Why? According to Rashi, the sound of the shofar itself is meant to wake us up to the truth of our lives so that we can examine our deeds and our thoughts and devote ourselves to improving who and how we are in the world.
Hearing the sound of the shofar is meant to prompt us to begin the process of deeply examining who we truly are and how we show up in the world, this is called “cheshbon hanefesh” taking an accounting of the soul. When we do so, and we discover negative behaviors and patterns, we need to find the courage to turn away from them and turn toward those that enrich our souls, that make our relationships and interactions with others better and better. Teshuvah, means turning. When we “do Teshuvah” we turn away from the negative and turn toward the positive. Doing teshuvah is a way to become a mensch, to become the best human we can be, living a life filled with honesty, kindness, compassion and decency.
What sounds are we listening to? There are three sounds for the shofar, and each sound has a name. Tekiah, is a single long sound. There are two forms, one is a sound that lasts for three or four beats. The other one is called the Tekiah G’dolah, the “great” tekiah. It is a really long sound and lasts as long as the shofar sounder has breath. Shevarim is the second pattern. It is made up of three short soundings; each one starts low and ends higher. The third pattern is called Teruah and that is a string of nine staccato notes in a row.
We sound the shofar on Rosh HaShannah morning and at the end of Yom Kippur. It is truly magnificent when we can have shofar sounders in the four corners of the sanctuary and on the Bimah. If you have a shofar and would like to be one of the shofar sounders during the High Holy Days, contact me, rabbibrin@gmail.com. Those three sounds [four, if you include Tekiah G’dolah] appear in our machzor on Rosh HaShannah morning in nine different patterns, so it is good to practice during Elul to get your lip in shape. And, when you are practicing the patterns, don’t forget to hear what you are doing, listen to it yourself so you, too, can begin the spiritual work of the High Holy Days.
Psalms in a translation for praying
by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Psalm 27
Yah! You are my light.
You are my savior.
Whom need I dread?
Yah, with you as my strong protector who can make me panic?
When hateful bullies gang up on me, wanting to harass me, to oppress and terrorize me
They are the ones who stumble and fall.
Even if a gang surrounds me my heart is not weakened.
If a battle is joined around me my trust in You is firm.
Only one thing do I ask of You, Yah:
Just this alone do I seek, I want to be at home with you, Yah,
All the days of my life.
I want to delight in seeing You.
Seeing You when I come to visit You in Your temple.
You hide me in your sukkah on a foul day.
You conceal me unseen in Your tent.
You also raise me beyond anyone's reach
And now, as You have held my head high despite the presence of my powerful foes
I prepare to celebrate and thrill, singing and making music to You, Yah!
Listen, Yah, to the sound of my cry
And, being kind, answer me!
My heart has said, I turn to seek you.
Your presence is what I beg for
Don't hide Your face from me.
Don't just put me down, You who have been my helper.
Don't abandon me, don't forsake me, God my support.
Though my father and my mother have left me
You, Yah, will hold me securely.
Please teach me Your way.
Teach me Your way and guide me on the straight path.
Discourage those who defame me
Because false witnesses stood up against me belching out violence.
Don't let me become the victim of my foes.
I wouldn't have survived
If I hadn't hoped that I would see, yet,
Your goodness, God, fully alive on earth.
So I tell you, my friends: you too hope to Yah! Be sturdy!
And make strong your heart. And most of all, keep hoping to Yah.