Two earthquakes shook the globe in the last few weeks: one in Turkey and one on Greece. These two earthshaking events, so close to Rosh HaShanah awaken us to ask several questions. For if we believe that there is no such thing as coincidence, then what is the message of these earthquakes?
The Midrash brings us an interesting reason for earthquakes, that humanity is building beautiful buildings while the Beith HaMiqdash (the Temple) still lies in ruin; and further, that people are focusing so intently on the splendor and grandeur of their own homes without even noting that the House of G-d, the Temple, is in ruins.
What was the purpose of the Beith HaMiqdash? The Maharal states that its role was to unite Am Yisrael (the Jewish people) with the rest of the world in order to serve HaShem. The prophetic visions also speak of the time when the Beith HaMiqdash will be a place where the entire world will gather and offer korbonot (sacrificial offerings).
The sounding of the shofar on Rosh HaShanah is also designed to awaken us, but the question is why?
The idea of the shofar, in my opinion, is to call humanity to anoint HaShem as King over all of us. The day of Rosh HaShanah is the Day of Judgment, but it is also "Yom HaZikharon," A Remembrance Day for the Creation of the World. Therefore on this day, we place the G-d of Creation as King over us. It is the sounding of the shofar, which calls us to unify and accept the rule of HaShem.
The shofar is similar to the Temple in that they both are designed to unify the Nation to accept the Kingdom of Heaven.
In another place, we find the blowing of the shofar during the time of the redemption, "And it will be a day of sounding of the Great Shofar, and the lost with come from the land of Ashur and the defeated from the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt)." This verse describes the role of the shofar as one that will call the Nation to gather in Jerusalem from the far corners of the world.
It should be noted that the idea of the "Great Shofar" is not concerning its size, but rather it purpose, the grand goal of gathering the exiles to build the Beith HaMiqdash (Temple).
One of the signs of the Mashiah (Messiah), as clarified by the Rambam, is that he will gather the various parts of the Nation and build the Beith HaMiqdash. Of course, the concept of the "Shofar of the Mashiah" is only one idea with the Mashiah; that he will call the entire world to unify and accept the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Beith HaMiqdash was destroyed due to groundless hatred (in Hebrew "sinat hinam," literally "free" hatred), because such hatred is the antithesis of the Beith HaMiqdash.
Every facet of the Beith HaMiqdash is aimed at unifying the Nation of Israel and the entire world to serve HaShem, Groundless hatred causes divisiveness amongst humanity, and this is what destroyed the Beith HaMiqdash. The building of the Beith HaMiqdash requires love and unity throughout all of humanity.
I pray and hope for the building of the Beith HaMiqdash, for it is the House of our Lives, and the appearance of our Righteous One, the Mashiah who will blow the Great Shofar and bring about our Redemption. Amen.
Home