Concerning Rosh Hashanah, the Gemara says, Rosh Hashanah דף כז עמוד א, that מצות היום בשופר. The mitzvah of the day is to blow shofar. What is the reason for this mitzvah? So mainly, as we know, it's a גזירת הכתוב, it's a mitzvah given by the Torah that we have to keep just because Hashem wants us to do the mitzvah. But nevertheless, most mitzvot have, in addition to the fact that it's a mitzvah of Hashem, have also logical explanations. Now concerning the mitzvah of shofar, there is the famous Rav Saadia Gaon who gives 10 reasons why we have to blow shofar. The first reason is the concept of malchut, that when we blow shofar, this is the way we express our acceptance of the malchut of Hashem. Because as the pasuk says in תהלים, בחצוצרות וקול שופר הריעו לפני המלך השם, with trumpets and with the voice of a shofar you should blow in front of the King Hashem. And as we see בגשמיות, כדרך הטבע, naturally, that when they coronate a king, when you have the coronation, crown the king, they blow trumpets. So on Rosh Hashanah, when we blow shofar, this is to crown Hashem as king. This is all based on what the Gemara says in Rosh Hashanah, דף טז עמוד א and לד עמוד ב, that Hashem says to בני ישראל, אמרו לפני, I want you to say for Me the malchuyot, the pesukim that deal, that explain the fact that Hashem is the melech. And the reason for that is, כדי שתמליכוני עליכם, in order that you, Yidden, should make Me as a king on you. And then the end of the maamar Chazal is, ובמה? בשופר. And how do you do that? Through shofar. So shofar has in itself this concept of crowning Hashem as king. Now in truth, the inyan of shofar also has another remez in it, another meaning. As the Rambam says in פרק ג הלכה ד of Hilchos Teshuvah, that אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב, that even though blowing shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a גזירת הכתוב, is a mitzvah, nevertheless, רמז יש בו, it has a remez, it has a hint. And the remez is that this is to tell people, עורו ישנים משנתכם, wake up, those that are sleeping from your sleep, ונרדמים מתרדמתכם, and those that are in a deep sleep, wake up from your deep sleep, וחזרו בתשובה, and do teshuvah. So the remez of shofar is teshuvah, as Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon also brings it. So it comes out that in the inyan of shofar, we really have three main things. One thing is that it's a mitzvah, it's a mitzvah like any other mitzvah. The second thing is, it's a mitzvah that reminds us of teshuvah, it also has the inyan of teshuvah in it. And the third thing is, this is in order for us to accept the malchus of Hashem. Now really, this goes in an order. The highest level is the concept of מלכות, קבלת עול מלכות שמים, to accept upon oneself the kingdom of Hashem, that is the first thing. That comes even before קבלת מצוות, before accepting the mitzvos. As the Gemara says in ברכות, למה קדמה פרשת שמע לפרשת והיה אם שמוע? Why do we first have the parshah of שמע ישראל, and then we have the parshah of והיה אם שמוע? And the Gemara says the reason is, because כדי שיקבל עליו מלכות שמים תחלה, ואחר כך יקבל עליו עול מצוות. That first you have to accept upon yourself the yoke of the malchus, of the kingdom, and then you're able to accept the yoke of the mitzvos. The second parshah of Keriat Shema talks about the מצוות, והיה אם שמוע תשמעו אל מצותי, that you will listen to the mitzvot. But the first parashah of Keriat Shema, that deals mainly with קבלת עול מלכות שמים, with accepting the yoke of the kingship of Hashem. Because we say, שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד, Listen, O Israel, Hashem our God, Hashem is one. So first we proclaim that Hashem is one, which means we accept upon ourselves the malchut of Hashem, then we're able to accept upon ourselves the עול מצוות, the yoke of mitzvot. Which is the same as it says in the Mechilta, in Chumash Shemot, פרק כ פסוק ג, there it gives the mashal of a melech, and when a melech conquered a medinah, a country, and the people of the country came to the king and said to him, Please, גזור עלינו גזירות, make gezerot, give us your commandments, tell us what you want us to do. So the melech answered them, תחלה קבלו מלכותי, ואחר כך קבלו גזירותי. First accept my malchut, first accept me as king, and then you will accept my gezerot, my commands. And this is why Hashem He started the Aseret HaDibrot, before He gave any mitzvot, He started with the words, \"אנכי השם אלוקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים.\" \"I am your God. First accept Me as your God, accept Me as your melech, and then you will be able to accept the mitzvot.