The last sound is the pure sound again, which typifies a sincere resolve to keep the repentant heart incorrupt.

The Bible says to us:—­

“The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”  This verse teaches us that repentance is nearer to those who believe in God and His book than fanatics would make it.  Difficult penances are ordained for the sinner among them.  He must fast many days, or travel barefoot through rugged ways, or sleep in the open air.  But we are not required to travel to the nether end of the ocean or to climb to mountain tops, for our Holy Word says to us, “It is not in heaven, neither is it beyond the sea, but the Word is very nigh.”

In three ways may we repent:—­

First, By words of mouth, finding birth in an honest heart.

Secondly, With our feelings, sorrow for sins committed.

Thirdly, By good deeds in the future.

Rabbi Saadiah declared that God commanded us to sound the cornet on New
Year’s day for ten reasons.

First, because this day is the beginning of the creation, when God began to reign over the world, and as it is customary to sound the trumpets at the coronation of a king, we should in like manner proclaim by the sound of the cornet that the Creator is our king,—­as David said, “With trumpets and the sound of the cornet, shout ye before the Lord.”

Secondly, as the New Year day is the first of the ten penitential days, we sound the cornet as a proclamation to admonish all to return to God and repent.  If they do not so, they at least have been informed, and cannot plead ignorance.  Thus we find that earthly kings publish their decrees with such concomitant, that none may say, “We heard not this.”

Thirdly, to remind us of the law given on Mount Sinai, where it is said, “The voice of the cornet was exceeding loud.”  To remind us also that we should bind ourselves anew to the performance of its precepts, as did our ancestors, when they said, “All that the Lord hath said will we do and obey.”

Fourthly, to remind us of the prophets, who were compared to watchmen blowing the trumpet of alarm, as we find in Ezekiel, “Whosoever heareth the sound of the cornet and taketh not warning, and the sound cometh and taketh him away, his blood shall be upon his own head; but he that taketh warning shall save his life.”

Fifthly, to remind us of the destruction of the Temple and the fearsome sound of the battle-cry of our enemies.  “Because thou hast heard, oh my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.”  Therefore when we hear the sound of the cornet we should implore God to rebuild the Temple.

Sixthly, to remind us of the binding of Isaac, who willingly offered himself for immolation, in order to sanctify the Holy Name.

Seventhly, that when we hear the terrifying sound, we may, through dread, humble ourselves before the Supreme Being, for it is the nature of these martial instruments to produce a sensation of terror, as the prophet Amos observes, “Shall a trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not to be terrified?”