Horn Suppliers

If you want to fabricate a shofar, you will need a horn. When I was a new shofar maker, I thought all I had to do was to find a butcher shop and they would have horns available. But I quickly learned that we live in an era of industrial food production, and local butcher shop does not process whole carcasses. They get sides of an animal or other cuts from slaughterhouses.

Here are several places you can begin your search for horns. I offer no guarantees. Let me know if you have good or bad results with these or know other suppliers:

Blowing Shofar for Rain

Shofar blowing at Kibbutz Ein Gev in a prayer service for rain. Photo by Yaron Kaminsky, HaAretz

The sages tell us to sound shofar during times of affliction and fasting. In Israel, they are blowing shofar this year due to drought.  See article in HaAretz.

There is a silver lining inside this no-rain cloud. "Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders conducted a joint prayer for rain in the Muslim village of Wallaja." Apparently thirst can bring about cooperation. May miracles like this continue to fall from Heaven.

The Horn Hollow

Reading the following teaching from Rabbi Gershon Winkler* inspires me to know the hollow inside of shofar: 

"...This is the downside of the pursuit of knowledge to the neglect of the bigger picture – that knowledge alone is not the end-all, is not the most optimal path to higher consciousness. There is more to life than knowing about life – namely knowing life…period.

"True wisdom, the ancients taught us, is the constant act of not knowing, the practice of hollowing out what we do know in order to allow space for what we don’t know. Otherwise, the knowledge we do possess begins to atrophy, like leaving wet cement to dry. We need to always be pouring living waters upon our knowledge, so that it remains permeable, fluid, and so that it does not coagulate and become set and solidified. We must always leave room for possibility. This is the Torah way, for the Torah is called Living Waters – מים חיים mayim chayyim (Jeremiah 17:13).

"Now you know the deeper meaning behind the ritual of immersing in Living Waters for ritual purification. In Hebrew, Ritually Pure is טהור ta’hor, which literally translates as “Cleared Space” and is so used to describe the primeval space that God cleared within Itself, within which to create Other. The opposite of ta’hor is טמא ta’may, commonly translated as “Ritually Impure” but actually implying “Filled Space” with no room for the possibility of Creation, for the potential of Renewal. One who was so filled immersed him or herself in Living Waters, to render permeable and fluid what had become dead-set and solidified."

* From an email blast of November 25, 2010, emphasis added. Photo from http://walkingstick.org/gershofblue.jpg,

Questions from a Reader

I received the following email from Jonathan R Skipsey, a reader of this blog residing in the United Kingdom. My comments, in reply, are interspersed.

As a "newbie" shofar sounder I have been very intrigued and encouraged by the mass of interesting info on your site. Thanks for your enthusiasm and insight! 

I have been sounding just about every day since June 8th when I received my first proper shofar from Ribak in Tel Aviv [a leading shofar manufacturer].  I must have done 1000's of blasts. The most exciting occasion was when a double rainbow (see video) appeared directly overhead as I finished sounding tekiah gedolah at the commencement of a prayer conference here in Suffolk, UK. That was pretty special!

There is a connection between shofar and the rainbow. From Volume One of my book, Hearing Shofar: The Still Small Voice of the Ram's Horn,

The rainbow has a curved shape similar to that of a shofar. More, “The Zohar teaches: The rainbow (keshet) was created to protect the world. It is like a king who every time he gets angry at his son and wants to punish him, the queen appears in her radiant garment. When the king sees her, his anger at his son disappears. And he rejoices in the queen.

"Rabbi Nachman of Breslov observed: ‘This also corresponds to the shofar blasts… The mnemonic for this is KeSHeT (rainbow) – i.e., teKiah, SHevarim, Teruah.’ When God hears shofar, he is reminded of the covenant He made with Noah, ‘I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth,’[321] and shows compassion for His children.”[322]

Several days ago I modified the mouthpiece of my Ribak, making it wider inside and out, also deeper, kind of like half a mini african talking drum shape? I found that the deepest tone is now easily obtained blowing frontwards, previously I could only "slot it" with a side blow, and even then not with much accuracy. That lowest note now almost resembles a didgeridoo type character, it is so deep and resonant. In fact altering the mouthpiece has given the horn overall a more raspy strident tone, a lot less like a regular trumpet as it was before. BUT it is now much harder to get into the very top register-Now I can get 5 notes where previously I could get 6 sometimes 7....The thought occurred to me, why not have a series of mouthpieces possibly lathe-turned from bone or horn, and plug them into a kudu or rams horn body? Has this been attempted before? Sometimes I want a deep raw tone, sometimes I want a bright clear smooth one. Might it be feasible to try this?: I would be interested to know your thoughts on it!

First, let me congratulate you on taking the initiative to make modifications to your horn. I often find that minor modifications can improve the sound of a horn and tune it to the way I blow. Helping to fabricate the horn makes me a partner in creation, deepening my connection to the instrument. Most importantly, tuning the horn requires me to listen to the horn, and in the Hebrew tradition, listening is the mitzvah (holy act). 

As you found out, however, it is hard to predict how a modification will effect the sound of a horn. and it appears you have lost some of the horn's range. I recommend making changes in small steps and stop before going "too far"; you can always trim more later, so take some time with your modified instrument before making further changes.

You may be able to recover some of the lost range with practice and modification to your embouchure -- the way you form your lips and mouth when you blow the horn. The range of a horn is dictated primarily by its length.

But it can be counterproductive to try to force a shofar to create a certain sound. The Hebrew teachings in the Talmud are very clear -- any sound from a shofar is acceptable. While I suspect the rabbis that compiled the Talmud meant this to mean "acceptable under rabbinic law", I interpret it to mean, "acceptable to God." It is the kavanah, intention, of the blower that makes the blasts acceptable.

While you can certainly make music with the shofar, there are limits to how well you can tune any instrument. I encourage you to accept the sound of the horn as the unique gift of that instrument. An animal horn is not like a length of brass tubing that can be manipulated to reproduce an intended sound.

With regards to multiple mouthpieces, a shofar does not have a separate mouthpiece as does a trumpet. I prefer to use the term, "blow hole" to make it clear that a shofar does not have a separate mouthpiece. See my earlier post about mouthpieces for more comments. 

Has it been attempted before? Of course. But the resulting instruments are not shofarot, but some other form of blast horn, winding horn, hunting horn, or trumpet. You can also drill holes in the sidewall of an animal horn and make an instrument that can be fingered to produce notes. I have been thinking about putting a clarinet mouthpiece on a ram's horn, just for fun.  So have fun and explore the possibilities.

I find a spiritual teaching in the primitive simplicity of using a hollowed horn as an instrument for communicating with the Divine. The raw emotions of a shofar blast, the sputtering vulnerability of someone struggling to blast out his or her prayer, the alarm of a teruah blast --- these crude sounds remind us that we can approach God with all our failings and still be heard. The shofar is a horn of truth, not of performance.

Also can I ask another advice please? I modified a "cheapie" 20 inch rams horn. It was very dense and thick, and its tone was dull, muffled, muddy-almost muted. I used rasps to thin it significantly, in so doing I found some badly delaminated and damaged areas hidden inside the thick material, which I eventually sawed off to make a 17 inch horn....! I smoothed it with a scraper emery papers and wire wool, then treated it with danish oil, which dries tough and hard. The difference in sound quality is astounding, it is now bright, clear, piercing, and louder than before even though it is smaller. As a rule, do fully polished horns have a sharper brighter tone than semi-polished or unpolished ones? The Ribak horn I own is semi-polished, the polished section is about 1/8th inch thick, the raw section is about 1/4 inch. Does the thickness muffle or dampen the sound? Any advice or tips you would be willing to share would be very welcome!

I too have had to shorten shofarot when splits or damaged areas were found.  About the only rule I can offer is that shortening a horn will generally raise its pitch. Perhaps the defects you found in the horn had been muffling its sound. Most of its sound emanates from the open end of the shofar, not through its side wall, so I am unsure what difference thinning the wall would make. Perhaps one of the readers of this blog can share insight into the physics of a horn.

