Sound the shofar…and raise a banner to gather…and gather us together.
This prayer includes three expressions that imply ingathering: sound the shofar for our freedom; raise a banner to gather in our exiles; gather us together from the four corners of the earth. Ten tribes were exiled prior to the tribes of Yehudah and Binyamin. We refer to them as the Ten Lost Tribes. These Ten Tribes were split in their exile, with some exiled somewhere in “the dark mountains,” and the rest going even further to a place that was “beyond the Sambatyon River.” The Gaon, zl, m’Vilna explains that the first two expressions of redemption refer to the Ten Tribes: the ones who disappeared in the dark mountains; and the ones who disappeared beyond the Sambatyon River. We also ask that, once this exile is over, these ten tribes will unite with the other two tribes until all of Klal Yisrael reunite as one people. We are all in exile, all lost, until we all come together as one unit. We do not live solely for ourselves. We believe that all individuals are part of a large collective unit that is incomplete until all of us are together. We pray for this thrice daily, realizing that we are unable to achieve our ideal until all Jews are once again united.
