And on Rosh Hashana, Hashem invites us to say before Him the passages and blessing relating to kingship in order to declare our allegiance to Him as our ruler, and the passages and blessing relating to Hashem's remembering His creatures in order that we may be remembered for good. If the shofar is the channel for our merits to soar upward to the throne of heavenly judgment, it also serves another purpose. Rabbi Yitzchak states that the reason for blowing the shofar both before and during mussaf is to confuse Satan. Rashi's explanation of this is that Satan's attempts to agitate against Israel are thwarted when he sees how much Jews love mitzvot such that they even sound the shofar twice. Tosefot draws on a section of the Jerusalem Talmud to explain that Satan becomes somewhat alarmed by the first sound of the shofar.
Incitement breeds agitation and results in execution.
Satan, in the context of Rabbi Yitzchak's statement, is the evil inclination. The sound of the shofar confuses Satan by instilling in the Jew who hears it a fear of Heaven which subdues the sinful passions the evil inclination tries to arouse, and thus gains for Jewry a good year. If you like this e-mail please share it with a friend. Dedication opportunities are available for The Weekly Daf. Please contact us for details.