Yours, Forever

by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

The Revelation at Sinai was accompanied by many awe inspiring sounds and sights. Among the sounds was the sound of the Shofar. Rashi tells us that it was the shofar of the ram that replaced Yitzchok at the Akeida. Asks the Ramban, “But the ram at the Akeida was totally burned, including its horns!” Besides, Hashem is not physical. What does it mean that Hashem used a ram’s horn to blow shofar?

The Ramban suggests that perhaps Hashem took the ash of the horns from the animal of the Akeida and formed it into a shofar. Still, one wonders, what does it mean to blow the shofar, if the animal no longer exists?

The Ikvei Binyamin explains that anything that is sacrificed to Hashem with total devotion ascends to a level in spirituality which is forever. When a person uses up something for the right purpose, that item is held to his credit for eternity. As it is consumed from this world, it enters a spiritual and eternal existence, literally a “better world”. This is what is being described regarding the shofar of the Revelation.  Although the shofar did not exist anymore in a physical sense, since it was consumed by way of a mitzvah, its spiritual existence would be forever.

The story is told of a Jewish minister to a king who was asked by the king how much he owned. The Jew responded with a number that was much less than the many properties that he was known to own. When the minister saw the king’s surprise he explained. “Everything that I own in this world can be taken from me in a moment. It is only what I have spent to help the poor that I can truly call mine. You asked me how much I own. So I answered by telling you what I’ve given to charity. Only that is truly mine.”

This concept is true not only in assets but also regarding our use of time. “Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, time is passing by.” Once a moment is passed it will never come back. Yet, if the moment was well spent, then that moment is ours forever. Consider the moments you take to help a child with their homework, or at their bedside saying goodnight, or comforting a person in their time of need. Sometimes it is the moments that we thought were wasted, that are really the ones that will be ours forever.

In the book of Melochim/ Kings we read the story of Izevel, the wicked queen. After years of destroying the moral infrastructure of the Jewish people, justice finally caught up with her. Yehu, the newly appointed king, killed her husband, Achav, and then approached the palace where Izevel taunted him from an upper window. Yehu called out for supporters, and when they appeared in the windows of the palace, he ordered them to throw Izevel out to her death. Later, when Yehu declared that they should go back and bury her, he found that  her body had been consumed by dogs. Only her hands, feet, and head remained. Rashi explains: Izevel was known to cause rejoicing to the Chasan and Kallah. She used her hands to clap, her feet to dance, and her head to motion this way and that. These parts of her body were used for a mitzvah. Symbolically, only they would remain, because when all is destroyed, only that which was used well will be ours forever.

This is, perhaps, what Rashi means when he says that it was the horn from the ram of the Akeida that was used to sound the Shofar. It isn’t the physical Shofar that made the sound. After all, that shofar was burned on the Mizbeiach.  Besides, Hashem isn’t physical, and doesn’t need a shofar to blow. Rather, as the Ramban suggests, Hashem gathered the ash of the shofar which had been consumed for the mitzvah. Because items consumed or spent for a mitzvah become eternal. It may look like it is burned, gone, and lost. But in truth when we expend an item or energy correctly its spiritual energy has just begun.

To make something “Your’s Forever,” is a skill that you can focus on and acquire. It applies to money, time, and even to our bodies. By “doing it right” we create energies- like the shofar- which will live on forever.

© 2017 by TEACH613™