It is impossible to sleep through the shofar blasts of Rosh Hashanah. Indeed, Rabbi Saadia Gaon tells us that the shofar is intended to awaken certain thoughts and feelings in us: to heighten our awareness of G-d's Kingship, to encourage us to return to Him in teshuvah, to remind us of the future ingathering of the Jewish People in the Land of Israel, and more.

The shofar also beckons us to recall and relive our national experience at Mount Sinai. As recorded emphatically in the Torah, the Revelation at Sinai was accompanied by the sounding of the shofar (ram's horn).

And as many of us are aware, our long Silent Prayer on Rosh Hashanah makes ample reference to this fact.

But what exactly is the connection between the shofar of Sinai and the shofar of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year? The parable below (from the commentator known as the Artzos Chaim) throws some "lightning" on the subject.

She was not a J.A.P., just a P – the only daughter of a great King. Beautiful, intellectual, good-natured… in short, all that a princess could ask for.

The Great King searched up and down the kingdom for a suitable husband, and future heir. When the right man was finally located, he rejoiced! The wedding would of course be a gala affair. He decided to hold it at the seashore.

When the wedding day finally arrived, tables were set for thousands of expected guests. The King had commissioned the very best musicians in the kingdom for the occasion and they themselves had devoted long hours to practicing. The princess was to make her appearance at the site by ship, accompanied by the musicians.

All went well as the ship set out on its short journey: the musicians were in brilliant form. But alas! A tremendous storm kicked up all of a sudden and gale winds blew fiercely in the wrong direction. The ship was transported all the way to the neighboring kingdom, presently waging war against her own!

The navy of the enemy king apprehended the wayward ship and reported its remarkable cargo to the palace. The enemy king could not have been happier! He quickly summoned his advisors for a consultation about how to proceed.

"Let's execute her!" they suggested.

But the king rejected this option for fear that the military response of a bereaved father would prove too formidable for his own forces.

"Then let's throw her into the pit!"

But here again, the enemy king hesitated.

Although the advisors were now at a loss for ideas, the enemy king himself suggested an unusual course: "Let us assign her to the cooking staff and allow her to eat as much as she wants."

Now, this proposal struck the advisors as rather odd. They could not understand what would be gained by it.

"Don't you see," the monarch explained. "This would be the ultimate revenge!"

The advisors shrugged their shoulders.

Smiling, he explained: "I have no doubt that her father will never accept this situation. He will try every means at his disposal to set his daughter free. And in the end, he will probably succeed. But in the meantime, the princess will pal around with the female cooks, get used to their rough language and coarse manners, to their plebeian ways.

"If and when the day comes that her father succeeds in liberating his daughter, she will return to him as a simple, boorish girl. This will break his heart and surely the prospective son-in-law will bow out of the picture.

"My revenge will then be complete."

Applause and praise greeted the proposal.

Without much ado, the princess was made to exchange her wedding gown for the simple cloak worn by the cooks. She was taken to their quarters and given a bed.

Shocked by the dreadful turn of events, the exquisite princess stayed very much to herself. The crude manners and language of her new "comrades" adder to her alienation. But time took its toll. Before too long, the jokes which had once bothered her now brought a smile to her lips. The gossip and talebearing began to seem interesting. And her own refined speech increasingly resembled that of the other girls.

One day, in the midst of their chit-chat, the sound of beautiful music reached the cooks' quarters. All the girls listened with enjoyment, but the former princess quickly turned white and fainted!

Where did the music emanate from?

The enemy king had decided to put the captive orchestra to work. He called on them to play the pieces intended for the royal wedding. When those precious melodies reached the ears of the fallen princess, she was shaken to the quick. In a flash, she recalled her once regal bearing and compared that to her present state. She recalled that she was engaged to be married to a prince – who was doubtless still waiting for her. And she recalled that her father would never rest until he set her free.

All this she had forgotten and the shock brought on the faint. When her fellow cooks woke her up, the musicians were still playing. But this time, the music evoked a rather different response: "Be strong and of good courage!" it seemed to be saying. "Elevate yourself once again, for the time is nigh when you will be returning home – not as a crude, unlearned, peasant… but as a princess!"

***

Our people, of course, is the princess of the parable. And our father is the King of Kings, G-d Himself. G-d intended to raise us to the loftiest spiritual heights by revealing the Torah to us at Sinai.

But our baser nature got the better of us and we managed to turn this golden opportunity into a Golden Calf. And that was only the beginning of a descent that has continued to this day. Entrenched in the elusive pursuit of livelihood, liberty and happiness, we barely remember our latent capabilities… our potential for purity and closeness to our Maker. We have gotten used to living without our Holy Temple, without the Divine Presence felt in our midst.

And yet, we are not a "lost cause." When we hear the blasts of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, we are stirred to remember our proud past and our true station; we discern an echo of the shofar blasts which accompanied the Revelation at Mount Sinai. And we wonder how we can possibly present ourselves to Hashem in our present situation.

But after our initial shock, we realize that return is possible, that He is waiting patiently for us to reaffirm the commitment our ancestors made at Sinai… and that it is in our hands to become worthy of Redemption.