Please don't dismiss a shofar because it is small or inexpensive. I have a 5 inch long shofar I can fit into a pocket; it has a high shrill voice that I call my piccolo shofar. And some of the best sounding horns I have are short, relatively inexpensive horns. Try to shop at a store that offers a wide variety of shofarot, and find one that is easy to blow, sounds good, and calls to you spiritually.

By the way, the Anglo-Saxons of your country had instruments from animal horns. You may want to investigate that -- while different than the ram's horns from the Bible, they also called out in ritual and spiritual use.
--------------------------------
FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE

Since the initial email, I thought about the mouthpiece thing again, and decided against it for a permanent solution, but may still try it with one horn body as a way to experiment with mouthpiece shapes sizes and profiles, without having to possibly "ruin" an otherwise good horn. (much the same way as an optician uses dummy lenses to get the perscription right before committing to make a permanent set of lenses?). 

Also, I received another shofar from Israel. It is very light and thin and I really took to its wailing tone. The mouthpiece was narrow with a very long gradual taper inside, it was giving only 1 or 2 very high notes. I altered it-gradually-over a day or two. It now gives at least 4 notes, the deepest resounds like a cello or viola. 

Please keep me informed of your continued exploration into shaping a shofar.  There is a Jewish principal called hiddur mitzvah -- one should make the tools for performing a mitzvah beautiful. I sense your investigation is part of your path to deepen your worship, and am excited for you.

Decalcification and Drying

A participant in an online discussion group asks: "Does anyone have any suggestions for how to treat a shofar (which is rather old) that is getting quite 'dry' and I am afraid that it may be getting brittle. I was once told to use vinegar.

Someone responded: "Don't even think about it! Vinegar will soften up that old shofar, but it will do it by dissolving calcium carbonate, decalcifying the horn. You could end up with a floppy shofar. (To amuse yourself or kids, let a chicken leg bone soak in vinegar. After three or four days, you can tie a knot in it.)"

I don't agree with the reply. A shofar is fashioned from the sheath of a horn. Unlike the horn core which is made of bone, a horn sheath consists mostly of keratin, the substance from which hair, fingernails, and skin are made.

Keratin is mostly protein and forms unmineralized tissue. Bone, on the other hand, is mostly mineral calcium compounds. Calcium will dissolve in weak acids like vinegar. But a horn sheath does not (at least not within the time it takes to clean a shofar).

I have used vinegar to clean shofarot. I don't know if it is especially effective as a cleaning agent to remove soft tissues from and disinfect a shofar, but the odor of the vinegar does seem to mask some of the stench of a smelly shofar. I have left vinegar-filled shofarot to sit overnight without any appreciable softening.

Dry and Brittle
To return to the original question, I don't know what the person means by a horn getting "dry". But here are some thoughts about caring for a frail horn:

• Keep it dry. Repeated cycles of wet and dry can cause splitting due to swelling and shrinking.
• Protect the shofar from intense sunlight. UV in sunlight decomposes most organic materials.
• When transporting to shul, carry it in a padded box to protect it against impact. Store or display it in a safe place at home.
• Perhaps an occasional polishing with beeswax or lanolin will help protect the exterior of the horn. According to halachah, nothing should be placed on the inside wall of a shofar.

Wetting and Drying
At first what I said about wetting and drying doesn't make sense, as a sheep in nature is exposed to frequent wettings. But many things are different between a shofar and a horn on the hoof:

• A sheep may live a dozen or more years, but you will want your shofar to serve for generations.
• Rain water gets only the exterior of a horn wet and water runs off quickly. Soaking a shofar is a different situation. It is also likely that lanolin from the sheep's wool gets onto the horns and acts as a waterproofing.
• The oldest part of a horn is its tip, and this part is usually removed when making a shofar.
• Many horns in their natural state do have splits, but these horns are not used for shofarot.
• Natural horns are thick and splits on their outer face may not go all the way through. The horns used for shofarot, on the other hand, are often shaved or ground to thin shells that are more likely to crack all the way through an instrument.
• Keratin fibers are 10 – 12% longer at maximum water content (about 16%) than when dry (source: Encyclopaedia Britannica). I surmise that in the living animal, the horn sheath is kept near maximum water content by the blood flow in the bone core of the horn.  Once removed from the core, the horn shrinks. It should probably be allowed to adjust to ambient humidity conditions before fabrication. After that, repeated cycles of wet and dry can cause movement within the horn structure that may end up splitting the horn.

If anyone has other tips on how to preserve horn, please let me know.

Teaching Shofar

Mike Holzer is a ba'al tekiah and teaches sixth grade at the Temple Beth Israel and Agudith Achim Congregation hebrew school in Altoona, PA. He contacted me last summer for ideas on how to teach shofar to his class.

The photo shows the results. Children bright with a sense of accomplishment at learning a new skill and and having forged a chain in their heritage connecting the generations.

Mike reports, "The kids really had a blast (har har) playing and learning about them."

If you are a teacher looking for suggestions on how to teach shofar, feel free to contact me.

If Yom Kippur is on Shabbat

The following essay, by Rabbi Arthur Segal, may take some effort to follow, but provides rich insight into the relationship of shofar and shabbat. 


SHOFAR USE ON SHABBAT YOM TOV? 


A question was posed to me a few days ago by a fellow rabbi, a good friend, he being on the bimah of a Reform temple. ''With Yom Kippur falling on Shabbat in this year, 2010, what do we do, if we can't blow the shofar on Shabbat? 

But the question is a really a trick question. And as we say in Ivrit, "Abracadabra," meaning "I create (A'bra) what (ca) I speak (dab'ra)." And as one of my Rebbe's reminded me recently, a Rav must know his audience, or if not, will be inflicted with their ire. And as I am reminded way too often, we rabbis wear targets on our backs. 

While we see rules about not blowing the shofar when Rosh ha Shana falls on Shabbat, we do not see any rules about what to do if Yom Kippur falls on a Shabbat. This is because, we never ever blow the Shofar on Yom Kippur!! Even when we announce the Yovel, every 50 years, on Yom Kippur, we are not blowing the Shofar on the actual Yom Kippur. 

But, many a  congregation would yell, "Horse feathers...we have heard the Shofar blown every Yom Kippur at the end of services.'' Perhaps, but that is only in non-traditional temples ending Yom Kippur early. In Emet, we blow the Shofar after Ne'ilah. As we are well aware, Ne'ilah, the 'closing' prayer, when the 'gates of prayer'' are closed, starts a little bit before sunset and ends a bit after sunset. We then say the Shema and then blow the shofar. In actuality, the shofar blowing is not on Yom Kippur, but is in the first few minutes of the 11th of Tishrei. For 2010, when Yom Kippur is on Saturday, Shabbat, after the Shofar blowing, we then do havdallah, and then break the fast. Traditionally breaking of the fast, is always on the 11th of Tishrei as well.


The confusion comes with non-traditional Jews, ending Yom Kippur early, while still on the 10th of Tishrei, breaking fast before the sun sets.  Hence if Yom Kippur, is on Shabbat, if they want to do what is correct regarding  the Shofar v Shabbat, they find themselves stuck on the 'horns of a dilemma'' [pun poorly intended], of either keeping their Yom Kippur service to a traditional time table, or blow the Shofar, after they break their fast, and it becomes nightfall.


Of course the question becomes moot in a non-traditional congregation, which picks and chooses what halakah, if any, it wishes to follow or not, with so- called ''ritual committees.'' [When I was ritual chair of a Reform congregation, and just started intense study which would lead to my semicha,  I proudly told one of my Traditional  rabbinic teachers  that I was ritual chair of a Reform Temple . He said this was an ''oxymoron.'' ]


For traditional Jews, the problem of the Shofar blowing  is not if Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat, but if Yom Kippur ends on Erev Shabbat!  If Kol Nidre starts at sun down on a Thursday night, and Ne'ilah ends at the beginning of Erev Shabbat, one has the problem of blowing the Shofar during the first few minutes of Shabbat. But this question is not addressed in Halakah for the simple reason that Rabbi Hillel, II, in 358 CE, set our calendar in such a way that the day of Yom Kippur will never be on a Friday!!


