If you'll look past the apparent fatuousness of the question, let me explain.
Even the Rambam in the Yad (albeit in Teshuva and not in Shofar,) finds a remez of hisorerus for teshuva in tekias shofar.
אע"פ שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב רמז יש בו כלומר עורו ישינים משנתכם ונרדמים הקיצו מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם. אלו השוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן ושוגים כל שנתם בהבל וריק אשר לא יועיל ולא יציל הביטו לנפשותיכם והטיבו דרכיכם ומעלליכם ויעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו הרעה ומחשבתו אשר לא טובה.
If that is a real taam or remez, why is there no mitzva of tekiah on Yom Kippur, the ultimate moment of teshuva, the cynosure, the destination of the past forty days?
And even if you say "It's a gzeiras hakasuv," why weren't chazal kovei'a tekiah during the aseres ymei teshuva? The short slichos erev Yom Kippur is only because it is sort of a Yomtov (Shelah - וכפי דעת הסוברים שגם בליל יום הכיפורים יש מצווה להרבות באכילה ושתייה, וממילא הוא קצת יום טוב ונכון למעט אז באמירת סליחות , and the Magen Avraham in תר"ד that one should even learn a little less so as to more time to eat), and has nothing to do with distraction from Teshuva.
I think the answer is that the shofar is עורו ישנים. If someone has to run a marathon, there are two steps. One, wake up. Two, run. Once you're woken, there is no point in carrying an alarm clock with you. Once the troops have been warned that they are under attack, that their life is in danger if they don't take up arms, there's no point in sounding the alarm any more. I think that Rosh HaShanna is when you have to wake up. Teshuva is good all the time, but dirshu begins davka on Rosh Hashanna. If you haven't woken up at that point, shh, close your eyes, you might as well go back to sleep.
In other words, just as the tekiyah of Rosh HaShanna is a vital part of the message of the yemei hateshuva, the silence of Yom Kippur is an equally powerful part of that message. If you haven't seriously undertaken the yoke of teshuva by now, forget about Elozor ben Durdaya. You are not Elozor ben Durdaya. You are finished. The absence of the tekiyah on Yom Kippur speaks just as loud as the tekiyah on Rosh Hashanna.
While at first this seemed very scary, I was reminded of the Maharsha Chidushei Adgados to Megilla 32a who explains the omission of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur from Moshe's takanah. He explains that the thrust of Moshe Rabbeinu's takanah is that the seasonal mitzvos associated with the festivals (succah, matzah, abstaining from melacha on yom tov, etc.) ought to command our attention on the festivals. The dominant Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur - Teshuva - is not seasonal because "a person should be pre-occupied with teshuva throughout the year. Also hopefully rather telling, is what I've seen written, that of the near 70 halachos which comprise Hilchos Teshuvah, only five of them touch upon Rosh Hashana and/or Yom Kippur.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping the petek can still be improved l'tov.