This concept touches upon a lot of really deep Chassidic thought. We’re not going to go into all of that right here, just a few snippets to tie the idea together.
Rosh Hashanah night is a limbo state before Shofar blowing the next morning. Chassidus sees this as a period of void, an emptiness, as the supernal sphere of “Malchut” is drawn back to its source and only through the call and cry of the Shofar does G-d once again re-invest, bring down “Malchut” for engagement, involvement and expression in our world. But during that period in between, from when Rosh Hashanah begins until the Shofar is sounded, there’s that emptiness, a void, a big gaping spiritual hole.
Shabbat can be seen as kind of similar. On one hand, Shabbat has a emptiness from its lack of weekday activities. We can’t do this, not that, it creates an emptiness of sorts. But the goal of Shabbat’s empty space is not just to stay empty. The goal is to fill that void with good meaningful content, something deeper and holier than the ordinary weekday.
Think of the void as a vacuum, as a syringe. The goal of the emptiness, is to create space for something even greater to fill it. Shabbat creates space that way, as does Rosh Hashanah, the emptiness or void of which allows Shofar and the renewed, deeper connection to fill that space.
This might be kind of deep, but its pretty relevant now during the Corona virus:
Covid created a lot of emptiness. Empty space between people. Emptiness in streets, in stores, in every area of life. Emptiness in the things we can or can not do. We’re not going to sanctify Covid’s emptiness and compare it to Shabbos, because its done a lot of physical, emotional and economic harm. But it might be helpful to think of the current emptiness as an opportunity to fill these spaces with something, at least for the time being, so we’re not just left with emptiness but with something good to fill these voids.