Closed for the Holidays

The sages proscribe us from blowing shofar on the day before Rosh Hashanah. I believe this hiatus sharpens our hearing of the blasts on Rosh Hashanah.

For a similar reason, I am taking a break from writing posts until after Yom Kippur. I need this separation so that I can stop "thinking" about shofar, and instead focus on "hearing" shofar and doing the holy work of teshuvah and tikkun olam - realigning my life to God's purpose and making repairing damage to the world.

Shofar Class in SF Bay Area

Rosh Hashanah will soon be here, and now is the time to learn to blow and know shofar.

Michael Chusid, a ba'al tekiah -- shofar master blaster -- will be visiting Congregation Beth Am this Sunday. Come learn the secrets of blowing the shofar and begin your spiritual preparations for the New Year.

Chusid is author of Hearing Shofar: The Still Small Voice of the Ram's Horn and blogs about shofar at www.HearingShofar.blogspot.com. He has taught thousands of people to sound shofar and says, "blowing shofar is easier, and more satisfying, than you imagine."

    Date: Sunday, August 8, 2010
    Time: 3:00 to 4:30
    Place: Congregation Beth Am, 22790 Arastradero Road, Los Altos Hills, CA

Chusid blows it on Public Radio

I have been interviewed for, Off-Ramp produced by John Rabe for Southern California Public Radio, KPCC. The segment will air live on Saturday, August 7, 2010. However, you can hear it now by going to:

http://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2010/08/07/
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The interview was rebroadcast on November 13, 2010 as part of the station's fund drive.  John Rabe, says, "For fundraising, it was a best-of show, including some of our best segments from the year. The shofar interview ranks right up there." What a nice compliment.

Shofar at Funeral

A former shofar student of mine, an "officiant" who conducts life cycle rituals, wrote to ask:

I have been asked if a shofar can be blown at a funeral. I've never seen or heard of that being done. Is it permissible?

My first question for her is, "permitted by whom." Judaism does not have an ultimate arbiter or ritual, so I offer as a guideline:  Follow the practices of the community you are in. For example, some communities do not sound shofar on Shabbat, others do. Some do not consider it acceptable for a man to hear a shofar blown by a woman, yet others do. Ashkenaz customs vary from Sephard and Mizachi. Etc.

Ancient Flutes and Shofar

In Chapter 3-1 of Hearing Shofar: The Still Small Voice of the Ram's Horn, I speculate that the Jewish ritual is related to our tribal origin as shepherds.  Another ancient instrument related to sheep is a flute made from a the bone of a sheep.

This video of a 60,000 year old bone flute, demonstrates the antiquity of the instrument, its musical range, and its potential to create a sense of awe.

The following exchange about sheep bone flutes raises considerations that can also be applied to our investigation of shofar. It is extracted from postings on bonetools@listserv.iif.hu, an information exchange for scholars studying the archeological record of bone and skeletal tools. My comments follow their exchange:

Postage Stamps with Shofar

1955 (101)

I have been a stamp collector since I was a child. True, I have not done much to work on my collection in recent years -- especially since I started studying shofar, but I remain a collector. This is the beginning of my topical and virtual collection of stamps related to shofar. If you have other examples, please share them with me.