The Jewish calendar is set up in a way that we read Parshas Nitzavim on the shabbos before Rosh Hashana. One reason for this juxtaposition is because the Torah records the mitzvah of teshuvah in this week's parsha. At this time of year, as we are starting to say selichos and preparing for Rosh Hashanah, the Aseres Yemei Teshuva and Yom Kippur, it fits that we should focus on teshuva. Therefore, I thought that this week we will discuss two aspects of teshuva which our gedolim developed in connection with one of the major minhagim of Rosh Hashanah.

We blow 100 sounds of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah; this is a minhag, it is not mentioned anywhere in the Gemara. This minhag is mentioned in the writings of the Gaonim and cited by Tosfos (Rosh Hashanah 33b). The minhag to blow 100 sounds of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is linked to the lament of Sisra's mother. 'The Book of Our Heritage' explains[i] this custom in the following way.

It has become a wide spread custom to sound the shofar 100  times on Rosh Hashanah, including tekios, sh'varim and teruos. These hundred sounds are considered symbolic of the 101 letters contained in the lament of Sisra's mother as she awaited her son's return from the battlefield, as recalled in the song of Devora (Shoftim 4). The relationship of the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah and the lament of Sisra's mother bears further explanation. Furthermore, if this is the source of the custom of sounding the shofar more times than required, why do we not sound it 101 times?

The purpose of the sounding of the shofar is to arouse Hashem's compassion for the descendents of Yitzchak who was offered like a ram upon the altar, whereas the lament of Sisra's mother was an expression of grief suffused animosity and hatred. Waiting for her son to return from the battlefield she imagined that he was busy slaughtering and taking spoils, it was with thoughts such as these that she sought to console herself. Can there be greater cruelty? Therefore, we implore, may the 100 shofar sounds of compassion and mercy nullify every one of those other outcries, except one- the tza'ar of a mother over her son, for even the most brutal of mothers is deserving of compassion when she laments her son. Thus, we sound 100 sounds and not 101.

This is one standard explanation. We blow 100 sounds of the shofar to contrast our cries to the cries of Sisra's mother.

The Achronim develop other connections between the cries of the shofar and the cries of Sisra's mother. I want to present the approaches of the Rav zt”l and ybl”'ch Rav Elyashiv shli”ta.

Rav Elyashiv explains as follows[ii]. Sometimes there are people who feel very confident as they enter Rosh Hashanah. A person might be physically healthy, and he has a good job, so his income is secure. A person like that might be over confident and feel that since, b'derech hateva, he is doing well, then he does not have much to worry about on Rosh Hashanah. We learn from the story of Sisra and his mother's cry that one should not be over confident. Sisra had 900 chariots; b'derech hateva, according to the ordinary rules of warfare, he should have won. The Navi explains that from Shamayim Hashem fought against Sisra and he was defeated miraculously. Therefore, we learn from the defeat of Sisra that there is more to life than the ordinary rules of nature, there is the spiritual world- there are spiritual forces. Sisra was a rasha and Hashem decided it was time for him to lose. So, even though b'derech hateva Sisra was supposed to win, he lost.

The nimshal for us is to realize that everything depends on Hakadosh Baruch Hu; there is a spiritual world. A person who is doing well b'derech hateva should feel the same dependency on Hakadosh Baruch Hu and approach the Yom HaDin with the same fear and trepidation as someone whose life is not going as well. This is a powerful message which Rav Elyashiv develops based on this minhag.

The Rav has another approach[iii].

Yet, although overtly anticipating her son's triumphant return, in a deep recess of her heart Sisra's mother tragically sensed that this time he was in fact never coming home again….

Upon hearing the piercing tones of the shofar, we must experience a similar emotion as we awaken from spiritual complacency, we must witness our own illusions being relentlessly shattered.

Sisra's mother's friends were consoling her, they were making excuses- maybe he is late because he is still pillaging cities, and the like. Yet, Sisra's mother was still crying. Why? Because deep down she knew the truth, her son was never coming home again. The nimshal is that a person sometimes is involved in an aveirah and he makes excuses- it is because of his environment, his friends, etc.

“It is not really my fault; it is out of my control.” However, deep down he knows the truth, deep down he knows that he is in control and that if he puts the effort in then he can beat the yetzer hara. The challenge is to be fully truthful and shatter the illusion of our excuses. This is the lesson we have to draw from the cries of eim Sisra. If a person deep down knows the truth, then he will wake up and start the process of teshuva.

These are several deep ideas which our gedolim developed based on the connection between the 100 cries of Sisra's mother and the 100 sounds of the shofar. Let us all be zocheh to be inspired by the message of the 100 kolos and use this time of year to do a complete teshuvah and be zocheh to a ksiva v’chasima tova.

[i] Vol. 1, p.20
[ii] ‘Ha'aros l'Maseches Rosh Hashanah,’ p. 246.
[iii] 'Rabbi Soloveitchik on the Days of Awe,' p. 10.