Sound the Shofar in Zion and the Beauty of Jerusalem

"Sound the shofar in Zion, [sound an alarm on My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is near]" (Joel 2:1). Let our master teach us: a court that sanctified the new month at Eintav without witnesses, what of it, is it sanctified? Rabbi Abbahu said in the name of Rabbi Chiya the Great: if a court sanctified the month without witnesses, it is sanctified, as it is said, "which you shall proclaim" (Leviticus 23:4), whether with witnesses or without witnesses, whether witnesses saw it or did not see it, it is sanctified, as it is said "which you shall proclaim." And why would the court intercalate the month at Eintav? Because that was the meeting place of the court. Therefore when Rosh Hashanah falls on the Sabbath they do not blow the shofar everywhere, only at Eintav, where the court sat and intercalated the years and months. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Zion is the meeting place of the whole world, as it is said, "For out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3). Therefore when I redeem Zion and its exiles, as it is said, "Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and those who return to her with righteousness" (Isaiah 1:27), they will come and blow the shofar within her. From where? From what the prophet concluded: "Sound the shofar in Zion." "Sound the shofar in Zion." Thus Rabbi Tanchuma son of Rabbi Abba opened: "Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, [is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King]" (Psalms 48:3). What is "beautiful in elevation" [yafeh nof]? Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa said: beautiful in her branches like this fig tree, whose root is in the ground and which rises up and whose branches spread out on every side and it is lovely. Therefore He calls Jerusalem "beautiful in elevation," for so she is destined to be, widening and rising and spreading upward and upward (Ezekiel 41:7). Another interpretation of "beautiful in elevation": Rabbi Berekhiah said, beautiful in the waving [hanafah] of her sheaf of the omer. And Rabbi Yitzchak said, beautiful in that she is destined to wave the nations of the world. And Rabbi Levi said, "beautiful in elevation," that all make her beautiful and praise her and lift her up. Tyre said, "I am perfect in beauty" (Ezekiel 27:3), but of Jerusalem all say, how lovely and praiseworthy is this city, that they say "perfect in beauty, the joy of the whole earth" (Lamentations 2:15). Another interpretation of "beautiful in elevation": Rabbi Levi said, beautiful in her encircling of the altar. "Mount Zion, on the sides of the north." But is Zion set in the north? It is only in the south. What then is "the sides of the north"? Rather, that her sacrifices were offered on the northern flank of the altar (Leviticus 1:11). And what is "the city of the great King"? The city of the great King. Another interpretation: Rabbi Levi said, joy comes from Zion, "and they shall come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy upon their heads" (Isaiah 35:10); blessing comes from there, "like the dew of Hermon that comes down upon the mountains of Zion, for there the LORD commanded the blessing, life forevermore" (Psalms 133:3); Torah comes from Zion, "for out of Zion shall go forth Torah" (Isaiah 2:3); the help of Israel comes from Zion, "may He send your help from the sanctuary, and support you from Zion" (Psalms 20:3); life comes from Zion; salvation comes from Zion, "Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion" (Psalms 14:7); and the sounding of the shofar within her draws near the redemption of Israel: from Zion, "sound the shofar in Zion, sound an alarm on My holy mountain, for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is near." Another interpretation. "Sound the shofar in Zion." He opened: "For behold, those who are far from You shall perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may declare all Your works" (Psalms 73:27-28). David said: since one who is far from You in this world is lost in the world to come, "behold, those who are far from You shall perish." What is "You destroy all who are unfaithful to You"? These are the wicked who give themselves over absolutely to transgressions and estrange themselves from You; so You too consign them absolutely to Gehinnom, because they distanced and estranged themselves from You. Rabbi Pinchas and Rabbi Chuna said: because the wicked say, how many myriads can Gehinnom hold, two hundred myriads, three hundred myriads, and how many wicked are there in every generation? The Holy One, blessed be He, said: by your own downfall, however many you are in the world, it too widens and deepens each day, "for Tophet is set in order from of old; He has made it deep and wide" (Isaiah 30:33). Thus "those who are far from You shall perish." "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good." What is "as for me"? Because they asked Balaam and the prophets of Israel. They asked Balaam: is there a fixed end for