\" So it comes out that the first thing is קבלת מלכות. So this is the first thing that we have in the mitzvah of shofar, the inyan that through blowing shofar, we express our acceptance of Hashem as a melech. Then we have in the inyan of shofar the other two inyanim. First of all, it is a mitzvah like any other mitzvah, and another thing is the inyan of teshuvah, because teshuvah is in one way higher than other mitzvot. Because the concept of teshuvah is that if a person made a mistake and is missing something concerning the fulfillment of the mitzvot, through doing teshuvah, he could fix that up, and he could fill the vacuum that was caused by him not doing the mitzvot, by him doing an aveirah. That shows that teshuvah is greater than other mitzvot. Because if teshuvah would be as great, the same level as all other mitzvot, then how is it possible that if there was a problem concerning the קיום המצוה, by doing teshuvah, you should be able to fill the vacuum that happened through not doing the mitzvot or through doing an aveirah? Since we say when a person does teshuvah, this connects him again to Hashem, and this fixes up the mistake that happened through doing an aveirah, through not doing the mitzvot, obviously teshuvah is stronger than any other mitzvah. So it comes out that we have in the inyan of shofar the three inyanim: The first thing is the fact that through this we are mekabel the malchut of Hashem; then the fact that this is a mitzvah which comes after kabbalat malchut; but within mitzvah itself, we have the two inyanim: It is a mitzvah plus it is the inyan of teshuvah, which within mitzvot itself, it is the greatest mitzvah, it reaches deeper than any other mitzvah.

Now that we explained that in the inyan of shofar you have, in addition to it being a mitzvah, in addition to it being a remez for teshuvah, it also has the inyan of kabbalat malchut, which is even higher than the inyan of teshuvah, we will understand something else. The Gemara says in ראש השנה י\"ח עמוד א' concerning the pasuk in ישעיה, נ\"ה פסוק ו', that \"דרשו הוי' בהמצאו קראהו בהיותו קרוב,\" you should look for Hashem when He is found and call to Him when He is close. But the Gemara says that when is this, when is Hashem found and when is Hashem close? \"אלו עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים,\" these are the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So the Gemara refers to the עשרת ימי תשובה, to the ten days of teshuvah as ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Now lichorah this is a contradiction, because between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, you only have seven days, because Rosh Hashanah is two days and Yom Kippur is one day, so between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur you have seven days. Even the way it was originally mi-deOraita, that Rosh Hashanah was only one day, so you had eight days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. How could the Gemara say that these are ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as if there are ten days in between? So obviously what the Gemara is trying to tell us that Rosh Hashanah is also included in the עשרת ימי תשובה, and so is Yom Kippur, and that's how we have a cheshbon of ten days. But if they are included in the עשרת ימי תשובה, so how come the Gemara says ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? The Gemara should have said ten days from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur. But the lashon in the Gemara is, \"אלו עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים,\" these are the ten days between, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Obviously Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are not included in the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah. But that cheshbon is not true because if you don't include Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, then you don't have asarah yamim, you don't have ten days. So obviously what the Gemara is trying to tell us here that in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur you have two inyanim. On one hand, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are included in the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, and that's why we have a cheshbon of ten days. On the other hand, there is something in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which is beyond or different than what the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah are all about, and that's why the days of teshuvah are considered days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, excluding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But based on what we said