Introduction
We continue with Psalm 81, a psalm dedicated entirely to Rosh Hashanah and the sounding of the shofar. In this part, we will examine the verse "For it is a statute for Israel" and the meaning of statute (chok) and judgment (mishpat) regarding the mitzvah of shofar, and from there move on to "He appointed it as a testimony in Yehosef" and the description of the end of the enslavement in Egypt.
"For It Is a Statute for Israel" - A Statute for Us, a Judgment for Him
כִּי חֹק לְיִשְׂרָאֵל הוּא מִשְׁפָּט לֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב׃ - For it is a statute for Israel, a judgment for the God of Jacob.
Rashi explains: "a statute" from Hashem to sound the shofar on this day; thus Hashem decreed and thus He established. And "a judgment for the God of Jacob," as we explained, is because on this day the Holy One, blessed be He, "by justice establishes the earth."
The holy Alshich raises a difficulty: After all, the blast of the shofar is intended to humble and instill dread, as it says, "Shall a shofar be blown in a city, and the people not tremble?" If so, someone who is a tzaddik, why does he need a shofar? He already stands in trembling and awe. Rather, when the Jewish people are on a high spiritual level, they are called "Israel" (Yisrael), an expression of mastery and nobility; and when they are on a lower level, they are called "Jacob" (Yaakov), an expression of the heel (akev), lowliness. Therefore the verse says: "For it is a statute for Israel" - for the righteous person, who does not need to subdue his evil inclination, the shofar blast is a statute, a royal decree and a hidden mystery, yet nonetheless he is obligated to blow. Whereas the aspect of "judgment" - meaning that this is a time of judgment requiring one to awaken, to tremble, and to repent - is "for the God of Jacob": those who are on the level of Jacob must be aroused because the day is a day of judgment.
The Malbim explains that we do not need to seek out or investigate a rational reason for the mitzvah of shofar, because for Israel it is a statute (chok), something that Hashem has decreed. But it is "a judgment for the God of Jacob" - Hashem knows the underlying reason for the matter, and for Him it is a rational judgment (mishpat). What is the difference between a statute and a judgment? A judgment is something understandable to human intellect, whereas a statute is "a decree I have enacted," without a reason revealed to us, like the prohibitions of shaatnez and mixed agricultural species (kilayim).
Indeed, when attempting to understand the shofar blowing in a simple, literal manner, many questions arise. It is said that through the shofar we confuse the Satan, as he thinks we are repenting. But the Satan is already old; does he not remember that in previous years people did not fully repent? Why would he suddenly panic now? And in general, how does the shofar generate appeasement and favor before God? How does it cause Hashem to decree life upon us? This we cannot comprehend. For us, the shofar blast is a statute, while understanding the matter according to its true rationale and reason belongs to "the God of Jacob" alone.
And why is He called here "the God of Jacob"? The Malbim explains that this expression always indicates that the Holy One, blessed be He, oversees and examines His creations. We have mentioned this several times: "Elohim" refers to the general God of the entire world, whereas "the God of Israel" refers to His individual divine providence (hashgachah pratit) over us. Here too, "a judgment for the God of Jacob" comes to teach that from the perspective of individual providence over the people of Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, prepared a day of judgment to examine their deeds and judge each person according to their ways.
Why Specifically "For the God of Jacob"? Israel by Day and the Nations by Night
One must understand: after all, on this day all inhabitants of the world pass before Him like a flock of sheep (kivnei maron), not only the descendants of Jacob. Why, then, does the Malbim link the judgment specifically to divine providence over them? Rather, judgment regarding the people of Israel comes from the attribute of mercy, whereas for the nations of the world it comes from strict justice. For it is written that the nations are judged on Rosh Hashanah at night, while the Jewish people are judged by day.
Where in the Torah do we see that the nations are judged at night? Pharaoh's dream occurred at night, and on the calendar that was Rosh Hashanah, as the Sages teach that on Rosh Hashanah, Joseph was released from prison. And why was Pharaoh shown his future then? Because on Rosh Hashanah a person is shown what will happen with him in the coming years. If so, he should have dreamed during the day, for only during the day is judgment sealed. Rather, for the nations of the world, judgment is sealed at night, because night is a time of strict judgments, as discussed in Mishnat HaChalomot. Thus we find regarding "a judgment for the God of Jacob": mercy and loving-kindness are for Jacob, who are judged by day, whereas the nations, whose judgment is at night, do not receive that aspect of mercy.
