Dear Friend,
The most important part of the Rosh Hashanah service is hearing the shofar. Even if you can’t attend the entire service, be sure to hear the shofar. And if you can’t get out at all, see if your Chabad rabbi can pay you a “house call.”
What about the shofar is so central to Rosh Hashanah?
Here is a thought: In life, we may set out with the best intentions, but sometimes things don’t go as planned, and we must “right the ship” and refocus.
Back to the sounds of the shofar. We start off with tekiah (one long, smooth blast). It is followed by shevarim (three short ones) and then teruah (a series of even smaller blasts). And then comes a final tekiah.
The opening tekiah represents the beginning; everything is going smoothly. But then our journey through life gets a little bumpy—shevarim and teruah. Nevertheless, as long as we keep focused, eventually everything will return to being as smooth as the tekiah.
On Rosh Hashanah we set goals for the coming year. But then, things turn out more challenging than expected. This is the message of the shofar: hang in there, it might be a bumpy ride, but if you stay focused you will succeed, and even more.
May you have a happy, healthy, and sweet new year!
Eliezer Zalmanov,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial team