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Sh’ma Yisrael the Shofar of the King!
And Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, "Speak to the B’nai Yisrael, saying, ‘ In the seventh month, on the first of the day of the month, you have a rest (Shabaton), a remembrance (zichron) of blowing of trumpets (tru’ah), a set-apart gathering (mikra). You do no servile work, and you shall bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh.’" Wayyiqra 23:23-25The Scriptures (Hebrew added) "Blessed are you Yahweh, our Elohim, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His Commandments, and has commanded us to hear the voice (kol) of the shofar." Blessing of the Shofar "The shofar, which is the level of higher teshuvah (repentance and return). It is a voice that cries from the inner heart, so much so that no vessel of speech can retain it; for it is a pure voice." Likkutei Torah 44b Cycles of Time In traditional teaching, Yom Teruah is the remembrance of the creation of Adam (mankind) or the sixth day of creation before the Shabbat (the 7th Day Sabbath or a type of the Messianic Kingdom of shalom that will start on Yom Teruah). The Feast of Trumpets reflects a conception of time that is very Hebraic in meaning. It is not just an occurrence, nor a ceremony, nor even just a period in the Feast cycle. On Yom Teruah we as Yisrael experience an absolute beginning of time or back to our future-eternity. It is a point of origin where time needs to be reset in the upper spiritual worlds of the heavens for the next year in the spirit. In the upper heavens there does not exist the conception of time and space because it is Ein Sof or endless. Time is like the heartbeat of man -a pulsation called in Hebrew Ratso-vaShov, outpouring (giving-male) and contraction (receiving-female). One without the other means certain cessation. The word pa’am in Hebrew means, "beat" but the word also designates a point in time, or "once". In Hebraic thought, time like the heart, beats once and then again -or a constant cycle of dying and rebirth, and we are constantly between two beats of time until time literally dies in eternity and it ceases to exist in this physical world.
Time is also like a seed that grows roots and bears its own fruit in its season. The coming spiritual year brings about the harvest of seed that is sown on Yom Teruah and that will give "fruit" in your life over the entire year. You are accountable for the fruit that comes from your branch.
Abib and Yom Teruah The Hebrew is very fascinating in Sh’mot (Exodus) 12:2 as Yahweh speaks to Moshe and says:
We know that Abib is the HEAD (Rosh) of Months of the 12 Hebrew months, BUT IT IS NOT THE HEAD OF THE SPIRITUAL YEAR OR THE HEAD OF THE YEAR IN THE UPPER REALMS! The Hebrew is clear; it is the FIRST or head of MONTHS and the FIRST AMONG MONTHS! It is the first in a series of 12 months or time cycles, and each month (chodesh) is a spiritual renewal in itself. The word head can mean the place of honor or to introduce and categorize a series. A head can mean the first in a series of a list. This is what it means for the month of Abib to be the Scriptural Rosh Hashanah. BUT, the word can also mean to set the course of a ship as to "head in the right direction". The latter definition is known as the Traditional Rosh Hashanah (Yom Teruah). Rosh or head in Hebrew can also mean the main purpose. So the HEAD MONTH (Abib) STARTS the yearly cycle of 12 months for us to connect with our PURPOSE to become a set-apart people to Yahweh as Yisrael! Each day consists of two cycles of 12 hours that form the day and the night. Each cycle has its own life and dimension.
Each cycle of day and night can refer to the 12 different permutations (changing the linear order of letters on the sod level) of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton –YHWH and these combinations of YHWH, YHHW; YWHH, etc. govern one hour of the twelve. So each hour has its own unique code. This leads to the cycles of days. Each day or 24 hour period is a separate entity and each morning is a rebirth of that day. The week or Shavuah (a cycle of 7) is a unit of time by itself as we count seven WEEKS (49 complete days) from the High Shabbat in the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Feast of Shavuot or WEEKS which is the fiftieth day (a very significant number). The month (Chodesh- coming from Chadash or renewal), which is connected to the REBIRTH of the moon celebrated as Rosh Chodesh. Each new month is within itself a rebirth or renewal. We help make that connection spiritually by undergoing mikveh (immersion) every Rosh Chodesh. Mikveh is a change of status and symbolizes the rebirth out of the waters of the womb. The sages of tradition say the New Moon is a miniature Yom HaKippurim. We can experience a renewal 12 times a year. Scripture tells us that we can actually bear new fruit every month as we blow the shofar to announce the New Moon! Each of the Twelve Hebrew months represents one of the Tribes of Yisrael .I believe each month contains within itself certain spiritual connections associated with the specific Tribe that it represents. The first eleven months are representative of the ba’alie teshuvah who yearns for and receives renewal each month. The twelfth New Moon symbolizes the Tribe of Yosef (a figure of Moshiach), the Tzaddik or Righteous One who has never strayed and is as he was in the beginning (the tzaddik also is YESOD -Foundation, that reflects the light of Tiferet-Beauty, and therefore is like the moon- lavanah).