before, we'll understand this. Because as we said before, concerning Rosh Hashanah we say מצות היום בשופר, the mitzvah of the day is the shofar. So whatever we find in the mitzvah of shofar, obviously this is the main nekudah, the main idea of Rosh Hashanah. Now we said before that in the inyan of shofar, we have the fact that it's a mitzvah, we have the inyan that it's not only a mitzvah, but it's the greatest mitzvah, which is the mitzvah of teshuvah, but in addition to that, there is something in the inyan of shofar which is beyond And beyond teshuvah, which comes before them, and this is the inyan of קבלת מלכות, the fact that we accept Hashem as our melech through the blowing of the shofar. And this is the peshat in the Gemara that Rosh Hashanah is one of the עשרת ימי תשובה. Therefore, Rosh Hashanah is a day of teshuvah. As we said before, Rosh Hashanah is a day when we have to do teshuvah, as the remez the Rambam brings concerning shofar. But in addition to that, there is something in Rosh Hashanah which is beyond the other days of עשרת ימי תשובה, meaning it's beyond the inyan of teshuvah. And that is the fact that on Rosh Hashanah we accept Hashem as our Melech, which is even higher, it comes before any mitzvah, including the mitzvah of teshuvah. And here we takeh see that throughout all the tefilot of Rosh Hashanah, we constantly mention the fact that we're accepting Hashem as king. We say מלוך על העולם כולו בכבודך, we ask Hashem, please be the king, reign on the whole world. When we finish off the berachah, in Shemoneh Esreh or in Kiddush we say מלך על כל הארץ, we mention that Hashem is the Melech. We say the ומלוך אתה השם לבדך, You, Hashem, Yourself should be the king, because Rosh Hashanah is the day when we accept Hashem as our Melech. And this is really what should go through our mind during all the tefilot of Rosh Hashanah. In addition to the fact that Rosh Hashanah is the יום הדין, ראש השנה is the day when Hashem judges us, and therefore we have to think of teshuvah, because in order for us to be judged for the good, we have to do teshuvah and show Hashem that we are changing our ways. But in addition to that, and even before that, we have to think of kabalat malchut on Rosh Hashanah, that we accept Hashem as our king. And this is what's supposed to go through our mind throughout all the tefilot of Rosh Hashanah.

This also explains why the shofar, when we blow the shofar, it's made up of two inyanim: we have the תקיעה, the תקיעה is the קול פשוט, this is the straight voice, the straight noise, and then we have the תרועה, which is תרועה and שברים, which is the sign of crying. The inyan of crying reminds us of the inyan of teshuvah, because when a person does teshuvah and really has the proper חרטה על העבר, the proper regret for the past, this automatically must bring a person to cry. If he realizes how bad he was and what he did was so terrible, this brings him to cry. With the two types of crying, we use ילולי יליל and גנוחי גנח, as it's explained in all the sefarim. And the inyan of the תקיעה, which is a קול פשוט, which is not the inyan of crying, that is to represent the inyan of קבלת מלכות. Because this קול פשוט, which is a simple straight voice, and it has no ציור, so to speak, it has no form, that reminds us of this concept of קבלת מלכות, which is a very straightforward, simple thing, without any form. When we do mitzvot, so each mitzvah has another meaning, so each mitzvah has a certain shape and a certain form. Even the inyan of teshuvah also has a certain shape: depending on what the aveirah was, that's the type of teshuvah we have to do. And other people do teshuvah in a higher madregah, some people do teshuvah in a lower madregah, so there are different forms and shapes in the concept of teshuvah also. But when it comes to קבלת מלכות, the feeling that you give yourself away to Hashem and you accept Hashem as king, this takes this has no form or shape, and it's not different between one person and another. This is a general concept which everyone is equal. Because the difference between one person and another is only when it comes to doing certain things: one does it one way, one does it the other way, one has this kavanah, one has that kavanah. But when it comes to the concept of bittul, of giving yourself up, of nullifying yourself, that is one general idea of giving oneself up to Hashem, and in this everyone is equal. And that's why this is expressed in the קול פשוט, in this straight regular kol which has no tune, and it has no shape, so to speak, and no form. This is to express the idea that we give ourselves over to Hashem, we are mekabel upon ourselves the ol malchut shamayim.

