Here's a lesson to all those who wonder what all those Chabad teens are doing on the street with their shofars and why they want us to hear it.
According to a Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah only those who are obligated to hear the sound of the shofar can be Motzi (the person who blows the shofar and helps other fulfill their obligation). That's why although it's nice to see a 6 year old blow shofar, it doesn't really serve any legal purpose.
Now with this in mind, one would think then that once someone has heard the sound of the Shofar they are not longer able to be Motzi; because they no longer need to fulfill their obligation, they can no longer help others fulfill theirs.
However, there is a teaching on Rosh Hashanah 29a that seeks to counteract this assumption.
"Ahabah the son of R. Zera learnt: Any blessing which one has already recited on behalf of himself, he can recite again on behalf of others (af al pi she-yatsa, motsi)"
In context this teaching also applies to the blowing of the Shofar.
So what is special about blessings and shofars that allow one who has already fulfilled their obligation to be Motzi?
The Ran (Rabbeinu Nissim Gerondi, 14th C Spain) has a wonderful comment to this Talmudic teaching:
The principle of communal responsibility means that if your fellow Jew has to do a mitzvah which he has not done, it is as if you yourself have not fulfilled your own obligation. Therefore you have an obligation to say the blessing and to do the mitzvah so that the other person can fulfill his obligation.This teaching is one reason why Chabad is so vigilant about getting Jews to blow the Shofar. As long as their are Jews in Park Slope (my home) that have not heard the Shofar, it is as if no Jew has heard the Shofar.
I went for a run today and stopped halfway through to teach this text to a group of Chabad teens. I wish I had a camera for their face when a sweaty guy, running without a Kippah and with headphones on Chag pulled that one out.
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