The Question of the Bnei Yissaschar and the Explanation of Reb Zusha
תִּקְעוּ בַחֹדֶשׁ שׁוֹפָר בַּכֵּסֶה לְיוֹם חַגֵּנוּ׃ - Blow the shofar at the new moon, at the designated time for our festival day.
The Bnei Yissaschar wonders: we seek to understand the reason for the mitzvah of the shofar, yet the verse responds, "For it is a statute (chok) for Israel." What kind of explanation or reason is this? He cites the holy Rabbi Zusha: in the Torah there are rational mitzvos, known as mishpatim (judgments), whose reasons are readily understood, such as "Do not steal" and the like. In contrast, there are mitzvos that are purely based on hearing and receiving (shema'iyos) - you heard the command and so you must do - such as putting on tefillin and other mitzvos that transcend human logic and rationale, which we fulfill simply because they are a decree (chok).
Our Sages teach that the nations of the world taunt (monin) Israel: What is this mitzvah, and what purpose is there to it? The term monin comes from distress or affliction, as in "You shall not mistreat (tono) one another" - they vex us. The nations do not have commandments without a rational reason. When Muhammad forbade Muslims from drinking alcohol, there was a reason: he knew that the mixture of a Muslim temperament and alcohol creates an explosion, so it made sense. In all their other matters as well, they do not engage in things that defy logic. Only in the Torah do we find commandments whose rationale is not understood by human intellect, and the nations challenge and mock us when they see us performing mitzvos that seem strange to them. One might wonder: Master of the Universe, why did You not reveal the reasons for all the mitzvos, so that the nations would not taunt us?
Reb Zusha explains: know that the existence of chukim (statutes) is of tremendous benefit to the Jewish people, specifically when they stand on trial. When we stand in judgment, the prosecutors arrive to convict us for our misdeeds, and the Holy One, blessed be He, cannot simply say, "I will overlook it," for "a king establishes the land through justice": there must be defense and prosecution, arguments must be heard, and only then is the verdict handed down. He cannot simply waive justice for no reason. So what does Hashem do when He finds no merit for Israel? This is the merit He finds for them: Look, the Jewish people observe commandments that are statutes; they fulfill them even without understanding their reasons, even when they make no logical sense to them. If so, they are worthy that Hashem rescue them even without rational justification! This is "Blow the shofar at the new moon, at the designated time for our festival day." And what is the reason? "For it is a statute for Israel" - the very statutes that the people of Israel observe are what bring about "an ordinance (mishpat) of the God of Jacob," enabling the Holy One, blessed be He, to vindicate us in judgment even beyond the bounds of ordinary logic.
The Chida: The Shofar of Elul and the Shofar of Rosh Hashanah
The Midrash states that the shofar is sounded "in order to confound the Satan." The Satan hears the blast of the shofar and thinks: this must surely be the great shofar heralding the redemption. Tosafos cite this in Tractate Rosh Hashanah 16b. In other words, the Satan is thrown into panic, believing that the day of his demise has arrived, and in this way we bewilder and silence him.
The Chida raises a difficulty: this is puzzling, for throughout the entire month of Elul we blew the shofar every morning! Does the Satan not wake up for Selichos? On the contrary, he is awake even before everyone else - as proven by how many people fail to show up for Selichos! A story is told of the son of the Brisker Rav, whose father said to him, "Come, get up already! The evil inclination is already awake before you, and now he is working on you not to get out of bed." Another time he told him, "Look, Ivan the neighbor is already up and you are still asleep." The son replied, "Father, that is no surprise. The one who puts me to sleep is the very one who wakes up Ivan! He lulls me to sleep so that I will not fulfill mitzvos, and he wakes Ivan up, saying, 'Get up, Ivan, you have sins to commit!'"
If so, throughout the entire month of Elul the shofar is blown at dawn, and the Satan knows full well that this is not the shofar of the redemption. Why, then, is he seized with terror and trembling on Rosh Hashanah? The Chida explains: there is a fundamental difference between the shofar of Elul and the shofar of Rosh Hashanah. In Elul, the sounding is meant solely for personal awakening, as it says in Amos, "Can a shofar be blown in a city and the people not tremble?" - its purpose is to stir the heart and awaken man, but it does not effect changes in heaven. On Rosh Hashanah, however, the shofar blasts arouse supernal lights and manifestations of divine mercy above. As is known, the kabbalists have profound intentions (kavannos) during the shofar blowing, and it possesses the power to overturn the stern judgment on high. It is this heavenly transformation that terrifies and shakes the sitra achara (the other side).
