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Holy Days -
Rosh Hashana
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Written by d fine
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When Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, Chazal forbade the blowing of the shofar, lest we desecrate Shabbos by carrying the Shofar to Shul. However, the gemarra tells us that any year which does not witness the blowing of a shofar at its beginning (I.e. on Rosh Hashanah) has an element of danger to it. Why would Chazal ban the shofar if it’s dangerous for us? Reb Tzvi Kushulevski answers that the key to shofar is yiras shamayim - the deafening voiceless call of the shofar imbues the listener with an all-important sense and sensitivity of fear of Heaven. Similarly, as Rabeinu Yonah writes, following Rabbinic laws (their being enacted as a fence around the Torah) also causes a sense of yiras shamayim, for the very fact that Rabbinic laws make biblical transgression less likely shows that one is worried about transgressing a Torah law. The additional Rabbinic decrees thus emanate yiras shamayim. Therefore, when we heed Chazal’s words by not blowing shofar on Shabbos, we get the yiras shamayim that the shofar would have provided anyway, and thus there’s no danger.
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