President Isaac Herzog issued a Rosh Hashanah message to Jews around the world, invoking the sound of the shofar as a symbol of the pain, pride, responsibility and unity of the Jewish people.

“Sisters and brothers, from the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, I wish the Jewish people around the world a Shana Tovah, a very happy New Year,” Herzog began.

Herzog said the shofar captures the range of emotions felt during the Yamim Noraim, including the tremendous pain experienced by Jews in Israel and throughout the world.

“The defining sound of Rosh Hashanah is the shofar, capturing the full spectrum of emotions we feel on the High Holidays. It is a call our people have sounded for generations, asking for forgiveness and to be written and inscribed in the Book of Life. It is, as our tradition teaches us, a call back to ourselves, urging us to refocus our lives and our goals. Most poignantly, the piercing cry of the shofar carries pain: the pain of those we have lost, those who defended our only Jewish state, those who are victims of terror within our borders, and those who are victims of the tide of antisemitism around the world. Dear sisters and brothers, this is the feeling we share in our hearts and souls, wherever we live.”

But Herzog said the shofar also carries a powerful message of Jewish pride.

“Yet the long, majestic notes of the shofar carry three further calls, answers to that anguish. The first is pride. The shofar proclaims: we are here, we are strong, we are Jews, and we are Israelis, and we are very proud.”

Herzog said he witnesses that pride among Jewish communities around the world, particularly among young Jews who continue to demonstrate responsibility and commitment to Klal Yisrael despite rising antisemitism.

The president said the second message of the shofar is a call to action, urging Jews to work toward improving the world and confronting the challenges facing the Jewish people.

“And finally, the shofar calls us to listen: not just to it, but to each other, and in doing so, to respect one another,” Herzog said, pointing specifically to the divisions within Israel as the country prepares for elections next month.

Concluding his message, Herzog invoked the words of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l, saying the shofar reminds the Jewish people both of their ultimate destination and of the distance still left to travel.

“As we move into the new year, may we all continue this journey together, and may we all be inscribed in the Book of Life for a year of blessing, harmony, and peace.

“Leshanah tovah tikatevu v’techatemu. Shanah tovah, v’am Yisrael chai.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)