We spend so much of our lives trying.
We work on our marriages. We work on our children. We work on our parnasah, our Torah, ourselves. And because Hashem created us adam la'amal yulad—born to work—that yegiah isn't something we're supposed to escape.
But then comes the danger.
When something finally works, it's very easy to look back at everything we did and think: I did this.
In this Rosh Hashanah shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David continue an extraordinary teaching from the Tolna Rebbe about the ba'al tokeia who simply could not get a sound out of the shofar. From the building of the Mishkan and Beit Hamikdash to Moshe Rabbeinu forgetting everything he learned on Har Sinai, we discover a pattern that runs through Torah: techilah hishtadlut, sofo matanah. First comes our effort. In the end, it's a gift.
And that changes how we understand the shofar itself.
We blow from the narrow end—min hameitzar karati Kah—and somehow an enormous sound emerges from the other side. The more we toil, the more we're able to recognize and actually taste the miracle when it comes.
Maybe that's part of what it means to crown Hashem on Rosh Hashanah: not waiting until life pushes us into the narrowest place to realize that everything we have was a gift all along.
----------
For more Shuirim and Music from Rav Shlomo Katz, visit: https://ravshlomokatz.com
Join Rav Shlomo Katz's WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KHKOh hPaeHx5Kb74WL9L9a?mode=ems_copy_t
CHAPTERS
00:00 Opening Announcements & Memorials
03:20 Recap: The Miracle of the Shofar05:00 The Mishkan, Beit Hamikdash & Menorah07:15 Why Does Hashem Make Us Work?09:05 The Danger of Kochi V'Otzem Yadi12:01 Yagata U'Matzata: Effort vs. Gift15:03 Why Moshe Forgot the Torah21:35 The More You Toil, the More You Taste the Miracle22:45 The Paradox of Yagata U'Matzata26:07 Why Our Effort Still Matters28:40 Vihi Noam: Bringing Hashem Into Our Work31:36 Why We Blow Shofar From the Narrow End32:50 A Jew Is a Shofar34:19 Min HaMeitzar: From Narrowness to Expansiveness36:18 Why They Turned the Shofar Around39:43 Why Three Ba'alei Tekiah Had to Fail41:40 Don't Wait for the Narrowest Place42:10 The Avodah of Rosh Hashanah43:21 The Richest People in the World44:19 A Blessing for a Year of Real Ashirut
