The shofar as Israel's inner God-given voice

איתא בגמ' אמרו לפני מלכיות כו' זכרונות שיעלה זכרוניכם לפני לטובה ובמה בשופר.

It is taught in the Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16a): "Recite before Me [verses of] Malchuyos (Kingship)… Zichronos (Remembrances), so that your remembrance shall rise before Me for good — and through what? Through the shofar."

Hashem instructs that on Rosh Hashanah we say verses of Kingship and Remembrance so that we be remembered favorably, and the vehicle for this is the shofar.

קשה הלא אמרו באמירה א"כ מאי הקושיא ובמה.

This is difficult: it already said "recite" — i.e., by verbal saying — so what is the question "and through what?"

If the verses are simply recited aloud, why does the Gemara then ask by what means they ascend, answering "the shofar"? The saying itself seems to be the means.

רק דקאי על מ"ש לפני.

Rather, the question refers back to the words "before Me (lefanai)."

The "through what?" is not about the saying, but about how the words actually come before Hashem — how they penetrate inward, lefanai.

ואיך יכולין להתקרב לפניו.

And how can [the words] draw near before Him?

The real difficulty is: by what power do our words gain entry into Hashem's innermost presence?

רק בשופר דאיתא בגמ' שופר דלזכרון קאתי כלפנים דמי.

Only through the shofar, for it is taught in the Gemara that "the shofar, since it comes for remembrance, is considered as [entering] within (kilfnim dami)."

The shofar uniquely has the status of penetrating to the innermost place; because it serves remembrance, its sound is regarded as reaching lifnei v'lifnim.

כמו כה"ג שנכנס ביוה"כ לפני ולפנים ע"ש.

Like the Kohen Gadol who enters on Yom Kippur into the lifnei v'lifnim (the Holy of Holies); see there.

Just as the Kohen Gadol alone may enter the innermost chamber on Yom Kippur, the shofar's sound is treated as entering that same inner place.

א"כ על ידי השופר נכנסים הדיבורים לפניו ית'.

Therefore, by means of the shofar, the spoken words enter before Him, may He be blessed.

The shofar is what carries our recited verses of Malchuyos and Zichronos inward, so they truly come "before Him."

והענין כי השופר הוא הקול המיוחד לבנ"י.

The matter is this: the shofar is the kol (voice/sound) that is special to Bnei Yisrael.

The shofar represents a sound belonging uniquely to the Jewish people.

ולכן אינו בדיבור ממש שהוא בהשתתפות שכל האדם רק קול פשוט.

Therefore it is not actual speech, which involves the participation of a person's intellect, but a simple, undifferentiated sound (kol pashut).

Unlike words, which are shaped by human reasoning, the shofar is a bare, simple cry — beneath and beyond the intellect.

והוא לרמוז כי כוחן של בנ"י הוא במתנה מהשי"ת כמ"ש חז"ל מדי דברי בו די דבורי שנתתי בו וזה הקול והדיבור שיש בטבע נפשות בנ"י יש לו חן בשמים והוא מעורר רחמים.

And this hints that the strength of Bnei Yisrael is a gift from Hashem, as Chazal expounded on "as often as I speak of him (midei dabri bo)" (Yirmiyahu 31:19) — "di dibburi she'nasati bo" ("it is enough that I placed My speech within him"); and this kol and dibbur that lies in the very nature of the souls of Bnei Yisrael finds favor (chein) in Heaven and arouses mercy.

The simple shofar-cry points to the truth that Israel's spiritual power is itself Hashem's gift implanted within them. That innate, God-given voice in the Jewish soul carries chein on high and awakens rachamim.

ובפסוק זה נכלל מלכיות זכרונות שופרות.

And in this very pasuk ("midei dabri bo… rachem arachamenu") are included Malchuyos, Zichronos, and Shofros.

The Sefas Emes finds all three themes of the day folded into this one verse from Yirmiyahu.

מדי דברי בו הוא בחי' מלכות שהנהגת השי"ת הוא מתגלה בבנ"י כמ"ש ותרועת מלך בו.

"As often as I speak of him" is the aspect of Malchus (Kingship), for Hashem's guidance is revealed through Bnei Yisrael, as it is written, "and the trumpet-blast (teruas) of the King is among them" (Bamidbar 23:21).

The first phrase corresponds to Kingship: Hashem's sovereignty becomes manifest specifically through Israel, in whom the King's teruah resounds.

זכור אזכרנו זכרונות.

"I will surely remember him (zachor ezkerenu)" — this is Zichronos (Remembrances).

The next phrase of the verse corresponds to the theme of Remembrance.

רחם ארחמנו הוא שופרות שהוא רחמים הקול קול יעקב:

"I will surely have mercy on him (rachem arachamenu)" — this is Shofros, for it is mercy, "the voice is the voice of Yaakov (ha'kol kol Yaakov)" (Bereishis 27:22).

The final phrase corresponds to the shofar: the mercy it arouses is the "voice of Yaakov" — the holy kol of Israel that stirs Hashem's compassion.

Summary: The Gemara's question "through what?" asks how our recited verses actually penetrate "before Him." The answer is the shofar, which, coming for remembrance, is reckoned as entering the innermost place like the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur. The shofar is a simple cry — not intellect-shaped speech — expressing that Israel's very strength is Hashem's own gift implanted in their souls, a voice that finds chein in Heaven and awakens mercy. All three themes — Malchuyos, Zichronos, Shofros — are contained in the verse "midei dabri bo… rachem arachamenu," the merciful "voice of Yaakov."