Sound The Great Shofar For Our Freedom

The following transcript contains remarks made by Rabbi Chaya Rowen-Baker, Immediate Past International President, USY, during The Gathering For Healing, a live global event which was presented on FacebookLive and YouTubeLive on April 5th, 2020. See the event in its entirety here: Facebook or YouTube.

“Sound the great Shofar for our freedom…”

The Shofar is our musical instrument. It is the instrument of outcry and crisis, of pleas and wails for grace and mercy. It is the declarer of wars, and it is the proclaimer of liberty throughout the land in every Jubilee year.

It is the instrument of our festivals and also of our tears.

Similar to our present days: days of suffering, brokenness and fear, combined with small blessings and great moments of grace.

The Shofar’s sound is difficult to control. Unlike other musical instruments in which the musician strives for precision and perfection, the Shofar plays the sound of the voice of the heart, bare and unrefined.

So we will now - "lift up our voice like a Shofar" – raise a voice; from healthy lungs, weak lungs, with a crying heart and resilient spirit; a voice that goes from one end of the world to the other, before the Master of the world:

A voice of plea –

For healing,

For rescue,

For clarity,

For serenity,

For reason and patience,

For great freedom,

For life.

from USCJ https://uscj.org/blog/sound-the-great-shofar-for-our-freedom-1
via USCJ