The Sound of the Shofar

[YOSEF_KAZEN <yyk...>]

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                          SLICE OF LIFE
                    L'Chaim  Weekly Publication
                          Issue # 333
                With permission from the Publisher
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                      Sounding of the Shofar
                       by Rabbi Eli Hecht *

One of the highlights of the Rosh Hashana service is the sounding
of the shofar.

The shofar's message: remember the Al-mighty Father, the King
who created heaven and earth. The shofar's blast is part of the
King's coronation.

Thirty years ago I attended a little yeshiva, a Jewish school,
in Brooklyn. The student population had a large group of children
who were post-World War II babies.

Some boys were born in the displaced person camps in Europe,
while others were infants during World War II.

When the week of the Jewish New Year came around, my Jewish
schoolteacher, a Holocaust survivor, told our class the following
story that happened in the death camp in Auschwitz in 1944:

       It had been decided that there were too many Jewish
       children between the ages of 12 and 15 still alive in
       the death camp. A massacre of children was planned for
       Rosh Hashana.  So, on a hot, sunny afternoon the army
       of timid, trembling, staring children, barefoot, clad
       in rough, striped prison uniforms, were ordered to march.
       They would walk past two stakes stuck into the ground.
       One was shorter, the other taller. The child whose head
       reached the top of the taller stake was safe. The smaller
       children were doomed for the gas chambers.

       When Rosh Hashana arrived, the spirit of defeat and death
       was felt by all. Early in the morning the rabbi kept
       walking from one group to another giving hope. Somehow he
       had been able to smuggle into the camp a small shofar.
       Quitely he recited prayers and blew the shofar.

       The children isolated in the special barracks -- the
       death-house -- also heard the sound of the shofar.
       They sent word that they, too, wanted to hear the shofar.
       Let the rabbi come to them with the shofar, they pleaded.

       The adults were divided in their opinions. Entering the
       death-house involved terrible danger. The execution was
       planned for the evening hours. The bells would ring when
       the barracks doors closed for the last time. It was
       growing late. To go in there was entering the devil's pit.
       But the rabbi who blew the shofar did not hesitate. He
       stole into the death house.

       Twelve hundred children sat on the floor of the barracks.
       Their faces burned with the fire of self-sacrifice; they
       were prepared to hand themselves to their executioners.
       But not before they would hear the shofar.

            "Rabbi, speak to us before blowing shofar," the
             children begged.

       The rabbi spoke words that he never would be able to
       repeat.

       He recalled the greatness of martyrs, the sacrifices of
       the millions of Jews who had perished in these terrible
       and tragic times. "The cruel Nazis are the worst of all
       nightmares," he said.

       Yet, strangely, the children did not feel that their death
       was as tragic as the rabbi said. They knew that they were
       going to die, but their death was at a pure and innocent
       age.

       They had done nothing wrong. Yet they accepted G-d's will.
       This is something that would never, ever be explained.

       The oldest of the children said:

             "We children are going to our deaths on our New
              Year. We are returning our lives to our Creator;
              our belief is stronger than ever. Our New Year's
              gift to G-d is accepting his will. We have been
              chosen for this task because of our purity --
              this in spite of our lack of understanding.

             "We thank the rabbi for risking his life in coming
              here and giving us a last change to hear the
              shofar. We pray that you survive this horror. Tell
              children all over the world to be strong and to
              love G-d so our deaths won't be in vain."

As the rabbi blew the shofar the alarm began ringing and wailing,
joining the shofar. An eerie sound was heard in heaven that day.
The cry of the ram's horn was disturbed by the bells of hell.

The rabbi ran for his life as the doomed children's barracks were
sealed.

This Rosh Hashana I'll be in the synagogue with my congregation
listening to the shofar.

I will remember the wishes of the tender children who would not
hear the shofar and make sure that today's children listen to the
shofar carrying its special message.

My children and I will also visit hospitals and old-age homes to
sound the shofar for those who cannot attend the synagogue.

Let our children learn and practice their time-honored religion.
See to it that they attend services.

* Rabbi Eli Hecht is director of Chabad of South Bay,
  a synagogue and school in Lomita, California.
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Topic No. 20