SEPTEMBER 10, 1999 VOL 2, ISSUE 50 29 ELUL 5759

Most of us have been to a car wash at least once. The type that is the most fun for young and old alike is the one where you can stay in your car, shift into neutral and be carried along on the conveyor belt. First, there's a spray of water from a few different sides, then the soap hits the car from somewhere else. Huge rubber things swish back and forth, loosening and then removing dirt and grime. For an extra buck-fifty your car can get a hot wax treatment. The last stage of this type of car wash is when big, squiggly pieces envelop the car and dry it without so much as a scratch. Thirty seconds after the wash cycle has begun, you're driving out in a car that looks like a million bucks. That is, until you realize that the inside of your car still has windows that are smudged, a few wrappers on the floor, an ashtray overflowing with gum wrappers, even some loose coins in the cracks of the seats. The only way to get the inside of your car clean is to open the door and let some guys with windex, rags and a vacuum jump in and do the rest of the job.

On Rosh Hashana, it is possible to go to the synagogue, sit down, position ourselves in neutral and wait for the conveyor belt to begin moving. The rabbi zaps you from this side, the cantor and/or choir gets you from the other side, then comes the shofar blowing ceremony, the sermon, the Torah reading, and before you know it, the service is over. We might walk out of shul on Rosh Hashana feeling like a million bucks, all clean and shiny. But eventually it hits us. We aren't any cleaner on the inside than when we walked in. All of those faults and bad habits we had promised ourselves we'd really change this year, are still unchanged. And no amount of sitting in the synagogue, no matter how much the seats cost, is going to change us.

THE SHOFAR - The outstanding uniqueness of Rosh Hashanah lies in the blowing of the shofar, which is not blown on any other holiday. Why is the shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah? The sages of the Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16b) consider this question, and offer a peculiar answer: The shofar is blown so as to confuse Satan. Rosh Hashanah is Judgment Day, and Satan on that day acts as accuser. Having seduced man to sin, he then returns to accuse him of the very sins which he incited. But when he hears the sounds of the shofar, he becomes so confused that he loses track of the proceedings and is unable to prosecute effectively. The obvious question, however, is what could there possibly be in the shofar that has such a devastating effect upon Satan? He who all year round is full of fire and fury, fearing no one, suddenly trembles on Rosh Hashanah -- just on account of a few blasts from the shofar?

Our sages explain that his confusion is caused by the numerous sounds produced by the shofar. In addition to the smooth and long blast known

as tekiah, there is a broken-up blast of shevarim, followed by a tremulous sound of the teruah. That gets him all mixed up! But even that is hard to understand. How could it be that the perennially old and forever-the-same clever Satan who induces man to sin, could not by now have learned about the shofar what any thirteen year old boy knows very well?

The shofar sounds on Rosh Hashanah represent different types of Jews. First comes the tekiah, a simple, straight and even sound, comparable in nature to the tzaddik, who is righteous, uncomplicated and honest. Shevarim means "broken" and represents the rasha -- evil-doer -- who is not satisfied with his own evil ways, but, being crooked himself, wants to see all that is whole broken and all that is straight madecrooked. The teruah, which means "torn-apart," represents the tormented soul of the ba'al-teshuvah, who bemoans his past and is now struggling to become an enlightened Jew. He is no evil-doer; he does not seek to break; he just knows very little about being a Jew. His soul is torn because of its past, and yearns to enter into a better and refined Torah way of life. Finally there comes a shevarim-teruah, which is a mixture of the two. Not fully committed to one way of life, this Jew wavers and fluctuates from one extreme to the other.

Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment for all. Satan realizes that it is in his interest to overlook the "tekiah Jew." He agrees to rest his case against him but anticipates devouring the Jews represented by the shevarim, teruah, and shevarim-teruah. They unfortunately have provided him with enough ammunition for him to prosecute and destroy them. Therefore our great sages have devised an ingenious legal procedure to follow on Judgment Day, which even that crafty prosecutor, Satan himself, cannot overcome. His whole system of prosecution becomes so disrupted and disorganized that he finds himself unable to proceed.

And what is this procedure? Quite simply this: They established a rule that a shevarim, or a teruah, or the shevarim-teruah is never blown alone; each shevarim and each teruah is preceded by a tekiah and followed by a tekiah. Thus we never see the evil-doer, the rent soul, or the wavering Jew step up alone before the Court-on-High. They know very well that, were they to be judged alone, they would not come off very well. They are fortunate in having two companions, the tekiot, one on each side, and they all step up before the Court-on-High and say: "We wish to be judged together. We are brothers, inseperably attached and responsible for one another!" And so, what is there left for Satan to do? How can he produce a valid case against all three, particularly when two of them are righteous, even though the third is not quite so 'kosher'? If he accuses the shevarim of a certain "break-up," it is quickly covered up by the evenness and straightness of the tekiot. The same happens in the case of the teruah, and shevarim-teruah. All come up to the tribunal flanked with the tekiot supporting them on each side, and Satan loses out.

The Potential of the Individual - In six days the A-mighty created the heaven, earth, and its inhabitants. According to the sages, creation commenced on the 25^th day of Elul and six days later, Adam, the first man was created (see Vayikra Rabbah 29:1). Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of Adam, the first man and the ancestor of humanity. Accordingly, this singular anniversary was designated to serve as the perennial day of judgment for Adam's descendants throughout the generations. On this day it is incumbent upon Adam's children to reflect and contemplate whether man, as evolved throughout history, has justified and vindicated the hopes and aspirations of his Creator.

One of the main distinguishing features in the creation of man is that he was created single, unlike all other species, which were created in large numbers. This indicates emphatically that one single individual has the capacity to bring the whole of creation to fulfillment. Adam, following his creation, single-handedly rallied all creatures in the world to recognize the

Sovereignty of the Creator. When Adam was created, all creatures who saw

him were gripped with fear and bowed to him in mistaken belief, that he, Adam, had created them. Adam said to them, "Do not think I created you. 'Come, let us worship and bow down before Hashem our Maker'" (Psalms 95:6) (see Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 11).

Adam, the first man, was the prototype and example for every individual to follow. Every Jew, regardless of his time, place, and personal status, has the capacity to rise and attain the highest degree of fulfillment and also

From the Alter Rebbe's aphorisms:

"We have absolutely no conception how precious to G-d is the body of a Jew."

(From Rebbe's Hayom Yom Elul 29).

-The Rebbe