"Ki karov aylecha hadavar me'od be'ficha u'be'levavcha la'asotho.""Rather, the matter is very near to you - in your mouth and heart to perform it." Deuteronomy 30:14
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The Hebrew words for mouth and heart, "peh and lev," are completely written
out as "pey, hey; hey, yud; lamed, mem, dalet and beith, yud, thaf." The sum
total of these letters share the same gematria as that of the Hebrew word
shofar. The sounds which emit from the shofar are tekiah, shevarim and
teruah. The tekiah is a long blast, the shevarim are three shorter ones and
the teruah is nine very quick abbreviated blasts. HaGaon Levush states that
the tekiah blast represents joy whereas the blasts of the
shevarim-teruah represent pain and affliction. Because they are opposites,
the shofar blower should not blast both types using the same breath. When one
hears the sound of the shofar, one must recall that in life there are times of
sorrow and happiness and that these periods cycle one into another. A person
should never despair during his low points because happiness follows and
replaces despair and by the same token, one should not feel too proud when
things are going very well because difficult times can overtake the good.
This explains why the shevarim-teruah blasts follows the tekiah and why the
tekiah follows the shevarim-teruah. Both the shevarim and teruah blasts represent pain and affliction; they are short and abbreviated blasts. This reminds us that the pain and affliction we receive in this world from Hashem, bar minan, are delivered with compassion and in a manner we can endure. Hashem often spreads His punishment over an extended period of time to dilute its force so it will not overcome us. Furthermore, the shape of the shofar illustrates how repentance should awaken us. One end of the shofar is wide while the other is narrow. The shofar blower holds and blows into the narrow end and the blasts exit from the wide end. This is symbolic of the baal teshuvah who from a low beginning must continuously rise and endeavour to grow and strive in Torah to greatness.
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