Simplicity*
Thoughts on Rosh HaShanah 2018
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The purpose of Rosh HaShanah is to return us to simplicity, to the
cry of the infant, before one is caught up in the complications and
complexities of life. (R. Yehuda Amital)[1]
Why do we blow the shofar on Rosh
HaShanah? HaRambam famously suggested that the sounds of the shofar
serve as our wakeup call from the spiritual slumber that has overcome us over
the course of the year. They divert our attention from the “vanities of time”
and redirect us towards worthy endeavors.[2]
But how does the shofar do that? What lies at the core of those
enigmatic cries of the ram’s horn?
R. Aharon Lichtenstein z”l, the former
rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat Har Etzion, was renowned for his complexity of
thought. It often appeared to his students as if nothing was simple to him. Rav
Aharon meticulously dissected each and every issue, scanning all of the
relevant sources and breaking them down into a variety of components and
dimensions. Following his death, however, R. Lichtenstein’s son remembered the
time when a student asked his father why he kissed the sefer Torah. The
young man expected his rabbi to respond with a list of sources and relevant
analyses, and was therefore surprised when Rav Aharon explained that he did so
simply “because a Jew wants to kiss the sefer Torah.”[3]
It was a perspective of simplicity, as
well, that guided the great 13th Century French rabbi, Shimshon of
Chinon, in his approach to prayer. R. Shimshon’s contemporaries reported that
even after growing proficient in the many mystical traditions and intentions of
Judaism he continued to pray with the basic thoughts and understandings of a
young child.[4]
Consider, in this context, our relationships
with one another. The misunderstandings that sometimes arise between us are
misleading. They cause us to singularly focus on the difficulties and
complications, and to forget what lies at their foundation. When the issues are
ultimately resolved, however, we often realize that our relationships are
actually sustained by a simple and basic connection.
I trust that everyone has experienced a
moment of profound simplicity over the course of their relationship with the
Almighty. On one particular afternoon several months ago, I waited anxiously
for an update regarding the health status of one of my family members. As I
anticipated positive news, the difficult message that I received was deflating.
I was immediately struck by a barrage of emotions – depression, abandonment and
loneliness. And in that very moment I felt the layers of complex intellectual
connection which I had long worked to develop with God melt away. I reached out
for Him with the simple cries of a baby.
The shofar’s secret is hidden
in the simplicity of its call. Our spiritual vision has become
obstructed by the “vanities of time.” They have distracted us from the plain
sight of truth. And it is the unassuming sounds of the shofar that
chillingly remind us of the nature of our connection to God. They awaken us to
its simplicity.
[1] “Simplicity in a Complex
World,” in When God is Near: On the High Holidays (New Milford, CT,
2015), pg. 104.
[2] Hilkhot Teshuvah
3:4.
[3] R. Moshe Lichtenstein, “Be-khol
libi derashtikha,” in Ashrei Adam Oz Lo Vakh (Rishon LeZion, IS,
2018), pg. 93.
[4] See Shu”t Rivash (no.
157) and Shu”t MaHarshal (no. 98).