{Yom Kippur also doesn't fall on a Sunday nor a Tuesday as well, as that would set in motion for Yom Kippur to eventually fall on a Friday. Rosh ha Shana only can be on a Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday. This keeps Hosanna Rabbah from falling on a Shabbat and keeps the first day of Sukkoth when there is a full moon. But again, if I were trying to teach this in answering the posed question, I'd be lynched. And while the Rambam in his Hilchot Kiddush Ha Chodesh 11:04,  says that understanding the Jewish calendar would only take a child  3 days of study, I explain the Jewish calendar so the Modern Jew can understand it in my essay on Parasha Bo on pages 129 -133 in a A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud  in an hour or less}.


On the other hand, {and isn't there always another hand?}, when Yom Kippur does fall on Shabbat as it will in 2010, there are changes in the service. We add some prayers and delete others.


But our calendar doesn't preclude Rosh ha Shana from falling on a Shabbat and hence when it does, we are not to blow the Shofar. The Shofar in a shul on Shabbat or a Rosh ha Shana which is on a Shabbat becomes keli she-melachto l'issur and is muktzeh. In a traditional sense, just showing a beautiful Shofar on Shabbat, and leaving it out, where one, ignorant of Shabbat law's, could have picked it up, and blown it, would be a mega no-no in a traditional shul, as not only does it break Melacoth rules of Shabbat, but also would be Lifne Iver, putting a stumbling block before a 'religiously' blind congregant and leading him to sin. Ouch. :-)


But there is a greater spiritual and ethical aspect in all of this, and that is where my interest lies. When any holiday coincides with Shabbat there would be changes at least minimally to the prayers. But on the Shabbat of Sukkoth we don't shake the Lulav and Etrog, we omit or change the 'circle' called Hoshanot on Shabbat, we omit the priestly blessings on the Shabbat of the holiday etc. There are many  changes, omissions or additions. But the spiritual lesson is we do these changes, including not blowing the Shofar on a Shabbat, because most of these are not necessary BECAUSE of Shabbat!!


What am I speaking about? Hang in there with me please. Not withstanding other reasons our sages have put forth for the various changes e.g. not blowing the Shofar on Shabbat because a person might carry it in the street on Shabbat and thereby desecrating the Shabbat, and this would be the same with the Luluv and Etrog. Hence by accomplishing the mitzvah of Shofar blowing or Shaking the Four Species on Sukkoth,  on Shabbat, we are doing so through desecrating the Shabbat. This would negate the positive affects of the Mitzvah because the Mitzvah only came about due to the desecration.


Let's use the Shofar as an example if we blow it on Rosh ha Shana if the New Year is on Shabbat. (Keep in mind that I explained why the sages don't discuss the problem of blowing  on Yom Kippur, as it can't happen with their rabbinic calendar). Our sages have explained that a person might accidentally carry the Shofar to synagogue on Shabbat in order to blow it, or  ask a Rabbi if the Shofar is a kosher one and this is prohibited on Shabbat. Or it may break or be clogged, and need to be fixed, and this also is not allowed on Shabbat. This would be akin to stealing wood in order to build a sukkah or stealing a luluv or etrog in order to make the beracoth to Ha Shem for  them. Or as a  newspaper, had a full color picture of, a town's Rabbi , hammering nails on Shabbat to erect a sukkah.  It is what is known as a Mitzvah haba b'aveira, a mitzvah that comes about through a sin. (Now I am putting aside a long discourse on Sabbatai Zvi , Kabbalah, enantiodromia, and the Jewish idea that good can be born from evil as I discuss in detail in my D'var Torah on Parasha  Eikev on pages  390 to 398 in a A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud )


So what is this spiritual lesson I was referring to three paragraphs above? Here is it: "On Shabbat all of our work is done for us, already accomplished by GOD," our sages teach. By NOT hearing the  Shofar on a Rosh Ha Shana on Shabbat, we ARE hearing it!!


We find in the Torah reference to NOT blowing the shofar on Rosh Ha Shana! The Torah at one point [Lev 23:24] uses the expression, "Zichron Teruah", a remembrance of the Teruah ( shofar blast). We see that there are times when we merely remember the blast and don't actually blow it. On a more spiritual level, we know that the Shabbat is the day that the Divine 'rested.' Better said, because One Who is Omnipotent does not need to rest, He imbued  Shabbat with holiness, as we state in the kiddush on Friday nights.


[While the Talmud Bavli Rosh Ha Shana 29b initially assumes that "Yom Teruah" refers to Rosh Ha Shana that falls on a weekday (hence the active "day" of blowing) and "Zichron Teruah" refers to Rosh Ha Shana that coincides with Shabbat (on which the Shofar is not blown; hence the mere "remembrance" of blowing), the  Talmud ultimately concludes that the disparity of language does not actually teach the abstention from Shofar blowing on Shabbat. Rather, the cancellation of Shofar blowing on Shabbat is a function of a Rabbinic – not Biblical – injunction, enacted out of fear that one might come to carry a Shofar in a reshut ha Rabim (public domain, where an eruv has not been established).


In coming to this conclusion, however, the Sages make no mention of what the disparity of language , "Yom Teruah" versus "Zichron Teruah,''  teaches us. Note also, that  Talmud Yerushalmi concludes that the abstention from Shofar on Shabbat is indeed a Biblical commandment, derived from the aforementioned verses.] 


[Talmud Bavli Tractate Rosh Ha Shana 26b, instructs us that a Shofar should be bent. But it is Rashi, based on the Gemarra, who explains that a bent Shofar resembles a person bent in humility and submission during tephila . Apparently, the Shofar fulfills a role strikingly similar to that of tephila and hence the Mitzvah of hearing it, is not enough, but must be done, as with tephila, with spiritual internal "kiyum She'Ba'Lev" (fulfillment of this mitzvah through our heart), and requires kavenah.


If we are not moved to an emotional state during hearing the Shofar, we have not completed the mitzvah. This leads  to another question:  which takes precedence, the Torah mitzvoth of hearing the shofar, or the rabbinic mitzvoth of tephila? The Talmud, ibid, 34b, answers ''the shofar,'' but then Rashi in Lev.  23. says that many Tephila are not just rabbinic, but commanded in the Torah as well.]


Spiritually in regard to 'work' that is forbidden on Shabbat, we know that it is to remember that God is the Creator and Master of the world and just as He did not need to 'work' on Shabbat  so too we need not work. This what our sages meant with the above quote of :  "On Shabbat all of our work is done for us, already accomplished by God."[Mekhilta Masekhta Ba Chosesh].


So if we spiritually extrapolate, using simple Kal Vachomer , [literally translated as light and heavy, or lenient and stringent,Talmud Bavli Tractate Sotah 29a],  this premise that 'all of our work is done' to the prohibition of blowing the shofar (or other such activities prohibited on the various holidays) and we now understand that there are times when the Divine takes care of these items for us.


A point in fact would be that when Rosh Ha Shana falls on Shabbat it causes a spiritual elevation to that particular Rosh Ha Shana. It is taught that the first Mishkan in B'Midbar was constructed during a year when Rosh Ha Shana was on a Shabbat. And some sages postulate that it elevates the entire year spiritually!  Why?? Because it is God Himself  that accomplishes these Mitzvoth  for us that we cannot do ourselves because a holiday falls on Shabbat. 


God is blowing the Shofar for us!!  God is shaking the Luluv with the Etrog for us!!! 


Now, the spiritual rhetorical question: who can do these Mitzvoth better... us or Him? So really there is no NEED for us to do these actions when the holiday falls on Shabbat. Our NOT doing them, has more spiritual significance if we understand and have transformed via Jewish Spiritual Renewal.The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew 


Rabbi Arthur Segal 
www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org   
www.jewishrenewal.info

Take the Voice into Oneself

“And all the people saw the voices [thunder] and the lightening, and the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood far off.” (Exodus 20:15)

After Rabbi Yitzhak's death many hasidim came to Vorki for the Feast of Weeks [Shavuot]. Among them was Rabbi Benjamin of Lublin, who had been a disciple of the Seer but had gone over to the much-maligned Yehudi, the Seer's disciple, while his first teacher was still alive. Since Rabbi Benjamin was very old sickly, he had to lie down soon after his arrival. After prayers Rabbi Yitzchak's two sons went to see him. "Children," he said to them, "I wish you'd tell me how we are to interpret the words in Scriptures 'And all the people saw the voice.'"

