“The King’s Teru’a Is in Him”

The Torah offers another appearance of the word Teruah, and this time it appears in a very different setting. When Bilaam attempts to curse the Jewish people, he ends up blessing them instead. Bilaam proclaims:

He does not see any sin for Yaakov, and no bad actions for Yisrael, Hashem his G-d is with him and the Teru’ah of the King is within him (Numbers 23, 21)

Here Teruah no longer sounds only like alarm or awe; it becomes a language of closeness, friendship, and divine presence. In this blessing, Bilaam suggests that the Teru’a of the King is within them. What does this mean?

Rashi states:

תרועה is an expression for love and fellowship, as (II Samuel 15:37) “the רעה of David’ — the friend of David; (Judges 15:6) “And he gave her to his friend”.

The word of Teru’a now has an extended meaning. It is not only the sound of distress as described by the Netziv, but is also an expression of friendship. The Jewish people have the friendship of G-d with them, and therefore he is unwilling to see the sins of the Jewish people. The Seforno adds another idea - that this friendship is expressed by blowing the Shofar when the Bnei Yisrael travelled from place to place in the desert. This sound expresses joy, that they “rejoice in their King”.

From these ideas, the following conclusion could be reached: blowing the shofar is expressing not only the solemnity of the day, but it is a sound expressing the joy and confidence that we have in G-d that he will overlook our missteps. Taken together, these sources suggest that Rosh Hashanah is not simply a day of fear, but a day in which awe and intimacy coexist.

The Friendship of the King

The final key to understanding this verse is that the reason that Hashem does overlook our missteps, is because this joy, this revelling in G-d’s friendship and His kindness is not something external to us. It is בּֽוֹ - within us. That inner conviction that G-d is on our side, that He is our “friend” and only wants the best for us, and that we feel the need for this friendship on an internal level is what gives us incredible power. The Almighty will forgive our sins when we look inside ourselves, and see within it the music of friendship and desire for connection to Him.

Ezra Revisited

Perhaps one could suggest that Ezra consoled the people who believed that they had gone too far for G-d’s forgiveness. Ezra reminds them that the “Yom Terua” - this day of awe also requires confidence in G-d’s friendship. The desire to repent is only meaningful if G-d is perceived as more than the purveyor of justice in the world. Hashem becomes more “human”, and it is to this kindness and care that Bilaam attests when he says “the friendship of the King is in him”. The true judge wants what is best for us, and this allows us to feel kinship with him. It is perhaps for this reason that our sages say that the words “I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me” applies to the month of Elul, which precedes Rosh Hashanah. Through G-d as “the beloved”, on some level G-d is closer to us.

The Jews of Ezra’s era didn’t feel that sweetness. They were overcome by their transgressions and lacked the confidence to believe that friendship would apply to them. Ezra tells them that even though they may not feel this friendship, there are ways in which they can feel the sweetness of the moment. Eating the rich foods and drinking sweet wines would make the year sweet for them, because it would remind them of the sweetness of their Father in heaven.

The Rosh Hashanah that we have today has all of the elements that we have discussed. It has the awe of the day itself, communicated through the sounds of the Teruah of the Shofar, reminding us of our potential peril on the day of Judgement. It has the sermons, like the sermon that Ezra gave to the people that day when they felt all had been lost. It has the confidence which is expressed through the joyous songs that we sing on Rosh Hashanah - “Hashem Melech Hashem Malach, Hashem Yimloch L’olam V’aed - G-d rules, ruled and will rule over us forever, Melech Elyon - the awesome loftiness of G-d is sung with rousing melodies and tunes to give us confidence, confidence that we will be successful. It has the triumphant sound of the Teika, reminding us that the power of G-d is the source of our strength, and it has the apples and the honey, the sweetness that only our Beloved can bring to us, because at the end of all things, He is our friend, and that friendship exists within us. Rosh Hashanah therefore asks us to stand before God with trembling, but also with trust; with solemnity, but also with sweetness.