Coronating the King on His Terms by Rabbi Benny Berlin

Sparks of Light Coronating the King on His Terms

By Rabbi Benny Berlin

The day of Rosh Hashana is identified in the Torah as Yom Teruah (a day of blowing a teruah sound), and thus it is integrally connected to the mitzvah of shofar. On the surface, the shofar is not unique. Throughout the year we have many object-related mitzvos at various seasonal celebrations to remind us of important moments in our history. Matzah is an important symbol of Pesach, the sukkah reminds us of the clouds of glory in the Midbar on Sukkos, and ner Chanukah reminds us of the Chanukah miracle.

The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah 16a asks why we specifically take the shofar from a ram, and Rabbi Avuhu answers that Hashem prefers a ram because this will allow Bnai Yisrael to remember and connect with that great moment of akeidas Yitzchak which will then give them credit as if they had bound and sacrificed themselves before Hashem. However, the shofar turned out to be a tangential point of the story of the Akeida, which would remove it from the category of symbolic objects directly related to the holidays. Furthermore, the Akeida is not “akeidas ayal (ram),” and Rosh Hashana is not about korbanos.

While the ram is something Avraham brings as an afterthought, it was a substitution for the sacrifice of Yitzchak, which therefore imbued it as a particular object in representing the profound faith exhibited by Avraham and Yitzchak in their willingness to give up everything for Hashem. But how does the sound of the shofar come to define our Rosh Hashana experience?

At the moment the ram appears, Avraham was, of course, ready to sacrifice his son, and at that last fateful moment he heard the sound of a malach who called to him to stop and then praised but does not reward him. After that, Avraham brought a ram in place of his son Yitzchak, and at that point the pasuk promises him reward upon reward.

Why is that? It does not make sense. Hashem knew beforehand that Avraham’s faith was ironclad the moment he was willing to bring his actual son to the Akeida. The Torah tells us his hand was even in the air ready to shecht him.

So what is the significance of the ram in this story?

Human nature is that when things don’t go our way, we tend to become frustrated and disappointed, and we often express our frustration by complaining or sometimes withdrawing entirely.

Rashi profoundly points out that Avraham Avinu felt a mix of emotions

– of course he was thrilled to not have to kill his son, but he was frustrated to have geared up to this moment only to find out that it was not meant to be. But instead of moping and complaining that this was not the religious experience he prepared for, Avraham lifts his eye and sees a ram that is caught in the thicket and takes that as a substitute in the place of what he thought he was expected to achieve.

And that is the deeper message that leads us into our Rosh Hashana this year. There are still so many aspects of the Rosh Hashanah experience that are out of our control and tainted by the uncertainty of the situation around us. Naturally, a reaction many of us might have is to throw up our hands in frustration and disappointment. There is a disgruntled sense of “not again – this is not how I wanted the High Holidays to be, especially after the limited nature of last year’s High Holidays as well. I was sure the world would be back to normal by now!”

But perhaps we need to be more like Avraham Avinu. The proper reaction is to stop and recognize that for reasons we cannot understand, this is what Hashem wants from us at this time. When Avraham Avinu was willing to put it all on the line, Hashem was impressed, but he was seemingly more impressed when he was able to change gears at the drop of a hat and do it another way with just as much zeal!

This also serves as a beautiful reminder that Rosh Hashana is the day we are coronating the King on His terms, not ours. This is a day that we achieve a state of profound submission before the will of the Al-mighty, and what better way to demonstrate our submission than to serve him on hHs terms and not on ours?

Ki anu amechah v’ata Elokenu... let us bring our expectations for what “should be” as a sacrifice to Hashem this Rosh Hashana and truly coronate the King on His terms as He wants it to be.

Human nature is that when things don’t go our way, we tend to become frustrated and disappointed.