Rabbi Yaakov David, the elder son, gave a most perceptive interpretation, but Rabbi Menachem Mendel, the younger, was silent as usual. "And what have you to say?" asked Rabbi Benjamin.

"I say," answered Menachem Mendel, "that we must take it to mean, they saw and realized that one must take the voice into oneself and make it one's own."

From Martin Buber Tales of the Hasidim 

Found at racheladelman.com/shiurim/Voice_from_the_End_of_the_World.doc

Shofar blower, (60 X 50 cm) oil painted in 1924 by Emmanuel Mané-Katz (b. 1894 in Ukranine - d. 1962 in Israel). There is a museum dedicated to the artist's work in Haifa.

What does the stern faced shofar blower see? 
The past? The future? 

Is he accusing God, 
or just listening intently? 

The color of his face has drained into his horn.

Shofar via Radio, Telephone, or Internet

Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg, known as the Tzitz Eliezer, was a leading Halachic authority of the 20th Century. Regarding shofar:

"Rabbi Waldenberg permitted hearing Torah reading, Shofar blowing and Megillah reading by means of a loudspeaker, telephone, or radio." (Responsa Tzitz Eliezer, 8:11.)  (Source:  Wikipedia, July 22, 2010)

This may be overstating his position. I have not finished researching this issue, but have found the following two statements about Waldenberg's position.

"If there is no other way to fulfill the obligation, one may fulfill his obligation to hear the shofar on Rosh HaShanah and the Megillah on Purim via a loudspeaker, telephone or radio." www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/115965

This is a far more nuanced approval. On the other hand, the following seems to dissallow the hearing of shofar through electronics:

"Twentieth Century Halachic authorities have also debated whether the Kol Isha (hearing a woman's voice) prohibition applies to recordings and radio broadcasts. Rav Eliezer Waldenberg (Teshuvot Tzitz Eliezer 5:2) rules leniently based on two considerations. The first is that the Gemara (Sanhedrin 45a) states, “The Yetzer Hara is not interested in what the eyes do not see.” The second is that technically he does not hear the woman’s voice because radio broadcasts and recordings are mere electronic reproductions of the woman’s voice. Rav Waldenberg writes that if we cannot fulfill Mitzvot such as Tekiat Shofar and Kriat Megila when hearing them on the radio, then the prohibition of Kol Isha does not apply over the radio." http://koltorah.org/ravj/The%20Parameters%20of%20Kol%20Isha.htm

Halachah must always wrestle withquestions of modern technology. With this in mind, I pose the following question and my thinking:

According to Talmud, the mitzvah of shofar has been fulfilled if the shofar blower intends for a blast to satisfy the mitzvah for all those hearing it, and the hearer intends for the hearing to also satisfy the mitzvah. This applies even if the shofar blower is indoors, and the hearer is outdoors, passing by the synagogue.

Does this ruling apply only if the sound is heard through an open window or door? Or is the mitzvah also satisfied if the sound is heard through an acoustically transparent wall or partition?  Imagine that the wall was that of a tent. The vibrational energy of the sound is transmitted through the fabric and into the air beyond; the hearer still has the experience of hearing the sound produced by the shofar.

How is this different if the energy of a shofar blast passes through a microphone, through an electrical circuit, and emerges through a speaker at the other end?

If the kavanah of both blower and hearer is to fulfill the mitzvah, then based on an understanding of modern physics of sound and communications, I would find the hearing of shofar as acceptable.

As in all matters of halachah, my opinion is of little import. Find a Jewish community and observe their its minhag. But if you want to hear the shofar through the the internet, there are now congregations that webcast their services live. You can also arrange for a phone call with a shofar blower.

Shofar as Seen Through Lurianic Mysticism

Arthur L. Finkle

Isaac Luria, the famous 16th century Jewish mystic translated preexisting esoteric mystical ideas into language that a few could understand.
Its Fundamental Conceptions were omnipresence of God and the idea of Devekut, (communion between God and man.)

The Baal Shem Tov, 18th century propagator of Lurianic mysticism, indicated that God created the world with points of light contained in vessels. However, in such creation, some vessels broke releasing sparks of light. Accordingly, the role of humankind is to perfect souls to return the light to its source.

Humankind possesses either partial or full light (a manifestation of the Omnipotent). Indeed, Scripture tells us that we were created in the “image of God.” Genesis 1:27

Devekut (communion) refers to the belief that the sparks of divinity is the building block of a bridge between humankind and the Divinity.

There is mutual influence on the part of God and humankind of influencing each other. Every act and word of humankind produces a corresponding vibration in the upper spheres of spiritual heavens. From this conception is derived the chief practical principle of Hasidism — communion with God for the purpose of uniting light particles with the source of life and of influencing it. This communion will be achieved through the concentration of all thoughts on God, and consulting the Divinity all the affairs of life. In this way, the souls will perfect themselves and return the sparks of light to the highest heaven, making the world the perfect place it was intended to be.


THE HEAVENS
When Hassidism speak of heavens, it refers to spheres of religious worlds are (from Low-High)
• Asiyah (World of Activity, Making or Physical Manifestation).
• Yetzirah (World of Formation), and
• B'riyah (World of Creation),
• Atziluth (World of Emanation)

THE SOUL
The soul is broken up into five sectors. The goal of a human is to perfect as many sectors as is possible. If a human dies without achieving wholeness of soul, the soul is re-incarnated in another human being at the level of the prior soul.

Picture the sectors of the soul from Low-High
• Nefesh – "animal soul" that is linked to human metabolism, bodily cravings, and instincts.
• Ruah - The ruach is the connection between the nefesh and neshamah and is linked to human emotions and feelings.
• Neshamah - that connects humans to G-d and leads humans to perform good deeds, be pious and humble, and to seek knowledge and achievements in the spiritual realm
• Ha’yah – level of the human soul that permits one to have an awareness of G-d. The
• Yechida – oneness with Creator Yehidah is the highest level of the soul which allows humans to achieve as full a union with G-d as possible.

Accordingly, a human can be in the first level of the spiritual Realm and the neshshma (third stage in the Soul sector. The person could be in the Atziluth (World of Emanation – 4th spiritual sphere; nefesh, soul sector. The combinations for those who do the math is 5 Factorial multiplied by 4 factorial.

In sum, the human will be in a state of 5-factorial (stages of soul development) multiplied by 4-factorial (planes of spirituality).
http://www.becomingjewish.org/mysticism.html
The elements of the cabalistic worldview are combined in the grand allusion of the Tree of Life. The Tree emanates from the Mysterious Unknown in its negatively existent roots, and descends through the planes of existence via a series of spheres connected by gates. All mystical traditions have ways for the human intellect to make a distinction between passive and active aspects of the Mysterious Unknown. In the Cabala, they are respectively called "Vast Face" and "Small Face." The relationship between the two Faces is portrayed in the Tree of Life (see Diagram). Like most other mystical traditions, the Cabala has a variety of special Names for each of the two aspects, and a principal Name for the active aspect upon which the entire religious tradition usually centers. In the following web pages, the core teachings of the Mystical Cabala that constitute its worldview are presented in detail.

PHILOSOPHICAL CONCERNS
Such mystical ideas are beyond those of philosophy which defines the philosophical treatment of an idea to transcends variety of sub-disciplines including phenomenology (knowledge) epistemology (whether knowledge can answer questions about a concept);, metaphysics (study of reality), religion, human nature, politics and ethics. Often statements or arguments concerning love, its nature and role in human life for example, connect to one or all the central theories of philosophy, and is often compared with, or examined in the context of other philosophies. The task of a philosophy is to present the appropriate issues in a cogent manner, drawing on relevant theories of human nature, desire, ethics, and so on.
http://www.iep.utm.edu/love/

JEWISH MYSTICISM

Scholars of Jewish Mysticism have often commented upon the phenomenological (understanding or knowledge) similarities between important forms of Jewish mysticism and of Western Esotericism (see, e.g., the theosophical systems of the Zohar and of Jacob Boehme). Indeed, Western Esotericism may roughly be characterized as the parallel within Christian culture (but extending to its post-Christian secularized derivations) of what Jewish Mysticism represents within Jewish culture. Such parallels invite comparative research, preferably based upon close interaction and exchange between scholars in both domains.
Jewish Mysticism has been of major historical importance in the development of Western Esoteric traditions since the Renaissance. The phenomenon of "Christian Kabbalah" is a central phenomenon in this respect, which has in turn influenced the development of Jewish mysticism in the modern period. Beyond the Renaissance period, the influence of Jewish mysticism or specific aspects of it may be traced (albeit in increasingly derivative forms) throughout the history of Western Esotericism. Patterns of historical influence and interaction between Jewish Mysticism and Western Esotericism, in their various historical manifestations, are therefore of crucial importance.

