[Avodah] Brisk and shofar

[Eli Turkel]

I found a nice example of the different wat Brisk approaches questions.

In halichot Shlomo it brings a story of a "baal tokeah" who got very
emotional before blowing the shofar.
The local rabbi reprimanded him asking whether he also gets emotional when
putting on tefillin.
When RSZA heard the story he was upset at the rabbi and brought a letter
from R. Akiba Eiger.
R Eiger writes in a similar case that in theory we should get emotional at
every bracha and mitzva.
In practice thing we do frequently live is jaded. However, shofar comes
once or twice a year and
so it is appropriate to get emotional over the bracha and mitzvah.

RYBS brings a similar story with his father (RMS) who was rabbi in a chabad
community and also
asked the baal tokeah why he was so emotional. RYBS says he disagrees with
his father. However,
instead of the "emotional" answer of R. Akiva Eiger and RSZA, RYBS gives a
Brisker answer. He
divides mitzvot into 2 categories. For most mitzvot the main idea is simply
to perform the act,
put on tefillin, tzizit, erect a fence on the roof etc. However, for some
mitzvot in addition to the formal
act there is a thought behind it. The obvious example is tefillah where
mere recital of the words is
not enough. RYBS proves that shofar is in the second category and shofar is
meant as a way
of crying out to G-d and leading to teshuva. So the message is important
and not just the formal act.
Hence, it is important to think about the message when blowing and
listening to the shofar.

In summary according to R. Akiva Eiger one should in theory get emotional
at every bracha and mitzvah
but it simply is diffucult to do for verey day mitzvot and so we "settle"
for shofar. For RYBS there is a
fundamental difference between shofar (and a few other selected mitzvot)
from the majority of
brachot and mitzvot.

-- 
Eli Turkel
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