This is Whom we strive to connect with on Yom Teruah. We pray every Rosh Chodesh, "Please REMEMBER us on this day of the new moon."But Yom Teruah itself is a REMEMBERANCE; the day of the tzaddik, who is flawless as in the day he was created or the Day of Messiah. It is the utmost beginning and therefore is in concealment or ba’keseh. All the other Feasts of Yahweh are observed when the moon is visible. THERE IS ONLY ONE FEAST THAT IS CELEBRATED WHEN THE MOON IS IN ITS CONCEALMENT-YOM TERUAH THE FIRST DAY OF THE 7TH MONTH (TISHREI)! All other Feast Days are Yomim Tovim because the Light of the moon is visible or revealed. y (of MI) to AiLeH. When we take now the Mim of both MI and MaH and join each to each we have complete the sacred name AeLoHiM and also the Name" Zohar Section 1:3b On Yom Teruah the good light (Bereshith 1:4) is concealed as it is a Day of Judgment. The Light is there but it is in its concealment. This is a representation of the hidden Light within each Messianic Yisraelite that has the Divine Nature of the Moshiach (Mishle-Proverbs 16:15).
And last, we have the cycle of the year (12 months). A year in Hebrew is shanah whose root means doubling or repetition and change. In time, not one second, minute, hour, day, week, month, or year is like any other! Each is unique unto itself and none are exactly alike. Every second is a singular experience and can never be relived or repeated in our lifetime. Rosh HaShanah? How then is Yom Teruah actually a spiritual Rosh Hashanah? Isn’t that Scripturally incorrect? We may call Yom Teruah "Head of the Year" because in the birthing process, Yahweh programmed the human to be born "head first". In computer terminology we can say that the "program" for the next year is brought into existence and stored in the memory on Yom Teruah and the other 364 days is spent running that specific program. Since time is also like the human body (just as the body does what the head or brain tells it to do)-then Yom Teruah may properly be called Rosh Hashanah or HEAD-BRAIN-PROGRAM-SEED of the YEAR but not head of Months as Abib is called. ABIB is the FIRST AMONG the monthly cycles that begin the year Scripturally in this world of Malkut or physical world. BUT Yom Teruah is the HEAD of the year SPIRITUALLY AND SETS UP THE PROGRAM FOR REST OF THE HEBREW YEARLY CYCLE IN THE UPPER WORLDS! It is this time of the yearly cycle that we can chose to make Yahweh KING (MELEK) over our lives for the NEXT year! This was the time of year that the Torah set the Sabbatical Year of rest and the Yovel that was announced with the blast of the shofar!
Yom Teruah is similar to the making of a movie. Your life is captured on film and recorded for the heavenly Courts to review. It is all recorded on the Two days of Yom Teruah. You then have the 10 days of teshuvah to edit the film. On these 10 days (a very significant number on the SOD level) you manifest the connection you have made on Yom Teruah with the shofar (a type of the Moshiach) and prayers. King Moshiach Time is not given to us all at once but rather given to us in increments. Time did not exist UNTIL the creation of the physical world and Yahweh’s decision to renew creation is made at this time of the year! This was when time actually began. Yom Teruah is for all mankind not just Yisrael! It marks that date of the creation of ADAM (mankind) in whom all the souls of mankind were contained! It is the time when the Kingship of Yahweh began for mankind –the first day of Tishrei. A King cannot reign without subjects for Him to rule over in a Kingdom. Creation began by the WILL or Keter (Crown) of Elohim.At creation the Beginning and End (Alef and the Taw) meet and merge on the circle of the time cycle. Yom Teruah is the time we take on the yoke of KINGSHIP (KETER) and we elicit the WILL (KETER) above to reign in our lives. It is commonly called KETER MALKUT! We choose or WILL to begin again through teshuvah (return) when we hear the voice of the shofar. The end in action (Malkut) begins in thought –Will (Keter). Yom Teruah is the time in the Feast cycle that we chose to CROWN Yahweh as KING.We choose Him year after year on this very day of Yom Teruah!
