Rosh Hashanah 5787 · First day on Shabbat
The shofar rests.Let Shabbat speak for us.
This year, we will not sound the shofar on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, out of reverence for Shabbat. Shabbat will be our advocate. Let us honour Shabbat with one meaningful commitment—together.
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5787 · תשפ״ז
Why this Rosh Hashanah is different
The first day of Rosh Hashanah 5787 falls on Shabbat. The Gemara explains that, on such a day, the shofar is not sounded out of deference to the honour of Shabbat.
The Aruch LaNer, in Minchas Ani, observes that years of this kind have often been exceptional for the Jewish people—sometimes for great good, and sometimes the opposite. He explains that because we set aside the shofar out of honour for Shabbat, the hope for merciful judgment is bound up with our own commitment to honouring Shabbat.
Our response is simple and practical: each person chooses one meaningful way to deepen their observance and honour of Shabbat—together, בלי נדר.The cited sources are linked for direct study. This teaching is presented as a call to teshuvah—not as a promise of outcomes.
בלי נדר · Bli neder
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Rosh Hashanah is a time to reflect. If you are not yet ready to choose a specific commitment, make a personal resolution—בלי נדר—to return to this site in the days after Rosh Hashanah and choose one.
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The teaching in context
The sources—and what they ask of us
Rosh Hashanah 29b explains that when the first day falls on Shabbat, the Sages suspended the shofar outside the Temple lest someone carry it four cubits in the public domain while taking it to an expert. The safeguard expresses deference to the honour of Shabbat.
Rosh Hashanah 29bIn Minchas Ani, derush 6, the Aruch LaNer describes Shabbat as Israel’s partner and advocate. When the shofar is set aside in Shabbat’s honour, he links the hope for merciful judgment with our own readiness to honour Shabbat. He notes that such years have sometimes been exceptionally good and sometimes otherwise, and calls for teshuvah—not certainty about an outcome.
Minchas Ani, derush 6We answer with one sincere, practical strengthening of Shabbat, made bli neder. The campaign is an invitation to honour Shabbat together, not a promise of what Divine judgment will be.
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