Rosh Hashana: Are You a Creator or Consumer

On the holy and awesome day of Rosh Hashana, Jews from all walks of life gather together in Synagogues across the world for Prayer, inspiration and check back in and say a quick “hi” to God. The focal point and climax of the day is of course the Shofar ceremony.  

Since it is the shofar blowing that takes center stage, allow me to share with you some of the depth behind why we blow the shofar. There are many reasons that are given, but I would like to share with you one that resonates very deeply with me.

Shofar is perhaps the only Mitzvah that we do with our breath. Breath is symbolic for the Soul, as the two share a common Hebrew word. The word for soul, "Neshama", is almost identical to the word for breath, “Neshima”. And since the day of Rosh Hashana is the day when we celebrate the birthday of Mankind, the day that the Torah writes “And God blew into his nostrils the breath of life”, the Shofar serves as a reminder  to us that are souls are just that, the breath of God.

"The Shofar is meant to wake us up and remind us
to break free of the futility of being stuck in that crowded
place and discover your self and your own creativity
and take ownership of your life."
​

Additionaly,  when we blow the shofar, the breath enters in to a straight narrow hole as nothing more than a fleeting breath, abstract and futile. But when it comes out of the other side- after it has gone through the curves and twists of the shofar, it emerges through the higher end a much more powerful sound, a dramatic cry of victory. This symbolizes the Neshama entering in to the world, the narrow space, as it goes through the highs and the lows. But through it all it emerges on the other side and returns to God greater and victorious.

Why is it that the Neshama needs to go through these struggles, the highs and lows and curves and twists, and can't just bask in a Godly Light- as God would certainly prefer? Jewish Tradition teaches us that just as a parent knows that if the child is given life on a silver platter without having to work for it, it will ultimately reject life and enter the darkness of depression. Our Souls feel the same way. So the challenges of life allow us to become the owner of our spiritual essence, the creator of our destiny not just a taker.  

The shofar reminds us of just that. Are we the owners of our life? Are we Creators or are we consumers?

We live in a world that wants to create our life for us.  Marketers all across the globe track our patterns and study our habits in order to sell us what they decide to convince us that we need. Television captures the attention of the average person for close to 3 hours a day, when time spent on thinking and reading in most cases is less than a half an hour a day. Our brains are scattered through multi-tasking, multi-tab web surfing, social media and the internet viral sensations (in a recent calculation, the Economist calculated that the number of combined hours spent watching the viral sensation "Gangnam Style," which as of June has been viewed more than two billion times on YouTube added up to 140 million hours -- 16,000 years!) and just the general “everyday-a-thon” of life that makes us to busy to do anything.

The Shofar is meant to wake us up and remind us to break free of the futility of being stuck in that crowded place and discover your self and your own creativity and take ownership of your life.