by Yaakov Astor
The shofar arouses the divine voice within our own innermost selves, calling us back to our Source.
The shofar -- it has an aura of awe and holiness about it. Its blast can shatter hearts of stone and wash away layers of complacency. Its call is capable of bringing us back to places inside ourselves impenetrable by any other means.
The Baal Shem Tov said, "In the palace of the king there are many chambers and each one needs a different key. There is one key, one instrument, however, which can open all the doors -- the ax. The shofar is an ax. When a person passionately breaks his heart before the Almighty, he can smash any gate in the palace of the King of Kings."
The Baal Shem Tov is teaching that the shofar is an emotional, intuitive way of gaining access to the deepest recesses of our heart, of divine experiential knowledge. Its blast, this wordless sound, speaks to the heart in a way all the greatest words and insights cannot approach.
King David, on the other hand, seems to contradict this. In reference to the shofar he says, "Happy is the people who know the truah [i.e. the shofar blast]" (Psalms 89:16). King David does not say, "Happy is the people who hear the truah." The emphasis seems to be on intellectualization. Accordingly, we would need to use our intellects with great effort if we truly wanted to benefit from the shofar.
Original Source