SALT for Rosh Hashana 1 Tishrei 5778

            The Gemara in Masekhet Rosh Hashanah (16b) famously observes that we sound two sets of shofar blasts on Rosh Hashanah – both before and during the musaf prayer – even though one would suffice to fulfill the Torah obligation of shofar blowing.  The reason for the extra blasts, the Gemara explains, is “in order to confuse Satan.”  Tosefot, citing the Arukh, explain this to mean that Satan becomes frightened upon hearing the extra shofar sounds, worried that perhaps the extra sounds herald the onset of the Messianic Era.  The final redemption will result in the permanent demise of Satan, and so it becomes frightened when it hears the additional shofar sounds which, in its mind, announce the arrival of Mashiach.

 

            It has been suggested that underlying the Gemara’s comment, as understood by the Arukh, is a connection between the Rosh Hashanah observance and the onset of the Messianic Era.  The Rosh Hashanah experience is intended, at least in part, to bring us closer to the experience of a redeemed, perfected world, a world without “Satan” in all its various manifestations. 

 

            The image of Satan represents evil in its different forms – including both human vices, as well as tragic events.  What these share in common is the effect of causing us confusion and distorting our perception.  Our natural vices and negative tendencies confuse our sense of right and wrong, making misconduct seem appealing and noble conduct appear undesirable.  Tragedy and misfortune make the world seem harsh, hostile and chaotic, and world events seem haphazard and random.  We must struggle to believe that our world is governed by an omnipotent, benevolent and just King, because all around us we see calamity and suffering.  “Satan,” then, is the group of forces in the world that make religious belief and practice a difficult challenge.  In the future, at the time of the final redemption, Satan will experience its final defeat, and will finally and permanently be eliminated.  In a redeemed world, we will live with clarity.  We long for the day when our natural instincts will no longer be at fierce odds with our rational sense of right and wrong, and when all events will be clearly recognizable as the handiwork of a kind, compassionate God.  The eternal elimination of Satan in the Messianic Era refers to the eternal elimination of the confusion and misperception that makes religious life so challenging in an unredeemed world.

 

            Rosh Hashanah is intended to bring us a step closer, if only a small step, to this clarity.  Our reaffirmation of God’s Kingship on Rosh Hashanah is a firm rejection of “Satan,” of the distortions so often planted in our minds by our natural vices and by the seemingly random events we see and experience.  With both joy and trepidation, we celebrate the renewal of the Almighty’s Kingdom and reassert our unwavering loyalty to His rule.  This restatement of loyalty moves us just slightly closer to the time of our final redemption, when confusion will once and for all be eliminated, and we will see with perfect clarity that God is the true King over the universe.