Rosh HaShana (1): With My First Breath

Rosh HaShana is referred to as Yom Teruah - the day of Shofar blasts. That is the main Mitzvah of the day. Rav Saadia Goan famously brings down ten reasons as to why this is the quintessential day to blow the Shofar.

The first (and thereby most prominent) reason that he brings down is because the ancient custom was to blow a Shofar or trumpet during the coronation of a king. This is essentially brought down in the Gemara: כדי שתמלכוני עליכם. ובמה? בשופר - Make Me King upon you. And how shall you so it? Through the Shofar.

The question arises: While the imagery of trumpets and kings rings true, we fail to sharply put our fingers on the logic of the connection. What binds coronation to the sound of the Shofar?

R' Avraham Tzvi Kluger, shlit"a

The answer, says R' Avraham Tzvi Kluger shlit"a lays in the source of where we first encounter the idea of a ram's horn... at Akeidas Yitzchak. As we all know, another reason that we blow Shofar is to awaken the merit of how Avraham was ready to sacrifice Yitzchak, but at the last second was stopped and replaced Yitzchak with a ram that he found entangled by its thorns. Akeidas Yitzchak represents the willingness embedded in the Jewish soul to completely devote one's self to Hashem, even if it comes to the point of בכל נפשך. On the first day of the year, when we remember the creation of man and the beginning of human life we declare that we desire to dedicate that life completely to the Divine.

Life started with a breath. G-d breathed life into man and he became an animate being. How does a trumpet work?  By blowing through it, by taking our very life force and passing it through the horn. Shofaros are sounded at a coronation to declare that we are dedicating our very lives to the king. On Rosh HaShana, as we blow the Shofar this is the message that we are sending heavenward: Just at Yitzchak was prepared to give his life; we too - at this very moment - are giving our breath, our first breaths of the year... to Him.