Every year we blow the shofar the entire month of Elul and suddenly stop—without warning, except for the fact that is what we did last year and all the last years for centuries—the day before Rosh HaShannah. Every year we blow the shofar on Rosh HaShannah. Some years like this one, we don't blow the shofar on the first day of Rosh HaShannah because it is Shabbos. All of this is terribly confusing to the Satan. It is so confusing to him that he can't even express his charges (all quite valid, mind you) against Klal Yisrael. I mean, he is so befuddled that he drops his whole pile of notes; so flustered that he can't put two words together; so confused that he just gives up in dejection and walks out.
There is another time we confuse the Satan by not blowing the shofar, namely, when Rosh HaShannah falls on Shabbos. Nowadays, when only the first day of Rosh HaShannah can fall on Shabbos, that means that in those years, as happened this past 5787, we did not fulfill the biblical command to blow shofar on Rosh HaShannah. The gemara (Rosh HaShannah 16b) notes that any year when Klal Yisrael does not blow shofar on Rosh HaShannah does not end well. Tosafos there bring from the בה''ג that the gemara only means things don't go well for years when we are prevented from blowing shofar against our will, but when it is because Rosh HaShannah fell on Shabbos, then it is not a problem.
The משך חכמה (Vayikra 23:24) opens that up. Blowing shofar on Rosh HaShannah is not like other positive commandments, whose failure to perform because of unavoidable circumstances is not punishable. Blowing shofar on Rosh HaShannah, explains the משך חכמה, is coming to awaken the merit of Akeidas Yitzchak as a protection from the indictments of the Satan. It is, therefore, more like an antibiotic. If one is sick and skips a dose of antibiotic, even due to unavoidable circumstances, the disease will progress. When we don't blow shofar on Shabbos Rosh HaShannah, though, that is actually a merit for us and confuses the dickens out of the Satan.
What is the merit of Akeidas Yitzchak? What is the merit of not blowing shofar on Rosh HaShannah? The משך חכמה explains both with a profound insight into the relationship between Klal Yisrael and HaShem Yisbarach. With that we can also understand the deep confusion of the Satan whenever he is confronted by that relationship.
Klal Yisrael and the HaShem Yisbarach are like שני אוהבים נאמנים/two people who have a loving and faithful relationship—as that found between parent and child or between husband and wife—where each is concerned about the honor and respect due to the other. What is the merit of Akeidas Yitzchak? It is a memorial that we began our relationship with HaShem with a willingness to give up our lives for it. That was not a one-time event in history. Time and again Klal Yisrael has suffered hatred from the nations simply because of our connection to Him. Everyone loves, or at least respects and looks up to, smart, successful individuals. The nations have elevated athletes, movie stars, and billionaires to celebrity status. (Sorry, plain ole' millionaires just don't cut it anymore.)
Except Jews. Jews are hated for being smart, successful, and wealthy. (Yeah, not a lot of Jewish athletes. 😇) Why? Only one reason, because we don't take credit for it. We are the classic beneficiaries of nepotism; Nepotism in this case, I guess. And we have no shame about it. I heard a shiur from R' Asher Wade once, and he related that his Old Testament class in seminary didn't include any Jewish sources. When he questioned the professor, he was told, "Oh, you can't use Jewish sources about the Bible. They all talk like they own it.
So why don't we blow shofar on Shabbos Rosh HaShannah? We know the blast of the shofar recalls Akeidas Yitzchak and silences the Satan. But Shabbos is a testament that HaShem created the world. That testament precedes our relationship with Him. We are so concerned about even an accidental violation of Shabbos because that would damage, so to speak, HaShem's reputation as the Creator. We can't abide any damage to the reputation of our beloved HaShem. Yitzchak and his descendants have been willing to sacrifice our physical lives. So, too, Klal Yisrael is willing to give up our spiritual salvation rather than risk damage to HaShem's reputation as Creator and Author of all existence. As the משך חכמה puts it, not blowing shofar on Shabbos Rosh HaShannah is an astounding spiritual Akeidas Yitzchak.
I would like to add that stopping the shofar blasts one day before Rosh HaShannah is for a similar purpose. We want to separate between the rabinically ordained and Torah ordained shofar blasts. We know what happened when Adam and Chava were not careful about separating the rabinically ordained prohibition to not touch the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil from the Torah ordained prohibition to eat from its fruit. We are not willing to risk that again. Not ever.
And that is what has the Satan mystified beyond words. The Satan is all about what I -- every I -- wants. The Satan can't understand and has no access to what it means to put someone else's honor and respect before his own. He'll never learn and he'll never understand. The annual confusion of the Satan is one of the greatest testaments to the depth of the love that HaShem and Klal Yisrael and have One to another.
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