The Vilna Gaon
My current love-affair with the Vilna Gaon’s Biur Hagerah is one of my most exciting Torah learning experiences ever. The Vilna Gaon, or Gerah as he is known, is an 18th century colossus towering over all of modern Torah scholarship. His personality synthesized piety and intellect, Halacha and Kabalah, Torah wisdom and general knowledge, and modernity of thought with unwavering adherence tomesorah (tradition). He stripped the halachik canon of any questionable practices not grounded in the Talmud and probed every law in the Shulchan Aruch for its Talmudic essence.
He developed and refined a methodology of Torah scholarship that mainstream Yeshivas even today still strive to follow. Nearly all of the great rabbinic minds of the Lithuanian tradition stem from a line of teachers that goes back to the Vilna Gaon.
Because the Gerah understood the deepest essence of every principle and idea he studied, he saw connections that others missed. By revealing these connections he provides brilliant insights into the common philosophic foundations of apparently disparate ideas. He also compels a redefinition of old assumptions and encourages new ways of learning classical Talmudic passages. The result is always refreshing innovation and often life-changing ideas. These are developed through a lens of the purest of analysis and laser-sharp reasoning illuminated by the ever-present yirat shamayim(G-d fearingness) that is the hallmark of his being.
Join me in discovering valuable and uplifting ideas from the way the Gera understands the simple practice of not blowing the Shofar on the day before Rosh Hashana.
Voluntariness and Duty
We have been blowing the shofar each morning for nearly a month. We will blow it 100 times on each day of Rosh Hashanah, this year Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday morning though, the shofar will be silent. We do not blow it on the morning before Rosh Hashanah[1].
Various reasons are given for not blowing the shofar on Erev Rosh Hashanah. The popular reason is to confuse the Satan into thinking that Rosh Hashanah has passed and he has missed his opportunity to undermine the efforts of Am Yisrael to appeal to Hashem’s mercy. The primary reason is a much more rational one. It is to separate between two acts of blowing, the blowing during Elul and the blowing on Rosh Hashanah. The blowing of the shofar during Elul is not dictated by law; it is a voluntary practice recommended by theRamah in Shulchan Aruch. The blowing on Rosh Hashanah itself is ade’oraitta – a law prescribed in the Torah itself and one that everyone is obligated to fulfill[2].
The Vilna Gaon[3] identifies the origin of the idea of separating a voluntary activity from one that is dedicated to the fulfillment of a mitzvah, to a law regarding the Friday night meal. If one began a banquet on Friday morning and it lingered until sunset, one may not merely make Kiddush and continue the meal into Shabbat thereby fulfilling the requirement of a formal Shabbat dinner. Rather one should end the Friday meal with Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals), then make Kidush and then start a new Seudat Shabbat(Shabbat meal). The reason is because the Shabbat meal needs to be experienced lishmah, it must be enjoyed with the express purpose in mind of fulfilling the mitzvah[4]of Seudat Shabbat.
The intention with which you start a practice, permanently sets its purpose and its ideological trajectory. So, when lishma is required, this dedication of intention must occur at the beginning of the mitzvah not some time in the midst of its practice. This is why a meal begun on Friday for non-mitzvah purposes cannot be converted midway into a shabbas meal. A meal dedicated to the mitzvah of Seudat Shabbat should start with this intention.
Continual is Continuous
The Vilna Gaon’s connection of the law regarding Seudat Shabbatand the one regarding blowing the Shofar on erev Rosh Hashanah does not seem complete. The Friday meal scenario deals with one continuous action that needs to be interrupted and restarted in order to change its Kavanah (intention) from a social occasion to a Seudat Shabbat. The Shofar scenario deals with a brief action repeated every day. We understand that a continuous action needs to be interrupted and restarted lishma. But why should the blowing of the shofar, which in any case starts and ends every morning (with 24 hours intervening between one blowing and the next), need to be interrupted with a day of not blowing at all (on erev Rosh Hashana) to start the blowing the next day lishma? Surely the 24 hours between blowing the shofar on the 29th of Elul and Rosh Hashan are enough to allow the blowing on Rosh Hashana to be started lishma?
Herein lies the kernel of a profound idea. If you do something persistently every single day, then that activity is not only acontinual practice (meaning one carried out regularly), but acontinuous practice (one carried out without interruption). For example, if you study the Torah every day you are considered to be in a mode of continuous study and you will feel connected to your learning even when you are doing other things during the day. Similarly if you pray regularly, give charity, do kindness or commit to any daily practice you will maintain your connection to the practice continuously. When you do something sporadically you are engaged in it only for the time you are actually doing it, thereafter the process is interrupted. You actually accomplish more by spending a shorter time doing an activity on a regular basis than doing it for a longer time on a sporadic basis. You will finish a long book if you read a little each day, you will become fitter if you exercise each day and you will finish your chores if you do some of them each day. The one-day-wonder dazzling start that fizzles out later cannot accomplish the same as a modest but meticulously regular daily practice.
This idea is articulated by Rashi[5]: Doing something “each night is called continuous like the Olat Tamid (Continuous Offering) even though it is only performed twice each day.” So the daily blowing of the Shofar during the month of Elul is considered a continuous shofar blast. This continuous blast must be interrupted before the blowing on Rosh Hashana itself which needs specific intention at the outset of its performance, to be doing it lishma. This changes the Elul experience to one where the haunting cry of the shofar rings in our heads throughout the month reminding us that we have a precious opportunity to transform.
Transformation
Transformation need not be radical. Think of one practice that you could commit to doing daily that would add a dimension to who you are and to your life. Even though you might only invest a few minutes a day in this activity, its persistent regularity will connect you to it in a way that uplifts the person you are. Daily practice yields mastery. Being a baal tzedakka (a master of charity), for example, is different from being one who gives charity. A baal chessed (master of kindness) is different from a kind person. A master is one who commits to regular practice.
The activity to which you commit does not need to be something particularly pious to transform your life. It might be a commitment to spend a dedicated period of time with your spouse or your children. It might be to call a friend once every day to check in with him or her, or to take a walk each day during which you exercise your body and clear your mind. It might be a period each day that you simply commit to being disconnected from technology. All of these if new, will change your life. Clearly, committing daily time to a spiritual practice such as Tefilah, Tehillim or the study of Torah will meaningfully elevate your existence and transform your being. Doing something each and every day is considered continuous and adds a new dimension to your life.
My deepest thanks to you for following my teachings on iAwaken during this past year and previous years. I so value your comments, questions and suggestions, your love and your support. We are working on a refreshed website with newer technology and ease of searching that I hope will continue to provide you with Torah insight.
May Hashem bless you and your families with a wonderful Yomtov and a transformational year of joyous good health, prosperity and growth.
