Question: At what point during the Shacharis davening should the shofar be blown throughout Elul?
Short Answer: The common minhag is to blow shofar before L’David (T’hilim 27), but some blow after the davening is entirely finished.
Explanation:
I. Blowing During Elul
The Rama (Orach Chayim 581:1) writes that the minhag of Ashkenaz is to blow shofar every morning in Elul “after Shacharis.” There are generally two minhagim as to the proper place in the davening to blow. The minhag of most Ashkenaz shuls is to blow shofar after reciting the Shir Shel Yom, but before reciting “L’David Hashem Ori.” The minhag in Lita, however, was to blow at the end of davening, after “L’David Hashem Ori.”
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l (cited in the new Batei Yosef, Yamim Nora’im, p. 15) explained that the shofar-blowing minhag in Lita is based on the nature of such blowing. The shofar-blowing during Shacharis in Elul has nothing to do with t’filah but is rather to encourage the community to repent. Indeed, this is clear from the Ra’avyah (2:542) who writes that the shofar-blowing in Elul is to elicit feelings of t’shuvah. Accordingly, it is appropriate to blow shofar after davening is completely finished, so that no one confuses the nature of these blasts. This is in contrast to the 100 shofar blasts on Rosh HaShanah. These blasts are all part of the t’filah service and thus should all be blown before davening is finished.
Notably, the Rambam (Hilchos T’shuvah 3:4) writes that even though blowing the shofar on Rosh HaShanah is based on p’sukim in the Torah, there is also an aspect of arousing the community to do t’shuvah. Rav Soloveitchik proves from here (see Batei Yosef, Yamim Nora’im, p. 208) that certainly the blasts in Elul are to arouse the community to do t’shuvah.
Rav Soloveitchik notes that some people explain the general minhag (to blow shofar in Elul before L’David) based on the pasuk in L’David: “Ki yitzpeneini b’sukko.” We blow shofar before reciting this pasuk, as the holiday of Rosh HaShanah and the mitzvah of shofar precedes the holiday of Sukkos in the order of year.
II. Another Explanation
Based on the above explanation of Rav Soloveitchik, Rav Yaakov Neuberger shlita (cited in Batei Yosef, Yamim Nora’im, p. 208) suggests another explanation for the general minhag (to blow shofar in Elul before L’David). This minhag holds that shofar-blowing during Elul is actually part and parcel of the davening ritual, a cheilek of t’filah. It is a form of “Shir Shel Yom” and thus is blown in the “middle” of davening and the other two paragraphs of “Shir Shel Yom,” after the daily shir and before we say L’David. This makes more sense, according to this opinion, than to blow afterwards when the davening is finished.
Rav Neuberger elaborates that this explanation clarifies a few puzzling issues regarding shofar-blowing. The Tur (Orach Chayim 581) cites Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer as the source for blowing shofar in Elul. Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer recounts how Hashem told Moshe on Rosh Chodesh Elul to come get the second Luchos, and the nation blew a shofar signaling that the 40 days began, so that the nation would not make the same mistake as the first Luchos and the Eigel. Hashem was “encouraged” by this shofar-blowing. In other words, the shofar signaled that the B’nei Yisrael understood the severity of the Eigel and were doing atonement by blowing this shofar to prevent it from happening again.
Clearly, the nature of shofar in Elul, as expounded upon in Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, is atonement and t’shuvah. We therefore blow in between the two “Shirim Shel Yom” during Elul, i.e., the regular daily Shir Shel Yom and L’David, to show that this blowing is part of the “inyana d’yoma” – the topic of the day, which is t’shuvah.
III. The Prishah’s Question
The Prishah (Orach Chayim 581) wonders why we blow shofar every day in Elul; shouldn’t it be enough to just blow on Rosh Chodesh Elul? Similarly, wouldn’t it be more effective in inspiring atonement to appoint messengers to teach everyone about t’shuvah and to encourage everyone to begin the t’shuvah process? Also, why don’t we just start blowing shofar when we start S’lichos, a week or so before Rosh HaShanah?
In addition to the Prishah’s questions, other Acharonim also ask why we don’t blow shofar during the Aseres Y’mei T’shuvah? Isn’t the t’shuvah process continuing during these crucial days?
Rav Neuberger suggests, based on Rav Soloveitchik’s above idea, that these questions fall away if you understand shofar during Elul as a part of Shir Shel Yom for Elul. We blow every day during Elul for this reason, but we do not blow on Aseres Y’mei T’shuvah. The days of Elul are a preparation for the Aseres Y’mei T’shuvah, and thus the nature of the blowing during Elul is fundamentally different from in between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. This likewise explains why we don’t make a brachah on the minhag to blow shofar; we don’t make brachos on adding parts to davening.
IV. A New Approach
This author would like to suggest a different approach to explaining the difference in minhagim when to blow shofar during Elul. There is a machlokes whether the institution of shofar during Elul is an enactment on the community as a whole or on each individual. See Ratz KaTzvi (Yerech Eisanim 1) who discusses this issue (chakirah) at length. Some basic ramifications are whether an individual needs to blow shofar for himself if he misses hearing shofar in shul one morning during Elul (if individual mitzvah, yes, but if community mitzvah, no) and whether you may blow at night (if individual mitzvah, no, but if community mitzvah, perhaps yes).
Another possible ramification may be whether shofar must be blown after davening is entirely finished (like minhag Lita) or before L’David (like the common minhag). If the mitzvah is a community mitzvah, it is not part of davening and thus should be after davening is entirely finished. However, if it is an individual mitzvah, presumably the enactment is to blow during t’filah and thus it belongs before L’David.
Rabbi Ephraim Glatt, Esq. is Associate Rabbi at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills and a practicing litigation attorney. Questions? Comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..