This is what the verse hints at: "Blow in the month" refers to the shofar of Elul, which is meant to awaken a person to repentance; but "the shofar at the designated time for our festival day," the blowing of Rosh Hashanah, is "a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob," commanded by Hashem to arouse mercy at the hour of judgment. Do not equate the sounding of Elul with the sounding of our festival day, for on Rosh Hashanah we stop the Satan's mouth, and he is thrown into panic and cannot prosecute.
And Why Is the Satan Panicked Specifically Now?
Yet one must still ask: every year he hears these blasts, and he knows that this is not the Great Shofar of the redemption, but simply the annual mitzvah of sounding the shofar! Moreover, the Satan knows Halachah better than we do. After all, "the greater a person is, the greater his yetzer hara (evil inclination)"; the Rambam could not have had an unlearned, ignorant yetzer hara, for if the yetzer came to entice the Rambam, it had to engage him with deep halachic analysis and subtle reasoning! Thus, the yetzer hara is thoroughly versed in all these matters and knows perfectly well when Rosh Hashanah arrives and what is performed on it.
Rather, the masters of mussar explain: all of this is certainly known to him, but he fears that the moment the shofar is sounded, "and the people will not tremble?" - a person might awaken in an instant. That is what terrifies him: perhaps we will hear the sound of the shofar, awaken and repent, and immediately the great shofar will be sounded. He does not mistakenly think that this is the great shofar; rather, he fears lest we cause it to arrive.
And if you ask: but all these years he has heard the sound of the shofar and seen that we did not awaken - for two thousand years we have been asleep - why would he think that specifically now we will awaken? This is no difficulty regarding the Satan, for his entire purpose is to make a person forget the Torah, the mitzvot, and the service of Hashem: "You forgot the Rock that bore you" (teshi, an expression of forgetfulness and oblivion). And since he is the master of forgetfulness, there is no greater forgetter than he. Therefore, he forgets what happened last year, when they did not repent, and fears that perhaps this time they will. And from this we learn how much one must utilize this time for teshuva.
"He Ordained It as a Testimony in Yehosef"
עֵדוּת בִּיהוֹסֵף שָׂמוֹ בְּצֵאתוֹ עַל־אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם שְׂפַת לֹא־יָדַעְתִּי אֶשְׁמָע׃ - "He ordained it as a testimony in Yehosef when He went out over the land of Egypt; I heard a language I did not know."
Rashi cites the homiletic teaching of Chazal that on Rosh Hashanah Yosef was released from prison. Yosef's dream took place on Rosh Hashanah; the dreams of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker took place on Rosh Hashanah; and Pharaoh's dream took place on Rosh Hashanah. There is an exact reckoning of years from the time he dreamed until the time he rose to rule, from Rosh Hashanah to Rosh Hashanah. And on the words "I heard a language I did not know," Rashi cites the teaching of Chazal that the angel Gavriel taught him seventy languages.
Radak explains: a memorial and a testimony to this statute, which is the sounding of the shofar, He placed in Yehosef. And why "Yehosef" rather than "Yosef"? Do not be surprised: just as we find Yochanan and Yehochanan, Yonadav and Yehonadav, and other names in Tanach to which the letter hei is added. And who is Yosef here? The collective Jewish nation. We have already mentioned that all of Klal Yisrael are called Yosef, as in "He Who leads Yosef like a flock," meaning that Hashem leads us like a flock and calls us Yosef; and as in "perhaps Hashem, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Yosef," where it likewise refers to all of Israel. Just as the collective tribes of the Kingdom of Samaria are called "Ephraim," as in "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him be," so too Yosef is a collective name, named after the leader of all of Israel. And why were they named after him? Because he was the provider who sustained the entire Jewish people.
And what is the testimony? "When He went out over the land of Egypt" - when the Jewish people went out from the land of Egypt. And as we have explained, the theme of Rosh Hashanah is to remember the Exodus from Egypt, for on Rosh Hashanah the subjugation already ceased and the initial stage of the departure toward freedom began. Alternatively, "over the land of Egypt" corresponds to the expression "and Bnei Yisrael were going out with a high hand," the departure that took place in Nisan. Radak further adds: what seems correct to me is that "in His going out" refers not to Yehosef, but to the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is written, "I will go out into the midst of Egypt," meaning that the Holy One, Blessed be He, passed through Egypt to redeem us.