salvation? He said to them, yes. They said, when is it? He said, it is far off, "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near" (Numbers 24:17); he pushed the end far away. They asked the prophets of Israel; they said, it is near, "for the day of their calamity is near" (Deuteronomy 32:35). Jeremiah came and said, "Wail, for the day of the LORD is near" (Isaiah 13:6). Malachi came and said it is near, "for behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven" (Malachi 3:19). Joel came and said as they did, "sound the shofar in Zion, for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is near." David said: "those who are far from You shall perish" is Balaam and his fellows who pushed the end far and perished from the world; but the prophets of Israel for whom You did well, who brought the end near, did well for me. So I too, who brought the end near like them, "the nearness of God is my good." "That I may declare all Your works." Rabbi Pinchas said in the name of Rabbi Acha: even though the Holy One, blessed be He, completed the creation of the world and rested from all His work, as it is written, "and God finished on the seventh day, and He rested" (Genesis 2:2), yet from two works He did not cease: He prepares punishment for the wicked and He prepares the giving of good reward for the righteous. "Sound the shofar in Zion." This is what Scripture says: "Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion; when the LORD restores the fortunes of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad" (Psalms 14:7; 53:7). For when Israel stood at Sinai and Moses said to them, the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to give you the Torah, they said to him, our master Moses, "all that the LORD has spoken we will do and we will hear" (Exodus 24:7), only we wish to hear it from His mouth. Rabbi Chanan said in the name of Rabbi Acha: the answer they gave to Moses was sweet before the Holy One, blessed be He, and immediately every evil inclination that was in them was uprooted. That is what the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "Oh that they had such a heart to fear Me" (Deuteronomy 5:26); it does not say "heart" but "such a heart," the good inclination and the evil inclination both became one heart of good inclination. Rabbi Yochanan said: the Holy One, blessed be He, stands and says, "Oh that they had such a heart," and does He not have power to uproot the evil inclination from among us? For if at that hour they had asked not to die, they would not have died; if they had asked that the evil inclination be uprooted, it would have been uprooted from them. Rather, "yet the LORD has not given you a heart to know" (Deuteronomy 29:3) [astonishing]. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: because I said "Oh that they had such a heart," you too will in the end yearn and say "Oh that out of Zion." Another interpretation: "Oh that" in two places. Rabbi Huna said: because the children say twice in the synagogue, once in the morning and once in the evening, "Save us, O LORD our God" (Psalms 106:47), therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says twice "Oh that out of Zion." Rabbi Yehudah son of Rabbi Shalom said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: that is not the reason; rather, it is written in two places, in Psalms "Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us and deliver us from the nations" (Psalms 106:47), and in Chronicles it says "Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us and deliver us from the nations" (1 Chronicles 16:35); therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says twice "Oh that out of Zion." Another interpretation: "Oh that... Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad." It should have said, let Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob rejoice and let Israel be glad. Why "Jacob shall rejoice"? Because Jacob grieves when Israel grieves, and when they are in distress; therefore when the redemption comes to Israel he rejoices with them. When does Jacob rejoice? When Israel is glad, as Resh Lakish expounded, when Israel sins, Jacob is afflicted here in the cave of Machpelah; therefore when the redemption comes he rejoices with them. But Rabbi Alexandri expounded another idea: why "Jacob shall rejoice"? A man who has a son to circumcise or who has taken a wife, who rejoices? The one invited to the feast. So Jacob is invited to the feast that the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to make for the righteous in the world to come; "listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel My called one" (Isaiah 48:12), [what is "My called one"?] My invited one; therefore when the feast of redemption comes he rejoices, for he is invited to the feast. When does Jacob rejoice? All this when the shofar is sounded in Zion, as it is said, "sound the shofar in Zion, sound an alarm on My holy mountain, for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is near." Thus expounded Rabbi Tanchuma son of Rabbi Abba.