This week’s Torah portion, Be-Shallah, contains the Song  that the Israelites sang after they crossed the sea and the pursuing Egyptian army was drowned. The haftarah is another “song,” that of Deborah, which describes the Israelite victory over Sisera. Both the narrative version and the poem in the haftarah describe the graphic killing of Sisera by Yael (see Book of Judges Ch. 4-5). In the poem, the mother of Sisera is pictured waiting by the window, anxious for his return. 

        Sisera’s mother appears again in the Talmud in tractate Rosh ha-Shanah 33b in a discussion of the details of shofar blowing --specifically what sound or sounds the shofar should make as part of the ritual of Rosh ha-Shanah. What does the Torah mean when it says that Rosh Hashanah should be a day of sounding teru'ah? (Num 29:1). The Aramaic for the word teruah is yevavah. Since that word is used to describe the sound that Sisera’s mother makes while waiting for her son’s return, the rabbis use that biblical reference to determine the sound of the shofar. 

        There are two opinions: One is that it is a sound of moaning, as in the blasts called shevarim. The other opinion is that it is the sound of whimpering, as in the short blasts called teru’ah. The tradition is to do both sounds and additionally the tekiah, a long unbroken sound. It is striking that the source for how we practice the central ritual of Rosh ha-Shanah is the mother of an enemy of Israel. The poem suggests that he is late returning. She is probably anticipating the worst. She is already groaning at the thought (shevarim), or weeping uncontrollably (teru’ah). Both sounds suggest someone whose heart is broken.

        Lest one think that the rabbis’ reference to Sisera’s mother to define the shofar sound was insignificant, they add one more way that Sisera’s mother influenced the Rosh ha-Shanah liturgy. Traditionally, we are supposed to blow the shofar one hundred times on each day of Rosh ha-Shanah. Why? They say because Sisera’s mother cried one hundred times. There is no source for this idea other than the rabbis’ imagination. In some interpretations, we blow the shofar one hundred  times to counteract the impact of her one hundred cries.

        Sisera was an enemy who led an army to attack the Israelites. Yet, Sisera had a mother who waited at the window for the son who would never come home again. At this moment, the families of the hostages wait, looking at their electronic equivalent of windows and hoping and crying for their loved ones. Many others in the Middle East are also waiting for loved ones to return safely to their embrace. The broken sound of the shofar is a reminder of all the broken hearts in the world ---until the great shofar of redemption and peace will finally be sounded.