Sound Bites: The Sound of Love
Sound Waves
Satan is not overwhelmed with confusion over the Shofar, but by our love of the Shofar. We must listen to its sound with great love for the Mitzvah of being able to change spiritual realities through this powerful tool.
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Does this imply that anytime we do a Mitzvah with so much love that it changes our spiritual reality, we are actually able to “confuse” Satan?
Dear Rav,
Please explain why we would need to confuse Satan who is simply the messenger of Hashem doing his bidding and is an obedient angel.
If he is bringing evil into my life, surley I would need to repent or learn the lesson. Why confuse him or rebuke him if he is doing the will of Hashem.
Please explain, as I am now horribly confused.
Shalom
Shelley
The Accuser is the negative reality created by our actions. We, ourselves, wonder about the “good” we have done. We question ourselves. We often consider ourselves to be unworthy. Let’s say we can create moments and actions that are so special that we can transcend all those doubts and questions; we will have “confused” Satan!
Everyone is familiar with the episode that occurred the night before Ya’akov and Eisav’s daytime meeting after the 22 year lapse of Ya’akov long strange trip to Lavan’s.
Ya’akov struggles with with an anonymous “Ish” all night. We all grew up with the explanation this was Eisav’s ministering Angel. A closer reading of the text could suggest an allegorical explanation, that Ya’akov was struggling with the Eisav side of his personality, his Yetzer HaRa.
On Rosh HaShanah, each one of us has a great internal struggle trying to determine how to do t’shuvah and for what actions. The issue isn’t with our clear cut actions. We all know when we’ve been ‘very, very good’ or when we’ve been ‘torrid’. The greatest swath is the ‘beinoeni’ the great unwashed and unwatched of our actions =>>> are we being too harsh on ourselves or is it too easy to rationalize away that episode as ‘really, nothing happened’. Sometimes, I feel the Satan who is confused is inside me, before the Shofar is sounded!!!
One of the things we beseech G-d for on Rosh HaShanah is some clarity of vision, some lines of demarcation. The variegated bold blasts of the Shofar, when we are in different positions sitting/standing Shofarot/Zichronot/ Malchuyot present past future, are meant to banish the Satan of self-doubt within us and to give us demarcation lines to help us differentiate between those actions we should regret and those we should not.
As important as it is to do t’shuva and regret those actions that were inappropriate errors,ChaZ”L also enjoin us from regretting the GOOD actions we did, and not to lose the credit therefrom. Hence the confusion!!!
The Shofar blasts are reminding us that G-d is on our side,and will aid us in our introspection as long as we are opening our ears and hearts.
(Shofar spelled as such reminds us of Shifra who was smoothing out the newborns’ limbs in Mitzrayim so they would grow straight and strong. Unfortunately,someone who is opaque to and unmoved by the cry of the shofar, may find themselves mired backwards in mud, in ReFeSh!!)
For more information about Shofar and other Holy Temple instruments, we have written extensively on the Shofar and have three websites
hearingshofar (dot) com
shofar221(dot) com
shofar-sounders(dot) com