(This summary has been borrowed (with slight editorial modifications) from a news message on a symposium of Western Esotericism and Jewish Mysticism.
http://www.kheper.net/topics/Kabbalah/JewishMysticism.htm

This statement propounds that, is not only does the mystical tradition exceed the bounds of philosophical discourse, but philosophy is unimagin¬able without the latter. There is a great deal of truth in this comment, as it is impossible to disentangle the threads of philosophy and mysticism when examining the texture of medieval Jewish mysticism in any of its major expressions. This entanglement is both historical and ideational.


PRAYER
This ascent and descent is traditionally called prayer. On the most basic level, prayer is turning to G-d to request one’s needs. On a Kabalistic level, the aim of prayer is to attach the soul to its source, and to refine and elevate the crass nature of one’s baser drives and passions. These two goals go hand in hand. Through elevation and attachment—ascent—one may refine one’s character through a deeper understanding of the purpose of creation. Hence the Cabalists write that the knowledge of this chain of creation is a great Mitzvah, in that it brings man to “know G-d,” love, and stand in awe of Him.

In truth, no mortal being has any notion of G-d Himself. What is meant by the phrase to “know G-d” is to be fully cognizant and sensitive to the Shechinah,(G_d’s manifestation to humans) and to totally integrate that presence in all echelons of human experience.

This is why we pray each day. Man stands at the crossroads of creation. His body is made from earth while his soul was literally breathed into him by G-d. Man embodies heaven and earth and in his daily schedule oscillates between the two.

At times he is spiritually uplifted and detached from the mundane.

At other times he is totally immersed in the materialistic quagmire. How does he maintain a healthy Human/Divine equilibrium? The mystic approach to this question is from a totally different and fresh perspective.

Kabala explains that this fusion occurs in the reactor of prayer. Upon ascending the ladder, and touring the “higher worlds” while rising level after level, the view from above is stunning. The material world below is almost a joke, pathetically insignificant in the huge Divine Light accessible in the higher realms. At the height of meditation the soul experiences a spiritual ecstasy so powerful that it wishes to expire and leave the earthly container.

And then, at the height of the flight, it dissolves in awe, standing before the Almighty Himself. All notions of ego and self are dispelled and the pervading feeling is one of Atzmut only. At that level, one senses that the purpose of creation is for the Nefesh Elokit to descend through the worlds, become enclothed in the earthly body, and immersed in daily routine engagement. In Judaism, action is the main thing. The mystic is not the ascetic with his head in the clouds; rather he understands that a deep knowledge of the higher realms brings one to a much richer involvement in this world. It is specifically in the “lowest of all realms” that one can make a dwelling place for the Divine. G-d desires to have an abode in this world


THE SHOFAR AND MYSTICISM

With this lengthy introduction, what does mysticism speak to the sound of the shofar, itself a mystical sound. We will explore three interpretations.

A TRANSCENDENT CRY

Finally, we arrive at mystical conceptions of the sound of the shofar. One way to interpret the Shofar is A Transcendent Cry from a Place of Unity

There are things that are so important to us that, when we speak about them, we speak with passion, meaning and depth—our words flow, bursting with emotion.

And then there are things that shake us to the core, and the core of our being is not able to wait for the mind’s permission or for the right words. There are no words that can contain this feeling—it breaks out in a cry.
This is the sound of the shofar—a cry, not even of a human being, but of an animal’s horn. We need the animal, not for its coarseness, but for its simplicity of primal expression that the mind can neither fathom nor hold back.

This in fact is the Tikun –rectification, as the Arizal writes for the tree of Knowledge, the reality of opposites and duality, and reclaiming the Tree of Life, the reality of Unity.

SHOFAR: INITIATING A COSMIC EXHALE
Another idea in interpreting the sound of the shofar to analogize the physical playing of the shofar with the creation of the word with its expanding and contracting. Indeed, the taking of the breath to sound the shofar. Every year before the bellowing of the shofar there is a great cosmic inhale and retention and only later, at the blowing of the shofar, is there an exhale, the filling of the cosmic void with life and renewed energy. New life enters our world and takes its first breath. It is our own life, as well, and it is in our hands.

SHOFAR: (RE) BIRTH OF HUMANKIND
A third analogy is to compare the shofar itself with the birth canal, a holy place in which two disparate items – the sperm and the eggs join to become one of God’s creatures. The shofar with its narrow mouthpiece and wider opening resembles a birth canal. In fact, the Torah mentions a great woman with a related name, Shifra, who was a midwife to the Israelites at the time of the birth of Moses in Egypt. Her name means “to make beautiful,” and that is what she did: she ensured that the babies would emerge healthy and viable, then swaddled and massaged them to foster their strength and beauty.

The shofar is the midwife of the New Year. Into its piercing cry we squeeze all our heartfelt prayers, all our tears, our very souls. All that exists resonates with its call until it reaches the very beginning—the cosmic womb. And there it touches upon High: the Divine Presence shifts modalities from transcendence to immanence, from strict judgment to compassion. In the language of the Zohar : “The shofar below awakens the shofar above and the Holy One, blessed be He, rises from His Throne of Judgment and sits in His Throne of Compassion.”

http://iyyun.com/teachings/holidays/sounds-of-the-shofar-explored#shofar-a-transcendent-cry-from-a-place-of-unity. Accessed July 3, 2010.

Relationships Blow. Or Are They a Blast?

What can we learn about romantic relationships from shofar blasts? This essay answers that question. It is from nyblueprint.com, September 4, 2998 and written by Dara Lehon.

For years, my inbox has overflowed with canned images of shofars, drizzling honey and tasty-looking apples. And each year, I send emails wishing others a Happy New Year, and think about how lucky I am. Rosh Hashana is indeed about celebration, rebirth and all that malarkey.

But if you're like many people who are dead set on finding the perfect mate (and who have not yet necessarily been successful), you've probably spent one too many Rosh Hashanot sitting in shul contemplating your dating fate — and not only about whether or not you will be written into the book of lifelong mates, or left in the dust. You’ve probably contemplated how many of your friends have gotten paired off over the last year. And why you haven’t.

And while hearing the shofar blow 90 times is one of the major mitzvot of the holiday, seeing all of the newly paired faces, you’ve probably thought: “I want to blow this joint like it were a shofar.”

Still, obligingly, you find yourself on the edge of your pew waiting for the granddaddy of all blasts, the Tekiah Gedolah. The longest-lasting most exciting toot you’ll hear all year, and the symbol that shul is almost over.

And as you watch the tokeh lick his lips and adjust to sound the shofar, it's hard not to let the mind wander.

You reflect, and consider how you can be a better person and a better Jew. You think about asking forgiveness from your friends and loved ones. You consider how you can build new relationships and work on current relationships and mend broken relationships.

And, shoot, you realize, there have been a lot of broken relationships.

Now knowing that a new year is full of opportunities, you’re excited about the apples and honey and all the round things you will eat in anticipation of that sweetness. And even if you’re afraid that this will be another year of dating the same kind of person who hasn't been "the one," or that a sour apple will emerge from beneath the honey, maybe, all the relationships that kinda blew in the past are all leading up to the one, the big blast: the gedolah.

And if you really think about it, relationships are a lot like each of those sonic patterns you ought to hear on Rosh Hashana -- Tekiah, shevarim-teruah, tekiah; tekiah, shevarim, tekiah; tekiah, teruah – and you just have to get through all of the little ones to make it to the big one. Let’s think about it:

Tekiah: The longish relationship and a sort of a somber blow, maybe a little serious, maybe too serious, it tried to get going, but it knew there was an end. Phew.
Shevarim-Teruah: Three. Great. Dates. Following by several long months of flirting and attempts at a relationship. That failed.
Tekiah: After reconsidering the Shevarim-Teruah months, tekiah seemed to be the appropriate move. But it ran out of steam. And sadly, did not work out.