The Torah calls this Feast of Yahweh a zichron or remembrance or mentioning of the shofar blast. What shofar blast is being spoken of in the Torah text concerning Yom Teruah? I believe it is speaking of the shofar blasts that were heard and SEEN at Mt.Sinai when the whole nation of Yisrael took on the yoke of the Torah and the yoke of the Kingship of Yahweh!
When we hear the shofar on Yom Teruah, we are reminded of our ancestors that stood at the base of the mountain as they declared Yahweh as King over Yisrael.We were there in their loins and the covenant was also given to us! We accepted the yoke of the Torah and Yahweh’s Kingship on that Shavuot along with our ancestry!
The Shofar "Blessed are the people who know the shofar call (t’ruah-the broken sound!)" Tehillim 89:15a The shofar (whose Hebrew root means Beauty) reveals the Divine Will. Beauty can also represent the Moshiach or the Son of Elohim. Therefore, the shofar is a representative type of the Messiah the Central Column called Beauty, the Son of Yah, Metatron, the Word, and Yahweh Elohim!
The ram’s horn is sounded to announce military victories, to signal the time to stop labor and light candles to usher in the Shabbat, to call fast days, to inaugurate a new King, to mark solemn occasions such as the Sephardic funeral, and to call forth the dead in the resurrection.
The teki’ah (long blast) is a voice that reveals the inner heart of man. It is followed by the shevarim (3 shorter blasts), which is a moan from the depths of a man’s soul that expresses heartbreak; and finally the teru’ah (nine staccato blasts), a wailing with tears that awaken Yahweh’s mercy. The teru’ah is called an awakening blast. Those who are "dead" are awakened! There are a total of 100 shofar blasts.
The first 30 blows cleanse us from idolatry in our lives. The second 30 blasts cleanse from bloodshed. The third set of 30 blasts cleanses for any negativity in our relationships with people. The last 10 shofar blasts cleanse us from lashon hara or evil speech and slander. These are the diversified wake-up calls to our being on Yom Teruah.
Why does David say DEPTHS in the plural? It is because we need to reach a higher depth: a depth within the depth of our heart. At Yom Teruah we need to reach down into the lowest depths of our soul until we reach the very ROOT of our being. We need to call upon Yahweh by searching for Him from –or within- the depths of my being. On Yom Teruah we try to reach the zero point in creation and the zero point of our souls! We are not seeking the source BUT WHERE THIS VERY SOURCE SPRINGS FROM-the fountain of LIFE!
