Hearing Hashem's Kol Throughout the Year (and What We Can Learn from the Story of Guma Aguiar)
The Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva, 3:4) explains the message of the shofar as follows: "Awake, sleepers, from your sleep, amd slumberers from your slumber. Search your deeds, and repent, and remember your Maker...look to your souls and improve your ways and your faults..."
There is a custom to sound the shofar at the conclusion of the Neilah service on Yom Kippur. What is the meaning of this practice? Hasn't our judgment already been sealed at that point? What value, then, does an additional shofar blast add?
A possible answer can be found in the fact that the shofar sound is referred to as a "kol." Normally, the term "kol" is used in Tanach to signify a voice.
The Chafetz Chayim, commenting on the pasuk in Ki Savo (26:7): "Va'nitzak el Hashem Elokei avoteinu, va'yismah Hashem et kolenu..."- "Then we cried to Hashem, the G-d of our forefathers, and Hashem heard our voices...", observes that the pasuk does NOT say: "va'yishmah Hashem et TEFILATENU" - our prayers - but rather "KOLENU" - our voices. From here, the Chofetz Chaim learns that someone praying should raise his or her voice to maximize the likelihood of being answered by Hashem. So we see the term "kol" signifies a raised voice.
Elsewhere in Devarim, it is repeatedly stated that Hashem will punish the Jewish people for not listening to His "kol" (28:15), and rewarded for hearkening to his "kol." (28:1).
What is exactly meant by the "kol" of Hashem - the raised voice of Hashem? What is it that we are supposed to "hear" that might prevent the onset of punishment and bring us reward?
I think the answer, suggested in the Al Chet vidui of Yom Kippur, is that Hashem's "kol" is represented by the signals and messages He sends us (e.g., difficult life circumstances), which, if we "listen" carefully, can become a powerful force for positive change. However, if we remain obstinate - "al chet sh'chatanu lefanecha b'kashyut oref" ("For the sin that we have sinned before You with obstinacy") - and ignore the signs and messages of Hashem, we are culpable.
As such, the "kol" shofar at the end of Neilah serves as a dramatic reminder that it's not enough to hear the shofar on Rosh Hashana, and beat our chests on Yom Kippur, and then after the fast ends, return to our normal routines. No! Having reached great spiritual heights during Neilah, we must continue to "listen" carefully throughout the year to the signs and messages that Hashem will send us (the "kol" Hashem) to keep us on the right track (and not, c"v, ignore them).
One fascinating story of a public individual who clearly heard the "kol" Hashem and responded with positive change that can serve as an example for the rest of us is Guma Aguiar - a born Jew raised as an evangelical Christian who returned to observant Judaism following a conversation with Rabbi Tuvia Singer. Soon after his encounter with Singer, Aguiar - an oil and gas executive - discovered the largest deposit of natural gas in Texas in the past 10 years, which Aguiar's company later sold for over $2 billion, netting him around $200 million. But rather than use his newfound wealth to live a life of luxury and prestige in the United States, Aguiar saw his good fortune as a sign from Hashem that he needed to make aliyah and begin generously supporting organizations such as Nefesh B'Nefesh and March of the Living. In his own words:
"How is it possible that I could have pinpointed this one massive discovery that nobody else had ever seen, two hours away from Houston? I had to be honest with myself. I quickly grasped that my shocking success was not due to a stroke of good luck. Only G-d could have blessed me with this remarkable discovery, and so now, I have to turn around and say - what can I do to bless G-d? What can I do to be His servant, His vessel, and repay Him for His manifold blessing and guidance? In terms of my career, I said "that's enough." I knew that G-d had given me what I needed to accomplish, and I was now in a unique position to make a meaningful difference, and that was the time that I left, and I didn't come back [to America]….I decided to come [to Israel] and just be a servant of G-d and do whatever possible for my nation. I came to the conclusion – G-d has really put me in a position like Esther was in . . I could do two things: I could either take my money that G-d has given me, and concluded that 'I'm so smart – my striking success was all because of me, I'm so great, I'm so brilliant'… or I could ultimately recognize this whole thing from start to finish was the result of G-d's blessings. I recognized the truth. I understood that I was bestowed with this success in order to serve the Almighty. G-d has protected and guided me all along the way, and He'll continue, because I have only one agenda, and that's to be His servant." (hear Aguiar share his fascinating story on YouTube).
These are stirring words. How many of us react so spiritually to the circumstances of our lives? While the vast majority of us are not in a position to suddenly strike it as rich as Aguiar, we are all regularly confronted with signs and messages that we can choose to "hear" or ignore.
The paradigm of ignoring the "kol Hashem" is Adam in parshat Bereishit where the pasuk says that Adam and Chavah, after eating from the etz ha'da'at, heard "kol Hashem Elokim mithalech bagan - the voice of Hashem in the garden." (3:8). Their reaction was to hide (as Adam concedes later to Hashem in 3:10 - "I heard your voice ("kol"). . .and hid myself.").
But if we "listen" carefully to the "kol" Hashem when it speaks to us through "natural" occurrences (instead of "hiding"), then difficult circumstances and challenges can motivate us to improve ourselves, while good fortune can be interpreted as an opportunity from Hashem to increase our contributions to the Jewish nation and society in general.
May we all be zocheh to hear the messages Hashem sends us throughout the year.
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