Tekiah: Luckily, another tekiah became available. Yes, it may have been a rebound tekiah. But it was there.
Shevarim: This was a blast for three months. But you realized that it wouldn''t make it to the gedolah.
Tekiah: Ok. You decided to commit to yourself for the long-haul. After all, if you don’t love you, who will?

Tekiah: Yep. Still committed to yourself…now just waiting for someone else to…
Teruah: Enough of that self-love stuff. You date for weeks or months, with maybe a few bobbles along the way. And maybe, just maybe, you end up with one of your tekiot.
Tekiah Gedolah: The big finale. Sure, you’ll get red in the face, feel like you can’t catch your breath and like your head will explode, but you’ve been waiting for this for a long time. You inhale deeply and go with it.

This Rosh Hashana, when one too many mothers suggests in the lobby of the shul that you and "Avi," who's really grown into a lovely boy, should go for a malted at the drive in, or when you realize that one too many of your former crushes has gone bald, and when you notice that "even she" has a ring on her finger—but not you—remember: Sure as the shofar blows, sometimes the romantic blasts don't happen on the first shot. And sometime the blasts don’t last that long.

Just relax, inhale, and keep trying. Even if it takes 90 toots until you get there.

I may not be much of a relationship coach, but I do offer a suggestion to those seeking lasting relationships. Like the mitzvah of shofar, the goal is not to sound the horn, but to listen.

Bris before Shofar

When a bris - ritual circumcision - occurs on Rosh Hashanah, it is performed in shul before the blowing of the shofar, because:

“Tadir V’ She’ Eino Tadir- Tadir Kodem”. A mitzvah performed more frequently takes precedence over a less frequent mitzvah.

We say in our prayers “Z’chor bris Avraham v’ Akeidas Yitzchak”, remember the bris of Avraham and the binding of Yitzchak- the bris milah corresponds to the bris of Avraham; the shofar to Akeidas Yitzchak - the binding of Isaac.

From: www.shomrei-torah.org/pachimktanim.htm

Not Just for High Holy Days Anymore

I am quoted in the following article from The Jewish Journal, August 10, 2010, written by Edmon J. Rodman. It describes the increasing popularity of shofar across religious lines:
 
With our intentions — and especially our ears — tuned to the month of Elul, we might ask: Who turned up the shofar?

For Jews, its soulful sound is not just for High Holy Days anymore, and today, a growing number of Christians are hearing its call as well.

One night this spring, as I was driving home down a stretch of midcity Pico Boulevard, I saw the spiraled form of a Yemenite-style shofar sticking high up over a man’s shoulder in the window of a Latino evangelical church.

Was someone playing our song?

“I know of several churches which are using the shofar,” Pastor Leslie Peters of the Harvest Celebration Church in Northridge told me.

Peters should know, because he plays. Taught by shofar teacher and master player Michael Chusid, Peters sees blowing the shofar as symbolizing freedom. He also associates its sound “with the time when Jesus comes again.”

During services at his church, which are attended by a hundred or more people, Peters, who also plays keyboard in the church’s band, keeps his shofar close at hand. The pastor holds back, anticipating a moment when he feels the strong presence of God.

“That’s when I get up from behind my keyboard,” he said, “and give one long blast.” “People respond with great joy,” he added.

Other Christians have used the shofar as a political instrument.

This year, on the East Coast, a group of Tea Partyers blew the shofar to call attention to their battle against health care reform. “May the sound of the shofar reach the ears of almighty God,” the shofar blower said in a YouTube video of the event.

Here in Los Angeles, at a recent Wilshire Boulevard rally supporting Israel during the Gaza blockade crisis, three women also used shofars to show political support, in this case, for the State of Israel. “We’re from a messianic synagogue,” explained Shirley Bragg, one of the blowers.

Chusid, a Los Angeles building product marketing consultant and ba’al tekiyah (master blaster), is also the energy behind hearingshofar.com, a Web site devoted to all things shofar. “My blog gets more hits from Christians than Jews,” Chusid said.

He counts among the site’s readers a shepherd from New Hampshire as well as a family of Thor followers in the Midwest.

Chusid is also an advocate of an expanded Jewish use of the shofar. “The shofar has become ossified,” he said.

In Chusid’s Internet book, “Hearing Shofar: The Still Small Voice of the Ram’s Horn,” he cites textual and historic precedents for blowing the shofar on Rosh Chodesh, Sukkot and Chanukah.

He also has found a use for the shofar on Passover, but not as an instrument.

At his seder, which he holds annually with friends and family in the California desert, he pours some wine into a shofar and uses it as Elijah’s cup. “The bends of the shofar keep the wine from spilling out,” he said.

Another Southlander, David Zasloff, further expands the boundaries of the shofar by using it to sound jazz riffs. This year, Zasloff — who also plays the shakuhachi (end blown) flute, trumpet and percussion — performed a piece he composed for shofar, titled “Jumpin’ in Jerusalem,” before an audience at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino.

Outdoing that, perhaps, he also blows a note-for-note rendition of “Hatikvah” in a video on YouTube.

Years ago, Zasloff found himself in Seattle working in a restaurant called Matzoh Momma. As he tells the story, “A rabbi invited me over to his house and asked me to play the shofar,” he said. “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” was the first song to come out.

“The shofar helped me to reclaim my Judaism,” he said. “The sounds of the shofar remind you to be who you are. It’s a higher communication,” he said.

The reclaimed Zasloff now also uses the shofar to entertain. In a performance called Shofar-Palooza, he alternates playing impossible shofar pieces, like “The Flight of the Bumblebee,” with timely beats of Jewish humor.

Zasloff, who will blow the shofar in three different settings during this year’s High Holy Days, has also played it in non-Jewish settings. “The spiritually oriented have a familiarity with it,” he said.

Regardless of religious orientation, shofar blowers — be they performers, teachers or preachers — are all aware of the shofar’s emotional power.

A few years ago, during Elul, when Jews are supposed to hear the shofar every day, I accompanied our congregation’s shofar blower, my wife, Brenda Rodman, on a “shofar call” to a fellow congregant’s home. That morning, she blew one long blast, and the woman in whose front yard we stood burst into tears.

“People are astounded and transfixed by the sound,” Zasloff said. “It brings people to tears. They’re overwhelmed.”

“The sound recalls old memories,” Chusid said. “The blowing releases our feelings. It’s a powerful chain of tone that expresses what we cannot express. The rawness of the sound releases ancient pains that are encoded in our DNA.”

“It’s our power instrument,” Peters said.

A call “to joy in the world,” Chusid said.

For the record, I don't recall saying shofar is a call to "joy." It is certainly joy, but it is far more.

Welcome Arthur Finkle to this Blog

When I began serious study of shofar, more than a decade ago, one of the first books on the subject I found was The Easy Guide to Shofar Sounding by Arthur L. Finkle. As I went deeper into my studies, I kept encountering the name, "Finkle", whenever I searched the internet for information on shofar. Recognizing a fellow shofar enthusiast, I sent an email to Art several years ago, and an ongoing correspondence ensued. The exchange of information about shofar grew to include occasional phone calls. And last year I was able to meet Art face to face when a business trip took me to Philadelphia, near where he lives.

The Talmud advises to find a teacher, a study partner, and a friend. Art Finkle has become all three to me.

Art has been present in www.HearingShofar.com since it launched in 2009. He graciously allowed me to post many of his essays and teachings about shofar. I have also used some of his writings as posts in this blog. Now, we have decided to collaborate to make this website the foremost resource available for those interested in shofar.

Art and I differ in our interests and even some of our conclusions about shofar. This is good; his ongoing contributions will round out some of my rough edges. For example, Art has much deeper understanding of Halacha -- Jewish Law.

I look forward to reading his words on these pages in the future.

Articles written by Arthur Finkle are copyright by him. Other content on this website is copyright by Michael Chusid or by the original creator.

Continuity of the Sacred

When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem’s Temple, the Jewish People should have vanished the way that the Romans themselves did; or the Greeks before them; or the Carolingians; the Tudors; the Stuarts, etc. The fact remains that the Jewish tradition continued.