The fountain of all life is the Pure Will that is found only in Him! This is what we are seeking on Yom Teruah.The life of all worlds arises from His Immanence. This is why it is written "with You" NOT IN you, because the fountain is with Yahweh and it is secondary as compared to the Infinite Ein Sof. A new beginning is actually a renovation! It is an abolition of the penalty for the past. I put on the RENEWED MAN who is made in His image! How can we cause something that existed not to exist any more? This is exactly what we are asking in the Yom Teruah prayers. It can only be done if I am in a place that is out-of –time, where past, present, and future do not exist. Only there can I be reborn or experience a reawakening! That is the purpose of the sounding of the shofar. It acts as a computer anti-virus that scans all your files and they are cleaned or renewed. You are unblocking the spiritual blockages in your being that has hindered your growth for the past year. The Great SHOFAR (Hashofar HaGadol) will announce the REBIRTH of Yisrael (all 12 Tribes) to our home-Eretz Yisrael. It will be one of the greatest upheavals in history as the ingathering of ALL the exiles takes place! h, the second letter of the Divine Name." Zohar 1:13b " And IN THAT DAY (a code for the Messianic Era) it shall be that a GREAT HORN (SHOFAR) is blown, and those who WERE perishing in the land of Ashshur and the outcasts in the land of Mitsrayim shall come, and shall worship Yahweh on the set-apart mountain, in Yerushalayim." Yeshayahu 27:13 When Yahweh renews all the earth (Yeshayahu 65:17) all the rules of the "game" will be changed. It is only IF we can go back in time and place ourselves before the zero point of Creation, at the place where all possibilities will be open. In mathematics you cannot go beyond the framework of certain laws or rules unless you change the system. The system CANNOT BE CHANGED FROM THE INSIDE BECAUSE THERE IS SO LITTLE FREEDOM WITHIN THAT SYSTEM! WHAT YOU NEED TO DO INSTEAD IS GET OUT OF THAT SYSTEM! This is what we do on Yom Teruah.We try to get out of this worldly system and abide in the renewed heaven and earth. Our renewal is not at some future point in time but can be found by traveling back to our distant past and reconnecting with the Fountain of Life.Yom Teruah is the start of a Ten day period of teshuvah. TESHUVAH is not repentance- it means RETURN! This is a time of an authentic return to Yahweh and His Torah! We return by turning backwards. Yahweh does not punish man; rather the act of sin itself is like swallowing poison, and death is the natural consequence of our wrongdoing. Yahweh said , "In dying you shall die."Every time we eat of the fruit of this worldly system (the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil), we die a little more inside. We can only continue to live because we go beyond cause and effect and enter into a realm that is above or beyond causality. It is a place that cause and effect relationships no longer hold, and sin does not result in death. We are actually granted a new year of abundant life spiritually and physically. Time, the dimension that creates cause and effect-or judgment, contrasts the dimension beyond time, which is pure LOVE! Love covers a multitude of sins.
Think of an ever-flowing fountain where the water is FREE. Each yearly cycle is like a bottle of water that we have emptied but we can refill our bottle with our share of LIFE only at this unlimited fountain that is flowing!
The past is not eliminated, but the guilt and penalty are destroyed and that destruction is the beginning of our rebirth or change. We have an opportunity to do things again but in a different way. The shofar blasts prompt us to convert. The English word convert simply means to turn about or return, not to join some other world religion called Christianity. It is the Hebrew word-shuv meaning to return home again, return, and retreat, to return to a previous point! Thus the shofar blasts represent diversified feelings associated with Yom Teruah! Remember that Shanah or year is very close to the Hebrew verb SNH (to change).
A Return to Purity In Greek thought, time is repetitive and cyclical. In Hebraic thought, repetition implies change and improvement. If repetition does not imply change, we are merely wasting our time every Feast cycle! The shofar is a sign of a new beginning –a renewal! That is why we blow it each Shabbat (an end of a weekly cycle) and on Rosh Chodesh (a monthly renewal). The sound of the shofar is called Kol Pashut; a pure sound. This is a primordial sound that returns me to a world before speech.
The shofar expresses two types of purity to the Yisraelite.The pure heart and the pure WILL of the Creator.Sound is purer than melody, melody less dense than mere thought, and thought is less complex than speech. This is why the musical notes or Te’amim of the cantoral trope in the Torah are so important in the chanting of the prayers from the Siddur! BUT THE SOUND OF THE SHOFAR IS A PURE HEAVENLY VOICE THAT EXPRESSES WHAT IS THE PRIMORDIAL PART OF THE HUMAN SOUL: A PURE CRY OF THE SOUL FROM A PLACE DEEP WITHIN OR DEEP CRIES UNTO DEEP! The shofar activates the power of sound. Sound effects matter. The sound of the shofar activates a spiritual power that is carried by sound, as sound helps energy to travel into the spiritual realms. Think about the very first time you heard the shofar blast! This is what we are achieving during the Ten Days of Teshuvah.It comes from the world before creation. Creation and pure thought are the Torah! The world before thought is THE SUPREME WILL! It is like pure unstructured sound that comes from the shofar.
