The Voices

While I was sitting at davening at a shabbat hatan this week a thought jumbled of previous ideas jumped into my head.  The Gemorah in Berachot 6b says  אמר רבי חלבו אמר רב הונא: כל הנהנה מסעודת חתן ואינו משמחו עובר בחמישה קולות, שנאמר: קול ששון וקול שמחה קול חתן וקול כלה קול אומרים הודו את ה' צבאות. ואם משמחו מה שכרו?  אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי: זוכה לתורה שנתנה בחמישה קולות וכו.  Why is there a connection between being משמח the hatan and kallah and Torah?  What is the significance of the קול and specifically 5 קולות?  The Maharal often writes that the complete square has 4 sides, the number 4 represents the completion of this world.  The number 5 is the inner core, the inside of the box.  In the kabbalistic jargon, the mitzvot are אור מקיף and Torah is אור פנימי.  It is Torah that Chazal refer to as bread that enters the blood stream of a person.  That is because it is through learning Torah that a person's mind becomes intertwined with the שכל אלקי present in the Torah.  It is the greatest connection one can have to Hashem (see Tanya Ch. 4-5.)  It is this internal connection that is represented by the number 5. The deepest relationship in this world, what Chazal and especially in the kabbilistic literature use as the mashal for the relationship between Klal Yisroel and Hashem is that of a hatan and kallah.  The connection of האי ארעא that is representative of the connection between Hashem and our neshama is that of the hatan and kallah.  One who is משמח the hatan and kallah, one who is able to appreciate this connection, is a siman that their neshama is able to be connected to Hashem via His Torah.  

A קול is a voice without any words, it is just a sound.  The siman to know if a person is really in tune with someone else is if they can understand the קול alone without words.  For the hatan and kallah that deeply understand each other there is no need for words, the קול itself is enough.  This is the idea of blowing shofar.  As the Briskor Rav explains, discussed here, the shofar is a form of prayer.  What's the point of this form of prayer, just say some more words?  Because when the neshama has the longing for Hashem that it feels on Rosh Hashana, it can't be expressed in words, in can only be expressed through a simple קול.  It is an expression of the soul that can't be limited by words.