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THE DRUMS OF ROSH HASHANAH
BY
Rabbi Dov Abraham Ben-Shorr
Once, a traveler arrived at a small eastern European town and took a room at the local inn. In the middle of the night, a loud banging woke him shook him from his slumber. BANG! BANG! BANG! It was very loud and very disturbing and the banging continued on for some time, so the man got dressed and went outside to see what the commotion was. He found most of the town gathered around a building that was engulfed in flames. No one was doing anything except banging drums.
The traveler asked the closest person what was going on, why was with the fire and why was everyone banging drums. He was answered. "The king gave us these drums in case there would ever be a fire. At that time, he told us, that we should bang on them. This building caught on fire a few hours ago, but these drums don't seem to be putting it out.
"You idiot!" cried the traveler. "These drums are there to sound alarm; to rouse people to action. They themselves won't put out the fire!"
[Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are our drums. They are an alarm, a shofar blast to move us to action, to repentance, but they will not put out the fire, that is only something that we can do ourselves. T'Shuva, Repentance, is not a "one time event." It is a constant process of action and reaction. These awesome days are G-d's alarm to rouse us to action, but they are only an alarm. We must be wise enough to answer its call.
May we have the strength, courage, and vision to attend to the flames before the entire village burns down.]
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