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Rabbi Ashlag in the Perush haSulam, his great commentary on the Zohar, teaches:
During the 12 months of the year we work on the tikkun of the Malchut. That is, we work on letting go of receiving for ourselves alone, and practice giving unconditionally, doing acts that are in affinity of form with the Creator. In this way we rectify the Malchut—the Shechinah, our collective soul—from the beginning of the year till the end of the year. However, since this tikkun is not yet complete, each year at Rosh haShanah we start the cycle again to rectify the Malchut, until the complete redemption.
This is the reason that each year on Rosh haShanah the world returns to its original state when the great light of Creation, the Or d’Chochmah, came into the world. But if we were to receive this great light now directly it would cause us harm. Thus the Holy Blessed One gave us the mitzvah of blowing the shofar on Rosh haShanah. The shofar is the voice of Binah, the Sephirah of compassion and loving-kindness.
The presence of this great light allows us to see our thoughts, words, and actions of the previous year more clearly. Often we feel sorry and wish some action or word undone or unsaid. But how can we change reality?
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, in his great work, Mesillat Yesharim, (The path of the righteous) writes:
“Repentance is given to people with absolute loving-kindness so that the rooting out of the will which prompted the deed is considered a rooting out of the deed itself.”
This loving-kindness manifests in the sound of the shofar. The voice of the shofar opens the opportunity to make good , to undo , to come back fresh…. and to a new start.
May we all be blessed to hear the sound of the shofar this year, and merit to sound our own inner shofar both at Rosh haShanah and throughout the whole year.
This Torah podcast is dedicated l’ilui nishmat Chana Annette bat Mazal and Moshe
This talk is based on excerpts from Rabbi Ashlag’s Perush haSulam on Zohar Vayerah 381 and Zohar TeZaveh 88-92
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Further talks on Elul, Teshuvah and Rosh hashanah
Forty days of love: From Elul to Yom Kippur
The language of Rosh Hashanah is derived from the Kabbalah
The Shofar, the sound of compassion
Changing our outlook on Rosh HaShanah
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