12 Sep ROSH HASHANAH THE SOUND OF A SHOFAR OR A DONKEY?

The Mishna says
[Rosh HaShanah
27b] that someone
who passes the back
side of a shul or
someone whose house
is next to a shul and he hears the Shofar has
fulfilled his obligation if he intends to
fulfill themitzvahwhile listening to the
sounds of the shofar. Lacking such
intention, he has not fulfilled themitzvah.
The Mishna concludes that two people can
hear the identical sound and one will have
fulfilled themitzvahwhile the other will not
have fulfilled themitzvah. The reason is
that the first one had ‘intent of heart’ and
the second one did not have ‘intent of
heart.’
The Tolner Rebbe, shlit”a, wonders why
the Mishna needs to cite two different
cases – the case of the person passing by
the shul and the case of the person whose
house was next to the shul. Apparently the
principle is exactly the same in each case
and we could have clearly inferred one
case from the other. In many contexts, the
Gemara states, “The Tanna is not like a
peddler who has to put out all of his wares.”
Why, here, does the Mishna mention both
cases?
The Tolner Rebbe asks a second question.
The Gemara seeks to bring a proof from
this Mishna that “mitzvos tzereechos
kavanah” (commandments are only
fulfilled when the person performing the
commandment has in mind to fulfill the
particularmitzvah). The Gemara refutes
this proof by claiming that it is possible to
argue that when the mitzvah speaks of
“having intent” it does not mean having
intent to fulfill the mitzvah (which would
indicate thatmitzvos tzereechos kavanah).
It merely means that the person has intent
to hear the sounds! The Gemara does not
seem to understand this answer and asks
“What do you mean “have intention to
hear the sounds”? – he did hear the sounds!
The Gemara answers that he has to know
that the sound he is hearing is that of a
shofar (as opposed to thinking that he is
listening to the sound of a donkey braying).
This Gemara seems strange. The Tolner
Rebbe asks – which Jew walks by a shul on
Rosh Hashanna and hears the sounds of
Tekiah Teruah Tekiah, etc. and thinks to
himself “hmm – must be a donkey
braying?”
[I will admit that the answer he gives
requires somewhat of a Chassidishe spirit

somewhere deep in the recesses of the
listener’s bones to fully appreciate. But the
basic point he makes is a very beautiful
and fundamental idea.]
The Gemara [Rosh Hashannah 11a] tells
us that Yosef left prison on Rosh Hashanah,
based on the pesukim “Blow the shofar at
the moon’s renewal, at the time appointed
for our festive day… He appointed it as a
testimony for Yosef when He went out
over the land of Egypt…I removed his
shoulder from the burden…” [Tehillim
81:4-7] Now, why is that fact of interest to
us? Is the Gemara merely telling us a
historical fact that the day when Yosef left
the dungeon happened to be on the First of
Tishrei?
The Tolner Rebbe says that Chazal make
the point that Yosef came out of prison on
Rosh Hashana to teach us something: A
prison, in Biblical times, did not resemble,
in any way, shape or form, today’s prisons.
I am not talking about minimum security
facilities set aside for white collar crimes.
Even a maximum security prison today in
Texas – where it is 120 degrees in the
summer, and the prisoners are living in
eight by ten cells without air conditioning
– they are still living in the Taj Mahal
compared to prisons in Biblical times. In
Biblical times, they dug a hole in the
ground, a dungeon, and they threw the
prisoners in. There was no ventilation and
there was no sanitation. It was literally
living in a rat hole. For those old enough to
remember this, think back to what the
prisons looked like for the POWs (prisoners
of war) during the Vietnam War. That was
already in “civilized times.”
So consider the following: Yosef is in this
pit with minimum food, minimum water,
no ventilation, and no sanitation. Who is he
with? He is with the dregs of society. He is
abused there because he is a Jew and
because he is accused of assaulting
Potiphar’s wife.
And yet, something miraculous happens.
They take him out of this pit. They put him
in front of the most powerful man in the
world and he is asked to give advice. Did
they not know of the concept of PTS (Post
Traumatic Stress syndrome)? It was
miraculous that he was sane. And yet,
Yosef came out, they gave him a haircut,
they gave him new clothes, and they put
him in front of Pharoah – the most powerful
man in the world – in the presence of all his
advisors. They told Yosef, “Let’s hear what
you have to say about the matter?”

