Binding renewal to its concealed root
Rosh Hashanah · shofar · renewal · teshuvah · concealed world
תקעו בחודש שופר כו'.
"Blow the shofar at the new moon…"
The Sefas Emes takes the verse "Blow the shofar at the chodesh (new month/renewal)" (Tehillim 81:4) as his theme, hearing in "chodesh" the idea of renewal.
פי' שבני ישראל צריכין לראות בכל מיני התחדשות לקשר ההשפעות במקור עליון דהוא שופרא דכולא.
Meaning that Bnei Yisrael must look, in every kind of renewal, to bind the influences (hashpaos) to their supernal source, which is the shufra dechola (the beauty/source of all).
Whenever new vitality flows into the world, Bnei Yisrael are to trace it back and bind it to its supernal origin — the "beauty of all," the root from which all blessing descends (a play on shofar / shufra, "beauty").
וז"ש איזה חג שהחודש מתכסה בו כו' פירוש שכל המועדות הם התגלות הארה עליונה מקראי קודש.
And this is the meaning of "Which festival is it on which the moon is covered…?" — that all the festivals are a revelation of supernal illumination, "holy convocations."
Chazal identify Rosh Hashanah as the festival when the moon is "covered." All Yamim Tovim reveal a supernal light (mikra'ei kodesh), but Rosh Hashanah is unique in that this light is concealed.
והחג הזה בכסה פי' שבנ"י מקשרין ההתחדשות בעלמא דאתכסיא.
And this festival is "in concealment" (bakeseh), meaning that Bnei Yisrael bind the renewal to the alma de'iskasya (the concealed world).
On Rosh Hashanah the new vitality of the year is bound not to a revealed light but to the hidden supernal world — the concealed root from which the whole year's flow will issue.
וזהו תקיעה לתקוע הכל בשורש העליון המכוסה ואח"כ תרועה.
And this is the tekiah — to drive (litkoa) everything into the concealed supernal root — and afterward the teruah.
The long, whole tekiah blast represents fixing and rooting everything firmly into that hidden supernal source; only afterward comes the broken teruah.
ותקיעה פשוטה לפני' ואחרי' כו' פי' ע"י שבנ"י מקשרין השפעה החדשה בשורשה עי"ז יכולין לתקן גם מה שכבר נתקלקל לחזור לדבקה בשורש התשובה:
And a plain tekiah before it and after it… — meaning that through Bnei Yisrael binding the new influence to its root, they are thereby able to repair even what has already become spoiled, to return and cleave to the root of teshuvah.
The sequence of a whole tekiah, then a broken teruah, then a whole tekiah again teaches that by first anchoring the fresh flow in its pure root, one gains the power to mend even past damage — drawing the broken (the teruah) back to wholeness and cleaving anew to the root, which is the essence of teshuvah.
Summary: On Rosh Hashanah Bnei Yisrael take each fresh inflow of vitality and bind it to its concealed supernal root — the "beauty of all." This is the meaning of the shofar's order: the whole tekiah drives everything into that hidden source, and once the new flow is anchored there, even the broken and damaged (the teruah) can be repaired and returned to wholeness through teshuvah.