The last set of Shofar calls are called SHOFAROT. It’s not really the most creative or differentiating of names, is it? All the sections are “SHOFAROT”—many shofars. Why were our liturgists too lazy to come up with a new name for this section? Or did they have something intentional in this seemingly repetitive nomenclature?

Maybe it’s the suggestion, possibility, or reality that the things that seem to be the most common and everyday hold much more for us. These three sections are a liturgical ascension, with the SHOFAROT sending us off into the New Year filled with hope and promise for what tomorrow will bring. Perhaps the message in the naming of this top of the liturgical mountain suggests to us that so much of what we seek and yearn for is already contained within us and our lives. We only need to return to our foundations (MALCHUYOT), engage the power of remembering (ZICHRONOT), and then we will have a map to find what we seek.

SHOFAROT takes its cue from the wisdom of Ecclesiastes and tells us that “the world has been placed in our hearts.” What is your sense of the idea that you have everything you need within? Bring to mind a time, place, or moment when you have felt this to be true. How might you go about excavating what is within?