Then there's another inyan that is brought out in the inyan of shofar, and that is that when we blow shofar, it is supposed to represent a צעקה פנימית, an inner screaming, which comes from פנימיות הלב, from the inner part of the heart to Hashem, as the mashal of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov says that it is similar to when a son screams out to his father, אבא, אבא, רחמני, אבא, אבא, הצילני, that, \"Father, father, have pity on me! Father, father, save me!\" That it could come to a time when a child feels that he has no way out of a problem that he has, and the only way is by screaming to his father and asking him for help, without going into the details, just screaming out generally, הצילני and רחמני. This is the inyan of shofar, that we scream out to Hashem from the depth of our heart and we say, אבא, אבא, רחמני. אבא, אבא, הצילני, טאטע, טאטע, have pity on me, tate, tate, save me. And there's another mashal from the Baal Shem Tov on the inyan of shofar. A mashal from a melech who sent away his son to a faraway country wanting that his son should learn other languages, should learn the culture of other countries and get more educated. He gave him a lot of money and sent him away. But the son when he came to the other country, used up all his money, and then didn't have any more money left, got used to the lifestyle of the people there and forgot completely about his father. He got involved with a bad group, he had bad friends and he became like them. He started drinking, he became a drunk, he became a low person, and he forgot completely about his lifestyle the way it was when he was in his father's palace. He forgot even the language of his father. Then after a time, he just started realizing that he has to change and he has to get back. But he didn't even have money to buy new clothes, he didn't have money to get back, so slowly he went back with the same torn clothes till finally he reached the city where his father lives and he reached the palace and he wanted to go into the palace and speak to his father. But none of the guards recognized him, especially the way he was dressed. They wouldn't let him in. And he begged them and told them that he was the son of the king and they didn't believe him, they thought he was a meshuga and they send him away. So there was no way he could get to his father. The only thing he did was while he's standing outside of the palace, he thought, let me just scream out, tate, tate. And his father sitting in his palace in one of the rooms will hear his voice, and his father certainly will recognize his voice, and his father would come down and take him in and bring him back to the palace. And that's what he did. When he screamed out, אבא, אבא, his father heard and he said this sounds like my son. And he went down and looked and he saw this was his son and he brought him back. And through this, his son came back to the same lifestyle as he had before as it fits for the son of a king. And the same is with Bnei Yisrael. We originally were in the palace of Hashem which is before the neshama came down to this world. Hashem wants us to reach higher levels so he sent out the neshama to this physical world, gave it all the money it needs to live here the way Hashem wants, which means he gave us all the ability and the strength and the power that we should live here the way Hashem wants and through doing that we will reach higher levels even then the way the neshama was before. But because we are down here, we get used to the lifestyle of this world and we forget completely and we are far away. But when we want to return to Hashem there's no way we could get back to him. The only way is if we scream out from the depth of our heart to השם, אבא, אבא, רחמני, אבא, אבא, הצילני, השם recognizes our voice and he hears that this is what we want to do, we want to return to him, he helps us get back to him. And this is what the inyan of תקיעת שופר is. It is when we scream out to Hashem that we want to return to our father and this is the קול פשוט of the tekiah and it is the גנוחי גנח, ילולי ילי, the crying of the teruah and the shevarim, and by doing this we really show that we deeply truthfully mean to return to Hashem. Hashem accepts our shofar and he says, \"Now that you really mean it, you want to come back, you want to accept me as king,\" Hashem accepts it and he becomes our king and and he gives us a כתיבה וחתימה טובה, לשנה טובה ומתוקה, בגשמיות וברוחניות גם יחד.