Shofar as foretaste of the World to Come

אם כבנים אם כעבדים.

"Whether as children, whether as servants."

This phrase from the Rosh Hashanah tefillah expresses the two ways we stand before Hashem on the Day of Judgment — as His beloved children and as His servants. The Sefas Emes will show how the shofar embodies both.

כי השופר רומז לקבלת התורה וזה כבנים.

For the shofar alludes to the receiving of the Torah, and this is the aspect of "children."

The shofar recalls Matan Torah at Har Sinai, where a great shofar sounded. Receiving the Torah is the intimate, loving bond of children with their Father.

ורומז ג"כ לעבודת ביהמ"ק שהי' שם שופרות והכל אחד כי שופר הוא מעין עוה"ב כמ"ש יתקע בשופר גדול.

And it also alludes to the avodah of the Bais Hamikdash, where there were shofaros, and it is all one — for the shofar is a foretaste of the World to Come, as it is written: "He shall sound a great shofar" (Yeshayahu 27:13).

The same shofar also points to the service of the Bais Hamikdash, where shofaros were sounded. Both are really one idea, because the shofar is a taste of Olam Haba, the world of complete revelation hinted at in the "great shofar" of the future geulah.

ובביהמ"ק הי' מתעורר בכל יום הארה מקבלת התורה שהי' בשופר מעין עוה"ב.

And in the Bais Hamikdash, an illumination from the receiving of the Torah was aroused every day, which was in the shofar, a foretaste of the World to Come.

While the Bais Hamikdash stood, a daily radiance of Matan Torah — a glimmer of Olam Haba — was awakened through the shofar of the Temple service.

ועכשיו יש יום אחד בשנה בר"ה שמתעורר בו זה הקול.

And now there is one day in the year, on Rosh Hashanah, on which this sound is aroused.

In our time, without the Bais Hamikdash, this awakening comes only once a year — on Rosh Hashanah, when the shofar is sounded.

והוא מתנה מהשי"ת כמ"ש יום תרועה יהי' לכם וכ' אשרי העם יודעי תרועה:

And it is a gift from Hashem, as it is written: "It shall be a day of teruah for you" (Bamidbar 29:1), and it is written: "Fortunate is the people that knows the teruah" (Tehillim 89:16).

This annual arousal through the shofar is a precious gift from Hashem. "A day of teruah for you" — it is given to us; and "fortunate is the people that knows the teruah" — fortunate are Bnei Yisrael who recognize and connect to this inner sound.

Summary: The Sefas Emes explains that the shofar of Rosh Hashanah unites the two relationships of "children" and "servants" — it alludes both to the loving receiving of the Torah at Sinai and to the avodah of the Bais Hamikdash, and both are one, for the shofar is a foretaste of Olam Haba. What once shone daily in the Bais Hamikdash now reaches us only on Rosh Hashanah, a precious yearly gift from Hashem to the people who knows the teruah.