Yosef came up with this brilliant
plan and in a matter of days he went
from being in the pit to being the
second most powerful person in the
world. Overnight! What does that tell
us? It tells us that a person can go
from being the lowest of the low and
almost instantly he can reach the
greatest heights. You can be in prison
and then the next day you can
literally rule the world.
When Chazal say that Yosef left prison on
Rosh Hashanah, the message they are
trying to teach us is that people can feel
imprisoned – they can feel imprisoned by
their lusts, by their evil inclinations, by
their troubles. Nebech, people have so
many problems and it weighs them down.
They feel literally like they are walking
around with a ball and chain. However, the
lesson of Yosef is that — in a flash — you
can go from the greatest depths to the
highest heights. A person can rid himself of
his imprisoners and his tormentors and his
captors and that can all happen in one fell
swoop.
This is what King Solomon alludes to in
Koheles when he says “For from prison, he
went out to rule…” [Koheles 4:14]. This is
why it is so important for us to know that
on Rosh Hashanah, Yosef left prison. It is
because we too can all leave our “prisons”
on this day of the New Year.
With this preface, the Tolner Rebbe says,
we can now answer our two original
questions:
The first case of the Mishna is someone
passing by outside a shul and he hears the
shofar blowing. Fine. This is the case of a
regular person. But the second case – “or
his house is next door to the shul.” So, the
question is – if his house is right next to the
synagogue, why is he not coming to shul
on Rosh Hashanah? What is he doing
listening to the shofar from his house? The
answer is that we are speaking about
someone who has no interest in going to
shul. This person is so far removed from
Rosh Hashanah that when he hears the
shofar blast, he thinks it might be a donkey
braying. What kind of a Jew can think such
a thing? The answer is we are speaking of
a Jew who is that far away from proper
behavior and thoughts on this holy day.
Nevertheless, the Mishna is teaching us
that “No!” If in one minute, he says “Hey!
That is a shofar” then that recognition can
lift him out of the dungeon. In that one
minute, he can experience “from the trash

heaps, He lifts up the destitute.” [Tehillim
113:7]
We may wonder “Who hears a shofar
sound on Rosh Hashanah and thinks he is
hearing a donkey?” However, do you know
how many millions of Jews there are in the
world like that? I once saw a statistic,
perhaps my numbers are wrong – but there
are 6,000 seats in Reform Temples on
Long Island. Do you know how many tens
of thousands of Jews live on Long Island?
So where do all these Jews go to shul?
There is nowhere near enough space in all
the Reform Temples on Long Island to fit
all the Jews who live there!
Where do they go? They don’t go
anywhere. They don’t even know it is Rosh
Hashanah. There are many “traditional
Jews” there who do “at least” buy their
“traditional New Year’s dinner” – tsimmes
with honey and raisin challah – and still
not go to shul. However, beyond that, there
are tens of thousands more Jews there who
do not have any connection with their
religion – not even to Challah and honey!
They walk right past the Beis HaKnesses
and do not walk in. They hear a shofar
blowing from the Shul next door to them
and they can only wonder – is there such a
thing, is there not such a thing?
The Mishna is teaching us that they can
come out of their desperate situation. They
can hear it and say “Hey! That is a Shofar.”
It can make an impression on their hearts.
Even we, fine upstanding Jews —
observers of Torah andMitzvos, Bnei
Torah, students who learn Daf Yomi, and
who daven 3 times a day with a minyan
— we too all have our “tormentors” and
we all feel imprisoned to some extent by
our evil inclinations and desires.
Rosh Hashanah is the day that Yosef left
prison and in a moment he went from
being a prisoner to being a ruler. I wish
everyone a healthy New Year. We should
all have health,nachasfrom our children,
we should have prosperity, and we should
see the complete redemption, speedily in
our days.