We’re in the season of the shofar.
If you go to a synagogue with weekday services, you’ll hear it: the primitive sound that comes from a raw-looking piece of animal horn. It’s meant to wake up your soul. When you hear it, just shut your eyes and let yourself feel it. Let the vibrations shake you up.
Jews have listened to that sound since the earliest days; there are records of the shofar sounding in the Torah, as the Hebrews traveled through the desert. We know the shofar was blown in the Temple. The sound echoes down the centuries.
On Thursday, Sept 5, 2013 we’ll hear it again: there’s a whole short service dedicated to it in the Rosh Hashanah Day service.
Here are some basic facts about the shofar:
- The singular is SHOW-far, the plural is show-fa-ROTE.
- The commandment for Rosh Hashanah [New Year’s Day] is to hear the sound of the shofar.
- No, you do not have to blow it yourself.
- Do not ask to blow someone else’s shofar. It’s as personal as a toothbrush (and full of their spit.)
- The shofar is usually a horn from a ram or kudu, but never a cow.
- Most shofarot are plain, with no decoration or separate mouthpiece.
- A man who blows the shofar is a Ba’al Tekiah (bah-AHL Teh-kee-YAH).
- A woman who blows it is a Ba’alat Tekiah (bah-ah-LAHT Teh-kee-YAH.)
- Decorated shofarot are not used for services.
I asked a dear friend and Orthodox rabbi about the command to ‘hear’ the shofar sounded — what if a person is deaf? He smiled and said, “Dawn, there are 613 commandments, NO ONE does them all.” I love the reality based approach of Judaism. No one is able or expected to do it all.
Thanks for this handy overview!
The custom at Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf in Southern California is to have lots of balloons ready for the shofar service. Everyone holding a balloon can FEEL the sound of the shofar! (Try it, it works.)