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Dealing with What Is Broken

 

The Shofar Represents Our Dealing with What Is Broken

 

            Sins are called “breaking” (Radak on Psalms 17). Every time a person sins, he breaks something (Akeidas Yitzchak: Chapter 67, Parshat Shoftim). In particular, he breaks his relationship with God.

            Elul is the time for us to repair or replace the things in our lives that have broken away from God. That is why, during Elul, God gave Moses the second set of Tablets to replace the broken first set. And, the Shelah says, that is why there are a great number of laws discussing whether or not a person can use a shofar that is in some way broken. During Elul, we must deal with the matters in our lives that are broken.

By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, n''y

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