"I Heard a Language I Did Not Know" - Preserving the Language in Egypt
And what is "I heard a language I did not know"? When Hashem redeemed us, I would hear them speaking in a tongue that was not our own, as it is written, "the house of Yaakov from a people of foreign tongue." And if you ask: two hundred and ten years and you did not learn the language? For we know that they did not change their language and did not change their names, but always spoke in their own tongue, distinct from the language of the kingdom.
And so it was in Europe as well: those who trembled at the word of Hashem did not learn the language of the country. They knew neither Polish nor Russian, but spoke Yiddish; in Spain they spoke Ladino; and in many places they spoke a language unique to the Jews, and most of them did not know the language of the land at all. It is related of the Rogatchover Gaon that he did not know Russian, and they said of him that had he spent a single night reviewing a Russian dictionary he would have spoken fluent, literary Russian, yet he did not learn it. Learning foreign languages led to closeness with the non-Jew, for the moment you know his language you establish ties with him, and that was considered dangerous.
It was once recounted that the Russian government compelled the Volozhin Yeshiva to teach languages, and they sent a commissioner to verify that it was indeed being taught, and that if not, they would shut down the institution. It was agreed that the commissioner would tell a story and a student would repeat it. They brought the Rogatchover before him, and he repeated the story from beginning to end, word for word. Suddenly the commissioner burst into laughter, for in the middle of the story he had coughed and said "excuse me," and the Rogatchover, who did not understand a word, included the "excuse me" in the story as well! From this he understood that the young man was merely reciting by rote. He said: in the Volozhin Yeshiva they do not learn languages, but they cultivate geniuses. We see, then, that they did not learn languages. And that is "I heard a language I did not know": I was unfamiliar with the Egyptian language, for we spoke the Hebrew tongue and safeguarded our language so as not to assimilate and mix among them.
And as for Yosef ultimately hearing that language: because it was recorded in Egyptian royal protocol that anyone unfamiliar with the languages could not be a ruler, therefore Gavriel came and taught him seventy languages.
The Malbim: Whose Language Did I Not Know?
The Malbim explains: Yosef's release from prison took place on Rosh Hashanah, and on that very Rosh Hashanah the decree of famine and abundance was judged - seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine - and that was when Pharaoh dreamed his dream. Thus, Hashem placed a testimony in Yosef that on this day He judges the world regarding famine and abundance, and over all the actions and steps of man, "when He went forth over the land of Egypt."
And what is the meaning of "I heard a language I did not know"? Its meaning is: I suddenly heard Hashem speaking to me. The "language" of One whose language I did not know refers to the Holy One, blessed be He, who had not previously revealed Himself to Yosef through prophecy, and yet he hears His language saying, "I removed the burden from his shoulder." That is to say, even though it was Pharaoh who told him to go free and granted him kingship, Yosef, who lived in constant attachment to the Holy One, blessed be He, knew that the hidden utterance of the Holy One, blessed be He, was what had truly liberated him.
An Insight from Rabbi Meir of Premishlan: "The Bank of the River"
There is a wonderful insight from Rabbi Meir of Premishlan, an idea also cited in the Bnei Yissaschar and other works. Pharaoh says to Yosef, "In my dream, behold, I was standing on the bank (sefat) of the river," and concerning this the Midrash states: This is what is written, "He appointed it as a testimony in Yehosef when He went forth over the land of Egypt; I heard a language (sefat) I did not know." And what is the connection between these things?
Rather, it is as follows: When Pharaoh dreamed, Scripture states, "and Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood over the river," whereas when he recounted it to Yosef, he said, "on the bank (sefat) of the river." Rashi's well-known explanation is that he felt uncomfortable saying he stood above the river, because the river was their deity, and it was unseemly for Pharaoh to stand above his god, even though that is how he indeed envisioned it in his dream.
The Holy Zohar provides another reason: there was a planted detail here. As is known in interrogations, there are concealed details used to test whether a person is lying, and Pharaoh deliberately altered the detail by adding "the bank" (sefat) to see if Yosef would catch it. And indeed, Yosef corrected him and said to him: You did not stand on the bank of the river, but over the river itself. From this, Pharaoh declared, "Can we find such a one, a man in whom is the spirit of God?" After all, he had many interpreters, and who could say which interpretation was correct? But Yosef was the only one who knew how to correct him regarding what he actually dreamed, and this was proof that the spirit of God was within him.
