07 Aug SHOFAR INSIGHTS – TISHA BA’AV & ‘See The Sounds’ (excerpt), Tet 9 – Tav 22
TISHA BA’AV – 9 OF AV, THE 9 DAYS & THE CONNECTION TO SHOFAR
SHOFAR INSIGHTS; SEE THE SOUNDS
(excerpt)
Hebrew letter TET = 9
Hebrew letter TAV = 22
The holiday season that begins with Tisha Ba av, and includes Elul and the Yom Tovim is considered a time of intense introspection… a time of cheshbon hanefesh (the taking of personal inventory) … tshuvah (a return to a pristine state of being). This is a time to focus on acknowledging and repairing of ones character and transgressions. I refer to this time period as ‘the season of tshuvah’.
The hearing of the shofar culminates the deeper concepts and realities of the process of tshuva. This is discussed in more depth in ‘See the Sounds’ (Aura of Torah.com- L. Lax).
The beginning of this time period of mourning commences with (The 3 Weeks , the 17th of Tammuz) that lead up to) the 9th of Av, Tisha Ba’ av, marking the day many tragedies that befell the Jewish People. Interim The 3 Weeks are The 9 Days on the 1st of Av leading up the 9th of Av, Tisha Ba’av. A 9 day period of increased mourning.
We thus recognize that where there is a spiritual lack of perfection, there are physical and spiritual consequences. The tragedy of the falling of the Temples (1st and 2nd) on this day demonstrates this concept.
Tisha Ba ‘av then gives us the insight that those things that lack perfection will break, leaving fragments of holiness that need to be extracted and elevated… in a manner that will bring about a reality that is better than before.
The translation of Tisha Ba ‘av is ‘the 9th Av. The Hebrew Tisha Ba ‘av תשעה באב can also be written ט’ באב ( ‘TeT’ Ba ‘av) as number 9 is the letter TeT (9) . Tet is said to be the ‘pregnant’ letter, as it looks to be pregnant, Its gematria value is 9, and refers to the 9 months of pregnancy to give birth ( 9 is the power to bring the potential to actualization). Whenever we see 9`s, it is an indication of something new that is to be given birth or re-birth to. Tet-9 is also represented as the first letter of ‘tov’-good. The first letter of a Hebrew word indicates the essence of the word. And 9 are the number of sefirots that pour (culminate) and become enveloped into malchut (kingship) as the 10th, a complete unit in the process of rectification.
Most notable in this investigation is that from the event of the destruction of the Temple (and other notable events) of Tisha Ba’av, The 9th of Av (which begins with the letter TeT – the gematria value of 9) we begin to rebuild, enter a period of rebirth and tikun (rectification) from the broken pieces. There is a powerful concept that the greatest sparks of holiness lay within the `broken pieces`(also referred to as the ‘fallen sparks of holiness’).
The letter TAV is another significant letter of the shofar makri (calls of the shofar blasts). As we said, Kabbalistically the first letter of any Hebrew word identifies the ‘essence’ of the word. Three of the makri begin with the letter TAV: TOKIAH/ shevarim –TERUAH /TOKIAH. TAV is the 22nd and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet (with a gematria of 400; as in 400 soldiers of Esau, 400 holy shekels of Avraham used to purchase Machpelah, and 400 (hidden/fallen) sparks of Holiness of the 4 Kabblistic Realms) and therefore ‘TAV‘ contains all the powers (of all the letters) that precede it’. 22 is also the number of versus in the Vidui/Confession; Ashamnu, where we admit an inventory of various transgressions.
Tav-22 as the final letter of the aleph-bet represents the cumulative powers of all the letters (and accordingly all words) of the aleph-bet… and the Torah.
The first Tokiah represents all that transpired (in your life) up to the point of your ongoing tshuvah. The Teruah breaks down our current ongoing tshuvah (as the 9 halachic minimum blast of rebirth) into smaller pieces. And the final Tokiah takes the culmination of all the efforts of our tshuvah (to date) and as the Tet-9 of Teruah represents a re-birth to elevate our tshuvah to shomayim (heavenward).
When we hear the shofar, the important blast sounded is the Teruah (the minimum 9 blasts). The 9 blast of Teruah is so important that another name used for Rosh Hashanah is Yom Teruah. It is halacha (law) that the minimum number of shofar blasts for teruah must be (not less than) 9 blasts.
Please refer to the diagram notation of Makri attached.
How this translates into reality is through the understanding that as we hear the first single long blast of tokiah, it represents the whole personal reality that we are today. As we do our cheshbon hanefesh (personal inventory) we begin to break down our (deficient) issues (of character), at first with the shevarim, the 3 medium length blasts , and then with the teruah, the 9 sharp and quick blasts, breaking issues down further into 9 (min.) bite size- and better able to focus on manageable pieces (issues of tshuvah). Thus we see the 9 blasts as giving birth (as in the 9 months to birth). We then once again sound the final long single blast of tokiah as the recipient of all (the tshuvah) that came before it as the final (tokiah) enveloping vessel sending our tshuvah heavenward as a `unified package` of our tshuvah .
Diagram;
Excerpt from Shofar Insights; See the Sounds
Leib Getzel (Lawrence) Lax
Addictions and Counseling (Hnrs)
http://www.lawrencelax.com