The 3rd of Elul marked the 90th yahrzeit of Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, but his words and his message are as relevant today as ever.
On the first day of Rosh Hashana 1933, Rav Kook delivered a drasha at the Churva Synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City, drawing on the laws of the shofar and responding to the changing political landscape and tumultuous times facing the young Yishuv and world Jewry.
In late-January, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. The British had begun restricting Jewish immigration at a time when Europe’s shadow was looming larger and growing darker. And just four years earlier, the pogroms of 1929 had swept through Hebron, Safed, and Jerusalem, terrorizing their Jewish communities. Yet amidst all the uncertainty, Jews continued to arrive on the shores of Eretz Yisrael in masses – some drawn by a vision of a life steeped in Torah, hoping to usher in the Redemption, some for national and political aspirations, yet others fleeing persecution and the gathering storm abroad.
Rav Kook’s students described the scene that Rosh Hashana: Jews of all backgrounds streamed through the streets of Jerusalem and hundreds packed into the Churva synagogue. The tension was thick as the crowd waited with bated breath to hear how Rav Kook would respond to the winds of change in the air. Rav Kook’s words were prescient; prophetic. In his drasha, Rav Kook drew upon three types of shofarot, each corresponding to a path towards the Ingathering of the Exiles and the Final Redemption: The shofar shel ayil, the shofar of a kosher animal, and the shofar of a non-kosher animal.
The Shofar shel Ayil
The shofar shel ayil (ram’s horn) is the mitzvah min hamuvchar – the ideal shofar (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 586:1). It invokes Akeidat Yitzchak, the ultimate symbol of devotion and sacrifice, and provides us with a special merit (See Rosh Hashana 16a).
For Rav Kook, the call of this ideal shofar represents redemption through holiness; An awakening to return to our ancestral homeland out of great love and faith, and a desire to bring about the Redemption, fulfilling our destiny in the Land of Israel.
Throughout Jewish history, great individuals heeded the call of this shofar: Ramban, Yehuda HaLevi, Rav Ovadiah MiBartenura, the students of the Vilna Gaon, and the students of the Ba’al Shem Tov, among others.
This is the Great Shofar of Redemption that will usher in the Messianic Age and the Ingathering of the Exiles: “And on that day, a Great Shofar shall be sounded, and those who are lost in the land of Assyria and those cast away in the land of Egypt shall come and worship Hashem on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (Yeshayahu 27:13).
The Shofar of a Kosher Animal
While not ideal, a shofar from any kosher animal, except a cow, is valid (Shulchan Aruch, ibid.). One fulfills the mitzvah, b’dieved, with such a shofar, and may make a blessing on it.
For Rav Kook, this shofar represents those who are called to return to Israel because of their historical connection to the Land; An aliyah born out of a desire to build a life in the Land, even if the motivation is not yet fully sanctified. It is the shofar of the Zionists, kibbutznikim, pioneers, farmers, and families creating a home in Zion; restoring Jewish sovereignty to their ancestral homeland.
Rav Kook saw a spark of holiness in this movement. This shofar is kosher, but not ideal. It’s not the Great Shofar of Redemption, merely a medium-sized shofar.
The Shofar of a Non-Kosher Animal
The shofar of a non-kosher animal is invalid (Rema, Orach Chayim 586:1). But as this is the subject of dispute among authorities, one who is not in possession of another valid shofar may blow such a shofar without a blessing (See Mishna Berurah, ad loc.).
In describing this shofar, Rav Kook burst into tears. For Rav Kook, the call of this shofar is the sound of suffering and persecution; A redemption forced upon us by our enemies. This shofar is invalid, impure, small, and one is forced to use it when no other shofar is available. It lacks the holy desire to bring about redemption, it lacks even national aspirations. For Rav Kook it contains no blessings, and as the Mishna instructs, “On anything which is the result of a curse, one does not recite a blessing over it” (Berachot 6:3).
Should we fail to hear the call of the Shofar of Redemption, Rav Kook warned, our enemies will blow this shofar in our ears, loudly, forcing us to hear it: “The shofar of an impure animal becomes the Shofar of Mashiach. Amalek, …, Hitler, et al., will wake us up to redemption. One who does not hear the sound of the first shofar – and refuses to even hear the second shofar as his ears are stopped up – will be forced against his will to hear the impure, invalid shofar.”
Rav Kook concluded with the hope and prayer that we instead heed the call of the Great Shofar, the sound which emanates from deep within the holy soul of Israel.
The shofar still calls today. With the dramatic rise of antisemitism and anti-Israel hate around the globe, Rav Kook’s drasha is as relevant and resonant as when he first delivered it. But which shofar will we choose to hear?
Rav Kook’s warning is clear: Do not wait to be driven. Come not out of fear, but out of love and longing. Not running from something, but running towards something. The ideal aliyah is an aliyah rooted in ideals and idealism. An aliyah rooted in an eternal attachment with our ancestral homeland. A desire to live the authentic Jewish experience. A desire to live a life of holiness on our holy soil. A desire to play a part in the Jewish history and destiny that is playing itself out on the stage that is the modern State of Israel.
This Rosh Hashana, let us merit to hear the Great Shofar. May Jews around the world heed its call, returning joyfully to Zion, ushering in the Ingathering of the Exiles and Final Redemption.