This article explores one of the possible reasons for the continuity of the sacred entrustment of the Jewish People.

Jacob Neusner cites that the Mishnah gives us clues as to how such continuity took place. Although he does not tell us of the possible revolution between the Priestly class (Sadducees) and the Pharisee (and perhaps the Zealots, Nazarenes, and other apocalyptic groups), the fact that the Pharisees in the form of the Rabbis took over leadership of the Jewish people is supported by a Mishnaic interpretation of the continuity of the Shofar:

The following provides a stunningly apt example of how the Mishnah's philosophers regard what actually happened as being simply changes in the law: M. Rosh Hashanah 4:1-4 4:1 A. On the festival day of the New Year which coincided with the Sabbath . . . in the Temple they would sound the Shofar. C. But not in the provinces.

Accordingly, Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai ruled that the Shofar would continue to be sounded on the Sabbath in Javnia during Rosh HaShanah; then his disciples extended the sounding to any jurisdiction within the boundaries of Israel where there was a Jewish Court (community of males of 120 or more)

Another telling use of historical legal continuity is the commemoration of the holiday of Tisha B’Av:

Five events took place for our fathers on the seventeenth of Tammuz, and five on the ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tammuz:
(1) the tablets [of the Torah] were broken,
(2) the daily whole offering was canceled,
(3) the city wall was breached,
(4) Apostemos burned the Torah, and
(5) he set up an idol in the Temple.

On the ninth of Av:
(1) the decree was made against our forefathers that they should not enter the land,
(2) the first Temple and
(3) the second [Temple] were destroyed,
(4) Betar was taken, and
(5) the city was ploughed up [after the war of Hadrian].

When Av comes, rejoicing diminishes. 4:7
A. In a week in which the ninth of Av occurs it is prohibited to get a haircut and to wash one's clothes.
B. But on Tuesday of that week these are permitted,
C. because of the honor due to the Sabbath.
D. On the eve of the ninth of Av a person should not eat two prepared dishes, nor should one eat meat or drink wine.
E. Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel says, "He should make some change from ordinary procedures." F. R. Judah declares people obligated to turn over beds.
G. But sages did not concur with him.

Neusner includes M. Taanit 4:7 to show the context in which the list of M. 4:6 stands. The stunning calamities catalogued at M. 4:6 form groups, reveal common traits, so are subject to classification.

This interpretation turned the Temple Destruction tragedy on its head by citing the historical pattern by creating an organizational pattern of rational thought of past reality. Accordingly, all history was subject to classification, once the parameters were defined.

 By Arthur L. Finkle

"Judaic Uses of History in Talmudic Times", Jacob Neusner, History and Theory Vol. 27, No. 4, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2504994 Accessed: 04/01/2010 21:19

 

Beiheft 27: Essays in Jewish Historiography (Dec., 1988), pp. 12-39 Published by: Blackwell Publishing for Wesleyan University 

Sounding of the Shofar or Trumpet

If we believe archeological findings, the frieze on the Arch of Titus in Rome, depicts the captured hatzotzerot (trumpets) from the Jewish Second Temple being borne in triumph among the other sacred objects. Further, we see the symbol of the Shofar as a symbol of Judaism in the archeological record (Capernaum synagogue - 1st century CE; Ephesus 2-3rd centuries; Rome – 2-5th centuries; etc.) in the early centuries of the Common Era.

Ambiguity of Words
There are, nevertheless, several ambiguities in whether the written words a trumpet and a Shofar. A case in point are the Hebrew words “Keren” (Horn) and “Jubal” (Jubilee)

The word ‘Shofar’ comes from an old Semitic root (cf. Akkadian ‘sapparum' meaning wild sheep or goat). At first, as has been indicated, the word ‘karen’ does not seem to have been used by itself. Later through the explanation of the Mishnah c 200 CE), a horn could become a Shofar if it were constructed according to Mishnaic and later Talmudic direction.

The hatzotzerot, in contrast, seem to have been interchanged with the Shofar. In Tractate Rosh HsShanah, when it termed when 'duty days' were taken in turns, the Shofar and trumpets played the same calls.

Confusion by Performing the Same or Similar Tasks
The Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 54 provides a description of the priests lowering trumpets during pauses in the Levitical singing in the Second Temple, signaling to worshippers to prostrate themselves.

Further there is a curious reference in I Chronicles 5:13 instructing the trumpeters and singers being "as one, to make one sound." It bespeaks the possibility that the trumpets played a sustained note over which the singers chanted as opposed to the trumpets and singers having separate parts. Moreover, one of the common words for 'fanfare' is “teru'ah” meaning 'a shout'. Accordingly, this fanfare could be described to have been the imitation of a shout. Sometimes this ambiguity between a vocal or instrumental meaning is difficult. A case in point is the famous passage in the Vulgate edition (Official early church version of the Holy Scriptures) of Joshua 5, ‘where the priests were to blow the Shofars, while the peoples shouted: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound (‘kol’) of the Shofar the peoples shouted with a great shout (teru'ah) so that the wall fell down flat.’ The Vulgate cannot be blamed for glossing because, by this time, there was a lack of distinction between the Shofar and trumpet.

History of the Uses of the Trumpet and Shofar Reverse Roles
The marshaling signals are described in Numbers 10, though in war the Shofar seems to have been the signaling instrument par excellence. All these functions, and their calls, seem later to have been appropriated by the Shofarot. The encyclopedic Psalm 150, for example, makes no mention of the trumpet. Only lately (in the last century or so B.C.) do trumpets appear to come back into their former favor; but, due to Greco-Roman influence, their use is primarily military.

Indeed the roles of the two instruments seem to have become reversed; the Talmud
says 'what was called a trumpet has become a Shofar, and what was called a Shofar has become a trumpet' (Bab. Talmud Shabbat 36a; also Sukkoth 34a; and Rosh HaShanah 36a; Targum version of Hosea 5:8). A passage in the Mishnah (Gittin 3:6) indicates much the same thing, in saying that a 'trumpet' can be made of animal horn.

So the Shofar eventually took on the ceremonial function originally performed by the trumpet.

This confusion of usage makes the task of reconstructing the trumpet and Shofar calls simpler rather than the reverse, for the instruments and their traditional signals may be treated summarily. Since the Shofar calls themselves are the subject of some differences in our own times and were disputed in Talmudic times.

The Shofar had specifications according to the Mishnah. For example, it could not have holes; it could not be valid if there was a split in the horn. The horn should be from a preferably kosher animal but never a cow (reminding one of the worship of the Golden Calf during Moses’ journey to receive the Ten Commandments for the first time.) It should be sounded from the small end of the horn. Horns could not be placed inside other horns; and there were restrictions as to decorations on the Shofar itself. (See Rosh HaShanah Mishnah and Talmud)

Further it is not clear whether the Shofar was used originally for ritual (as Leviticus 25 suggests) or for war purposes (Joshua 6). We do know, however, that Tractate Shabbat 35b provides that the Shofar sounded six times to prepare for the Sabbath.

Eventually, after the destruction of the second Temple, the Shofar was identified with Rosh HaShanah (the beginning of the religious year, sometimes known as Yom Teruah (Day of the blast) or Chag HaShoforot (the Shofar festival).

In addition, Cyrus Adler, no minor authority, indicated that cornet (a type of trumpet) and Shofar were used interchangeably.

Further Confusion
In “Sound The Shofar - "Ba-Kesse" Psalms 81:4,” Solomon B. Freehof, a professor at Hebrew Union College, follows the strange history of translation. The preponderance of traditional (Jewish) commentators agree on one translation of it and all the non-traditional commentators (non-Jewish) unanimously agree on another. One partial exception to this strange lineup is Rashi (11th century commentator), who translates "Ba-Kesse" as ‘here’ and in Proverbs 7:20 as ‘the special day,’ or ‘the appointed day.’ But he, too, in his commentary to Rosh HaShonah 8a-b, agrees with all the traditional commentators, beginning with the Talmud and the Midrash, Leviticus Rabba 29:6, taking the word to be a synonym of the word "Chodesh" in the first part of the sentence, meaning: The New Moon.

