Covering the shofar: Hearing beyond the sound

I remember as a child being in shul one year on Rosh Hashana and noticing for the first time that the Baal Toke’ah covered the shofar with a tallis while making the preliminary brachos.

Why do we do this? Normally, we fully prepare a mitzvah object before making the blessing. We check the strings of tzitzis before reciting Al Mitzvas Tzitzis. We take the lulav and esrog in hand before saying the bracha.

The truth is that not everyone agrees with this practice. The Rivevos Ephraim (4:144:6) writes that the shofar should indeed be visible before making the Bracha. Yet the widespread custom is to cover it. Why then is the shofar concealed at the very moment of the blessing?

The Avnei Nezer teaches that this Minhag reveals the very heart of the mitzvah. The question turns on a classic debate: is the mitzvah of the shofar the act of blowing or the act of hearing?

At first glance, one might assume it is the blowing. Yet the Rambam is emphatic. He consistently rules that the mitzvah is lishmo’a kol shofar, to hear the sound of the shofar. The blowing is indispensable, but it is only the conduit. The true Mitzvah is the hearing, the sound that enters the ear and penetrates the soul.

This distinction has powerful consequences. If the Mitzvah were blowing, then only the person holding the Shofar would truly fulfill it. But if the Mitzvah is hearing, then every person in the room participates equally the moment the sound reaches them. The Baal Toke’ah is not performing the Mitzvah alone but enabling the entire congregation to fulfill it together.

The Avnei Nezer compares this to another familiar custom. On Friday night, when making Kiddush, halacha would usually require us to use bread if it is on the table. Yet since Kiddush is ideally said on wine, we cover the challah so it will not be embarrassed that it is being skipped over. So too, the Baal Toke’ah could make a bracha on the tekiyah (the sound), but instead he makes the bracha on the shemi’ah (the hearing), which impacts the entire congregation.

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So, we cover the shofar. We place it beneath the tallis as if to whisper: dear shofar, you are precious and holy, but you are only a tool. The real mitzvah is the sound that emerges, the trembling it causes, the shared moment when an entire people hears together.

By covering the shofar, we remind ourselves that the blessing is not on the object, but on the sacred experience that is about to unfold.

The Torah articulates this experience as kol shofar, the sound of the shofar (Bamidbar 29:1). Unlike words that can be explained or debated, a voice simply enters you. It bypasses the intellect and touches something more profound, more primal, more real. That is the Avodah of Rosh Hashana: to quiet the noise, to peel away the layers, and to truly hear.

This Rosh Hashana, as the Baal Toke’ah first hides the shofar beneath its covering, take note of the gesture. Remember the Avnei Nezer’s teaching:

•The shofar itself is not the goal.

•The mitzvah is to hear, to listen deeply, to let its raw cry pierce your heart.

And if we can truly listen, to the shofar and to the still small voice within, then we are already walking the path of renewal and return.

Rabbi Benny Berlin is spiritual leader of BACH Jewish Center in Long Beach.

Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com