We deepen our perception of Hashem’s presence in our life by following His ways and doing Mitzvos with inner meaning and intention. This is our way of expressing “Hashem, I know this is Your world and I want to live a life of closeness to You and be Your faithful messenger to spread Your light. I know it is only this that will bring me the deep joy and meaning I seek.” This builds on itself and, in turn, Hashem gifts us with an even deeper relationship with Him, and we start to see Him and live with His presence even more, causing us to do more Mitzvos, and the cycle builds on itself (Mitzvah Goreres Mitzvah).
The opposite is true as well. Sin is a result of not experiencing Hashem’s presence, as we give in to the enticing but shallow pleasures of the physical world. This gives credit to the external world of falsehood, the evil entities (klippos) that conceal Hashem’s presence. The worst part of this is that when we give in to these klippos, we are inviting them to stay with us, and they cover our soul, creating a barrier between us and our Father in Heaven, causing us to experience Hashem’s presence even less, leading us to further sin (Aveira goreres aveirah).
This is the pnimiyus, the deeper inner world, of what’s going on when we do a mitzvah or aveirah, and it is this inner point that we address in the unique teshuva that we do when we hear the Shofar.
Outer Action
We listen to the sound of the Shofar.
Inner Intention
Shofar is the melody of yearning of our neshama; the wordless sound of our soul calling out for what it really, really wants, regardless of how far we think we’ve strayed or how much we followed the shallow and false pleasures the klippos have been serving us all year.
Even though it “looked like” I was at times more interested in following my yetzer hara than in following my soul, that perception is absolutely false and does not in any way represent or define who I am. I am a pure, holy, and righteous soul, a chelek Elokai mimaal mamash, a literal part of Hashem. My only true desire is the desire to come home to You, to live a life of deep attachment to You, to follow in Your ways, to bask in Your presence, to see You and to live with You in every single area of my life.
When we take this step towards Hashem, He responds in kind and draws close to us.
Our Father in Heaven looks down and says, “Look at my beloved children! No matter how far they may have strayed, they never give up, they never stop yearning for closeness to Me. They return to Me and trust in My mercy and love for them because they love Me from the depths of their hearts and souls.”
When the Shofar is blown, it is like an x-ray of our souls. Do we yearn for closeness to Hashem right now?
And now we understand why our sages teach us that the yetzer hara is absolutely terrified of the Shofar!
Deeper Dive
We will now go a little deeper and explore the specific inner intention behind each of the tekiyos. Based on Sefer B’yam Darkecha.
Please note: if trying to have the specific intentions below will lead to confusion or to not having any intentions, you’d be better off sticking with the simple one above!
תשר”ת Tashrat Tekiah > Shevarim > Teruah > Tekiah
The First Tekiah: With this tekiah, we cry out to Hashem from the depths of our hearts: “Dear Father, we can’t and don’t want to be separate from You. We only want to feel Your light. We don’t want to experience ourselves as a separate entity, chas v’shalom. Please help us feel Your truth with every fiber of our being, and through this, come to a complete bittul to You.”
We cry this out from the deepest recesses of our hearts. This cry rises up to Hashem and causes Him, so to speak, to rise from His “throne” of din and sit upon the Kisei HaRachamim, the Throne of Mercy.
This is the most important tekiah of Rosh Hashana. It is our initial reaching out to Hashem and begging for His mercy. From this point onward, the rest of the tekiyos represent the different stages through which the new shefa begins to come down.
Shevarim: After we cry out to Hashem, Hashem looks at us to see if we are ready to receive this new shefa. Our avodah during Shevarim is to strengthen our hishtokekus. Yearn for Hashem with passion and fire, while recognizing with clarity that on our own we are nothing. Hashem is the only true reality.
Teruah: The broken, wailing sound of the Teruah is our plea to Hashem for mercy, begging Him not to look at us as separate beings and thus judge us only according to our actions. Rather, we ask Him to only look at us as a Chelek Elokah Mimaal, a part of Hashem Himself, and therefore to judge us with the greatest rachamim and grant us a sweet year filled with closeness to Him.
From this point onward, the tekiyos begin bringing the new shefa into us in ten stages, corresponding to the ten sefiros. Our avodah is to open ourselves to this shefa and take upon ourselves to serve Hashem in accordance with each of these sefiros.
Final Tekiah: With the final tekiah of Tashrat, the shefa enters Chochmah, Binah, and Daas. Our avodah is therefore to bring Hashem into our minds and consciousness: to think about Hashem with bittul (corresponding to Chochmah); to contemplate His greatness until it awakens a fiery yearning for Him (corresponding to Binah); and to bring that awareness into our lives, using all of our traits and abilities to actually serve Him (corresponding to Daas).
תש”ת Tashat Tekiah > Shevarim > Tekiah
Tekiah | Chesed: The avodah of Chesed is to awaken a deep love for Hashem. Think about the truth that there is nothing besides Hashem, ein od milvado. He is our life and the Source of everything we have. Allow that recognition to awaken a boundless love for Him.
Shevarim | Gevurah: The avodah of Gevurah is yiras Shamayim. Try to awaken within yourself a sense of awe before the infinite greatness of Hashem.
Tekiah | Tiferes: The avodah of Tiferes is dveikus. Try to fill your heart with a deep desire to connect to Hashem through everything you do. Take upon yourself to do things that strengthen this dveikus, especially learning Torah, which is the most powerful tool we have to bring us to dveikus.
ת”רת Tarat Tekiah > Teruah > Tekiah
Tekiah | Netzach: The avodah of Netzach is to awaken a holy stubbornness within yourself. Resolve to stand strong against your yetzer hara and face whatever tests come your way with strength and unwavering loyalty to Hashem.
Teruah | Hod: The avodah of Hod is to recognize and acknowledge that Hashem is the only true reality and that everything comes from Him. Try to awaken your heart to recognize this truth in everything that happens in your life.
Tekiah | Yesod and Malchus: The avodah of Yesod is connection. Make a bris (covenant) with Hashem to remain deeply connected to Him. And don’t only connect yourself to Hashem; try to connect everything in your world back to Him, seeing His light within everything that happens.
The avodah of Malchus is to accept upon ourselves ol Malchus Shamayim, the yoke of Hashem’s Kingship. Beg Hashem to help you always live according to His will, keeping the Torah and mitzvos with deep emunah and faithfully accepting His Kingship over every part of your life.
A Moment of Mindfulness
As you listen to the Shofar, close your eyes and think:
Hashem, even though I have been distant in the past, right now, in this moment, I want to return fully to You. Even when I’ve drifted astray, my deepest desire has always been for closeness with You, and I haven’t given up on my spiritual ambitions. I want You, Hashem, and I don’t want the lies of the yetzer hara in my head anymore! In this moment, as I fulfill Your Mitzvah to hear the Shofar on the Day of Judgment, please look at only the real me; a righteous and pure soul, — surrounded by righteous and pure souls — that wants to cling to You.
Adapted from the TYH Torah Tishrei Companion, available for purchase and download at tyh.org
Kavanos on Shabbos
Although we don’t blow the Shofar on Shabbos Kodesh, it is very worthwhile to take a few minutes on Shabbos to have these kavanos. By some tzadikim, they would actually go through all of the tekiyos ‘in pnimiyus’ when Rosh Hashana falls out on Shabbos., by announcing each tekiyah, and everyone would have the kavanos for a few moments by each one.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 98 – Rosh Hashana.