However, the non-traditional commentators of the 19th century, Wellhausen in Proverbs, Duhm in Psalms, and Briggs and Toy in the International Critical Commentary, and our modern English translation, all agree to translate the word "Kesse" not as "New Moon" but as Full Moon.

Accordingly, the evidence seems to be on the side of the traditional commentators who legitimized the appearance of the New Moon in the Seventh month as the Rosh HaShanah (Beginning of the Religious New Year).

By Arthur L. Finkle

References

Cyrus Adler, "The Shofar - It's Use and Origin" Published in 1893, Government Printing Office (Washington), pp 287-311.

Solomon B. Freehof, “Sound the Shofar: ‘Ba-Kesse’ Psalm 81:4, The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 64, No. 3 (Jan., 1974), pp. 225-228, University of Pennsylvania Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1454132 Accessed: 04/01/2010 20:37

Sidney B. Hoenig, “Origins of the Rosh Hashanah Liturgy.” The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 57, The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Volume of the Jewish Quarterly Review (1967), pp. 312-331, University of Pennsylvania Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1453499 Accessed: 04/01/2010

David Wulstan, “The Sounding of the Shofar,” The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 26 (May, 1973), pp. 29-46, London: Galpin Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/841111 (The Galpin Society was formed in October 1946 in London for the publication of original research into the history, construction, development and use of musical instruments. Its name commemorates the pioneer work of Canon Francis W. Galpin (1858-1945) who had spent a lifetime in the practical study of old instruments, in collecting them and recording their history.)

Shofar: Demonic Defense or Rabbinic Call to Repentance?

Shofar: Demonic Defense or Rabbinic Call to Repentance?

Arthur L. Finkle

Sol B. Finesinger made the argument that, although the shofar is currently used in the religious service and is supported by Rabbinic materials, the shofar was also used to chase demons away during the early history of the Jewish People (up to the end of the second Temple (70 CE).

He posits his investigation by tracing the mention of the shofar and chatzotrot (trumpets) in the Scriptures. It is gainsaid that the trumpets sounded during most of the Temple ceremonies. The shofar was specifically mentioned to announce the Jubilee Year on the Day of Atonement.

He traces the development of the Hebrew calendar by citing Morgenstern that the New Year began at approximately the vernal equinox (on the tenth of the month). However, the new moon celebration (Rosh Hashanah) developed to become the beginning of the New Year. The use of the shofar thereby gravitated from Yom Kippur to Rosh Hashanah.

Citing the transition of this calendar fact, he cites R. Chisda in Shabbat 36a: “The following three groups of words had their meaning interchanged after the destruction of the (first) Temple. What was formerly called hatzosrot was called shofar and what was formerly called shofar became hotzotzrot” From this quotation, Finesinger infers that as a consequence of the destruction of the Temple, the hasotzrot, only sounded inside the Temple now made way for the people-popular shofar. Indeed, he cites RH, iii. 1`, 58d that cites a baraita (legal decision not incorporated into the Mishnah, the codified law. (Compiled in 200 CE).

Finesinger then cites the transition from the Sadducees (Priests) to the Pharisees, subsequent to the destruction of the Temple. Indeed, the folk tradition was transformed from defending demons to calls for individual and communal repentance as cited in the Mishnha and Talmud, both formulated in the age of the Rabbi’s.
For example, in the Scriptures, there is ample evidence of the demonic influence and the fear it engendered upon the people. Ps 47:6 and Ps. 98:6 provide the kingship of God. It pictures the king’s ascending the throne to the sound of the shofar to ward off the demonic spirits.

Jeremiah 4:19 associates the sound of the shofar with war and the tremendous fear of the people. Ezekiel 33:3-6 warns of war when the people heard the sound of the shofar.

Hosea 5:8 warns the people that danger is near. Zach 1:16 warns the people with shofar sounds at the coming of God. Am. 3:6 assumes the people are terrified at the sound of the shofar. In Am 2:2, the shofar sounds at the destruction of Moab’s distress.

Then there is the famous shofar accompaniment WHEN Moses ascends Mount Sinai as a warning for the people to keep a distance (Ex. 19:16; 19; 20:8)
Gideon’s attack of the Midianite camp was accompanied by the shofar. Jud. 7:16; 18-22)

The famous story of the shofars at Jericho is intended to terrify the people of Jericho either as psychological warfare or of dispossessing resident demons. See Jos. 6:4-9.

In tractate Rosh Hashanah 34a, THE Rabbi’s give Ps. 81:4 by clarifying the use of trumpets and shofars by citing Ps. 81:

‘Blow on the shofar at the new moon, at thee covering, for the day of our festival.’ Now which festival is it in which the new moon is covered? It can be none other than Rosh Hashanah, and in connection to with it, God says, ‘shofar.’

Further he cites Rosh Hashsanh 16a, when the Rabbi’s cannot come up with a satisfactory explanation of why we sound the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah; the Rabbi’s declare that it is a Divine Command. In other words, they have not explanation because he feels that the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the 1ast of the month of Tishrei and the 10th) were flip-flopped, the folkways of the people of sounding shofar persisted. But the Rabbi’s wanted to dignify the rationale for sounding the shofar.

Even if we accept that the Rabbi’s formulated a rationale for sounding Shofar on Rosh Hashanah, there are citations in Hebrew literature wherein the demon defense persists. For example, in RH 16a:

Why do they sound the tekia and the treua when the people stand? In order t confound S. R. Isaac also said in any year at the beginning of which they do not sound the tekia, they have to sound the terua at the end. Why? Because Satan was not confounded [with the tekia alone].

Further the the Shulchan Aruch, or a th16 century codification of Jewish Law, written in the 16th century.

He shall swallow up Death for ever (Is. 25:9) and it is written (Is. 27:3):’And it shall be on that day a blast will be blown on a big shofar.’ etc.’ And when Satan hears the sound of the shofar, the first time, he becomes anxious. But when it happens a second time, he says: ‘Indeed this is the shofar REFERREDTO IN THE VEWRSE (Is. 27:13): ‘A blast will be blown on the big shofar.’ The time to be swallowed up has come. He [Satan] stars back and is confounded . . .

An even more curious appearance of the demon defense is mentioned in
Tractate Moed Katan 27b in which a story R. Hammuna when he heard a shofar while he was traveling. He heard a shofar denoted the someone’s death... Generally, death and death ritual, even today, deal with evil spirits which surround the body until burial and after. Thus the reason for the Shomer (watchman of the deceased prior to burial); the circuitous path to the cemetery (7-circles); THE covering of mirrors at home. Finesinger infers that such noise from the shofar, although might be to announce a death, more probably dealt with the demon defense to ward off evil spirits.

Excommunication, while not used much today, had the connotation of noise (sound of the shofar) warding off evil spirits associated with a non-believer. Indeed, the legend in the name of Ulla: Barak excommunicated Meroz with 400 shofars. See Shavuot 36a.

Moreover, in Taanit I, 6, we find reference fasting for a week, when a drought occurs. Ostensibly, to encourage rain, by the second week, we fast and sound the shofar to ward off the demons presumably causing the drought.
Finally (although there are other example too numerous to recite), Hullin 105b provides the story of the jug that broke wherein R. Mar bar R. Ashi sounded a shofar to drive out the demons that destroyed the jug.

There may be merit in Finesinger’s hypothesis that the role of shofar may indeed have changed over the long period of Jewish history. That the recitation of secular shofar soundings outside the Temple and trumpet sounding inside the Temple cited in Scripture is gainsaid. The fact that Jewish ritual developed over the centuries, particularly when the Rabbi’s took over leadership form the Priests, is conceivable. And the inconsistencies in Jewish literature regarding the Rabbinic call to repentance and the People’s ‘demon defense’ become more understandable in this light.


Bibliography

Finesinger, Sol B., "The Shofar," HUCA, VII–IX (1931-32), 193-228
HUCA=Hebrew Union College Annual.
Morgenstern, “The Three Calendars of Ancient Israel, HUCA vol. I, pp13-38; the additional notes in HUCA, vol iii, pp. 77-107; the Gates of Righteousness, HUCA, vol vi, especially pp. 18-19. 32, 35, 37.
Julian Morgenstern (1900-1974), President of the Hebrew Union College from 1922-1947.