We are now on our 6th pasuk of the pesukim of Shofarot . And it's talking about the shofar that we blow. It's from Tehilim 81,4 תִּקְע֣וּ בַחֹ֣דֶשׁ שׁוֹפָ֑ר בַּ֝כֵּ֗סֶה לְי֣וֹם חַגֵּֽנוּ׃ Blow in the month the Shofar, on the covering of the holiday. The midrash explains that this is one of the hints to blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. It's called the month ( where there's a holiday) when the moon is covered . On other holidays, like Sukkot and Pesach (that are on the 15 th of the month) the moon is very open; and on Shavuot, you see some of the moon. But on first day of the month, you don't see a moon at all. So bakeseh , when the moon is covered, b'chodesh refers to when the new moon is covered , that's when we blow the shofar. The midrash says on this pasuk that on Rosh Hashanah, it doesn't say Tiku shofar b'chodesh/blow the shofar in the month, but rather it says Tiku B'chodesh shofar. The words chodesh and shofar need to be explained in a midrashic approach. Chodesh means chiddush , and shofar means le'sha'per is to beautify. Shifra was the name of the midwife Yocheved because she was mishaperet / she beautified , she cleaned up. So there are two things that we need to do on Rosh Hashanah, Shifru and chidshu . What's the difference? Chidshu means there's certain things that you have to totally renew. This is teshuva . We have to totally renew our acts. We have to stop the bad things we're doing and renew our acts. Rav Wolbe says that's the segula of Rosh Hashanah. At the beginning of a new year, you have the chance to renew yourself and renew your deeds. That's one aspect of Rosh Hashanah. I'm a new person, I'm born again. Adam HaRishon was created,I'm created. And I could start fresh and new. The other aspect is the good things that I'm doing already, that I don't need to do new, but that I can make better . I can smooth them out. I can shine them up. What do these two activities of Chidshu and Shifru do? The midrash continues and says, if you do that, then shofar Teku bachodesh shofar, What does that mean? Just like the shofar is a tube that you blow into on one side and it comes out the other, So too, I am going to have all the complaints against the Jewish people go in through one side and out the other, like the famous saying, In one ear and out the other. The power of the shofar is that we do both these things, we renew and we beautify . That's why we're supposed to be thinking about Teshuva at the time when the shofar blows. This is an important lesson within our shofar pesukim . Rashi, in the sefer Pardes HaGadol, chapter 170 quotes from the Geonim that cite this pasuk as a source that we can't fast on Rosh Hashana, which is called Yom Chaggenu . It's our holiday. Why is it a holiday? We talked about this before, but we'll quote a Seforno in Vayikra 23, 24 that explains that it's a holiday because we're celebrating that He's our king, and when we celebrate that He is our king, He will tilt towards kindness and we will have a good judgment. And he quotes a pasuk in Yeshaya 33, 22 Ki Hashem Shoftenu/God is our judge/Hashem Mechokekenu/He gives us our rules . Hashem Malkenu/Hashem is our King, Hu Yoshienu/He will save us. And that is the holiday. It's a holiday because we're celebrating Hashem's Kingdom and therefore we're going to get a good judgment. He's going to save us. I once saw that there's a custom to sing, especially on Rosh Hashanah after Musaf, En Kelokenu , because on Rosh Hashanah, En Kadonenu/ There's no one like our boss, En Kamalkenu/ There's nobody like our King . En Kemoshi'eno/There's no one like our Savior. And that goes back to this pasuk Hashem Malkeno/ God is my king, Hu Yoshieno/He will save me. On Rosh Hashanah, God is saving us. We don't realize what's going on. On Rosh Hashanah. Its like you just got pulled out of a fiery furnace. You were saved from Gaza. It's feeling of those hostages. That's the feeling of Hu Yoshienu. God is saving us on Rosh Hashanah. We have to celebrate that. It's a great day. Miracles are happening on Rosh Hashanah. And that's a holiday. תִּקְע֣וּ בַחֹ֣דֶשׁ שׁוֹפָ֑ר בַּ֝כֵּ֗סֶה לְי֣וֹם חַגֵּֽנוּ But what makes this holiday happen? What empowers the shofar? Chidshu Shifru - Renew our deeds, beautify our deeds, and celebrate Hashem as our kingdom.