The ram’s horn is therefore an emotional yet musical form of teshuvah or returning to Yahweh and the Torah. Its blare is expressing mankind’s restoration to his primordial past that is astonishing. It also helps to prepare us for the future. It not only returns to a past beyond the past, but it also turns us to the future. The sound of the shofar heralds the arrival the Malkut HaShamayim in this world by declaring the Kingship of Yahweh over all His creation! Since the natural and the spiritual worlds are intricately connected, they need to be split or cut (nessirah) like a surgeon’s knife cutting flesh. Thus, the two worlds become opposites, or dependent upon each other. Adam’s creation parallels the creation of this universe because Adam also needed to be separated. Man was cut apart from woman by a "sawing in half" act of Elohim. As single being was split to make two separate beings that are connected by unity (being echad) and able to complement each other. This is why the voice of the shofar sounds so much like a woman in labor; a birth is taking place in the unseen realms. We are separating ourselves from the natural world and connecting to the supernatural worlds in the heavens. At this time of year, we need to be expelled from this world and birthed into a New World where we are one with the Supreme Will.His Will is becoming our will. It is our choice on this day-Yom Teruah to choose once again the Will of Yahweh Elohim.There cannot be conflict between man’s will and the Supreme Will.THIS IS THE TRUE MEANING OF THE SHOFAR BLASTS! The Akedah of Yitzqak The shofar blasts on Yom Teruah remind us of the sacrifice of Yitzqak and the submission of our Father Avraham to the Will of Yahweh! Avraham’s will became submitted to the Will of Elohim. Yom Teruah is very day that the akedah (binding) took place. A shofar is blown because on that day and new birth also took place. The rebirth of Yitzqak. Some traditional commentaries even claim that Yitzqak was resurrected from the ashes of the burnt offering. The key moment of the akedah is the submission of Avraham and Yitzqak to the Supreme will. It was the total annulment of both their wills and they became One with Elohim at that moment. We have to remember that Yitzqak was about 30 years old at the time of the binding and he willingly allowed himself to be bound on the altar (just as Moshiach Yahshua did on the CENTER STAKE of Golgatha-the place of the scull or annulment of the will to the Divine Will). This is why the akedah is called the "binding of the will". Real freedom can be experienced when we attain detachment from all deceptive rationalizations and illusions that we have become enslaved to in this world.
We are to be as the shofar, a hollow vessel with two open ends-one to the heavens and one on the earth! It is the ultimate vessel for carrying the voice of Yahweh without earthly attachments. All ties to the ethical laws and the father –son relationship were disregarded at this moment in time. The akedah then goes beyond all laws and love and reaches a level where there is only the Supreme Will. The only annihilation that Yahweh demands of a man is his desire to carry out the old order of his life and to stay in his comfort zone of familiarity. When this desire within him is destroyed, then the Supreme Will is awakened within him. This Will rebirths him again and again in the cycle of the Feasts as he experiences the shofar blasts. This is why some of the Midrashes say that Yitzqak "died". If I renounce my will, I am "dead". I actually lose my life but yet find it as His will and my will merge together as ECHAD.
This is why the Talmud in Shabbat 88b says as Yisrael stood at Sinai " At each of the Ten Commandments, the soul of each of them departed."The soul departs and actually frees itself from the body to the ecstasy of Supreme Revelation of His Will.How is that? In the Torah it says twice, "And Avraham named the site Yahweh Yireh, which is the source for the present saying, ‘On the Mount of Yahweh there is vision.’" Bereshith 22:14. It is the seed of the Second Revelation of Yahweh at Mt.Sinai. The Two Shofars The traditional rabbis teach that the ram that was sacrificed on the altar by Avraham had two horns and thus two different shofars. The first horn was used at Mt.Sinai to announce the giving of the Torah. The second horn is the SHOFAR OF THE GREAT REDEMPTION, or the ingathering of the Exiles of Yisrael into the Land of Yisrael at the coming of the Moshiach.
This is the blast of the Messianic Kingdom that can we experience on Yom Teruah. Yom Teruah then is a Feast of Revelation in many ways.
The former "year" is dead and with it dies all that blinded our will to His Supreme Will. We can experience a revelation of His Will for our lives and this world. The shofar blasts at Yom Teruah are a call to return to the primordial past when Yahweh was the undisputed King over the undivided universe. On Yom Teruah, we can once again gain new revelation of the Moshiach Yahshua, as He reveals himself afresh to our minds that are being renewed. It invokes within us the sounds from the past and the future at one time, thus bringing them together in purpose. We all yearn for the Olam Haba or World to Come when all is restored as in the Beginning.À
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