And this is the allusion in our verse: "He appointed it as a testimony in Yehosef when He went forth over the land of Egypt." What was the testimony that proved to Pharaoh that Yosef was so wise that he should be appointed ruler over all the land of Egypt? "A language (sefat) I did not know I heard" - Yosef said to Pharaoh: This word "sefat" I did not know, where did you get it from? There was no "sefat" there, only the river! And that was the testimony that led Pharaoh to place Yosef over the land of Egypt.
Let us also mention another matter regarding the name "Yehosef": it is written that in order to teach Yosef seventy languages, a letter from the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, had to be added to his name. Through the power of that letter, Yosef absorbed all seventy languages in a single night. This is one of the explanations for why it says "Yehosef" here instead of "Yosef."
"I Removed the Burden from His Shoulder" - The End of the Bondage
הֲסִירוֹתִי מִסֵּבֶל שִׁכְמוֹ כַּפָּיו מִדּוּד תַּעֲבֹרְנָה׃ - "I removed the burden from his shoulder; his hands were freed from the basket."
Here we have a description of the reality in which the Jewish people left Egypt. The time Yosef went out to rule was on Rosh Hashanah, and on Rosh Hashanah the subjugation of the Jewish people in Egypt also ceased, six months before the Exodus from Egypt. Concerning this, Hashem says, "I removed the burden from his shoulder" - I removed the burden from their shoulder, and the subjugation came to an end.
And what is the meaning of "his hands were freed from the pot" (kappav middud ta'avorna)? There are several interpretations that lead to the same essential conclusion. Rashi explains: from the labor of cooking in pots, in the manner of slaves. A dud is a cooking pot, as it is written regarding the sons of Eli, "and struck it into the pan or the pot." That is to say, they no longer had to perform slave labor and cook for the Egyptians; their hands were removed from the pots, and they were released from this task.
The Ibn Ezra explains that they would make mortar and bricks and carry them in baskets, and this is "his hands were freed from the basket" - that their hands were removed from the labor of carrying mortar and bricks in baskets.
The Radak explains: from making pots. They would force them into many kinds of labor, including working with clay to fashion earthenware pots, and now "his hands were freed from the pot." And whether the intention is cooking in pots, carrying mortar and bricks in baskets, or manufacturing earthenware pots, the core idea is one and the same: the labor ceased, and they no longer had to work for the needs of the Egyptians.
And if you ask why the verse doubles its expression - "I removed his shoulder from the burden" and "his hands were freed from the pot" - according to Rashi and the Radak, this is beautifully understood: "From the burden of his shoulder" refers to the harsh labor they carried upon their shoulders, as the Radak explains that they carried the bricks upon their shoulders, and in this, "I removed from them the harsh labor." One might have thought that they were not yet completely liberated, since they might still have had to perform lighter tasks, such as cooking for them or making pottery. Therefore, the verse states that the subjugation ceased entirely, to the point that "his hands were freed from the pot" as well. According to the Ibn Ezra, this explanation does not align as neatly, since in his view, carrying the mortar and bricks in baskets would already be included in "I removed his shoulder from the burden"; but according to Rashi and the Radak, Scripture comes to teach that even the relatively lighter labors they no longer had to perform for them.
The Malbim connects the verse to what preceded it: When Pharaoh saw that Yosef knew how to interpret dreams, he released him to freedom and granted him royalty, yet it was not truly Pharaoh who was speaking. This is the meaning of "I heard a language I did not know" - the language of the One Whom I did not know, the hidden speech of the Holy One, Blessed be He, which is what brought Yosef out to freedom. And He is the One Who says, "I removed his shoulder from the burden": just as I removed the suffering in the days of Yosef, so will I remove it now.
In summary:
The chapter teaches us that the blowing of the shofar is a "statute for Israel" (chok le-Yisrael), a mitzvah whose underlying rationale we cannot fully fathom. Yet precisely therein lies our strength: because we observe mitzvos without demanding a reason, the Holy One, Blessed be He, can vindicate us in judgment even without merit or reason. This is "an ordinance [mishpat] of the God of Yaakov," stemming from His individual Divine providence and the compassion He shows toward us, for we are judged by day, unlike the nations who are judged at night. The shofar of Elul awakens the heart, while the shofar of Rosh Hashanah awakens lights and mercy above and baffles the Accuser; hence, how immensely we must utilize these days for teshuvah. And Scripture anchors all of this in "a testimony in Yehosef": on that very Rosh Hashanah when Yosef emerged from prison, judgment was decreed upon the world, and on that very same day the suffering of Israel in Egypt ceased - to teach us that the hidden Voice that brought Yosef out to freedom and removed the burden from Israel's shoulder is the Voice we seek to hear today as well.