I NEWS I
)A°
May the coming year be
one filled with health,
happiness and
prosperity for all our
friends and family.
SALLY &
NATHAN SAGINAW
To All Our
Relatives
and Friends,
Our wish for a
year filled with
happiness,
health and prosperity.
MARVIN & ROCHELLE BROOKS
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family.
JEFFREY & MARINA BROOKS
& ERIC
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
MR. & MRS. ALBERT & EDITH CIMMER & FAMILY
May the New Year Bring
To All Our Friends
and Family — Health,
Joy, Prosperity
and Everything
Good in Life.
THE PIERCES
DOUGLAS, ARLENE, KAREN & LINDA
To All Our
Relatives
and Friends,
Our wish for a
year filled with
happiness,
health and prosperity.
SAM & JEAN CASCADE
May the coming
May the coming
year be filled
year be filled
with health and
with health and
happiness for
happiness for
all our family
all my family
and friends.
and friends.
LENORE, BRAD &
STEPHANIE DEUTCH
NORA FISHER
1M.11311 72.113
t13`2
to all
my friends
and relatives.
to all
our friends
and relatives.
ROSE FERBER
MR. & MRS. MAX FISCHEL
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year.
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year.
MR. & MRS. MAX DREW & FAMILY
DAVE & EDITH AGAUAS
MILLICENT, KAREN, KATHIE
& BETH ALLEN
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
JULES & ANN DONESON
84
laTal rkal‘s tii t1 ~
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1989
Shapes, Sounds
Of The Shofar
SEYMOUR FREEDMAN
Special to The Jewish News
W
hat have the sages
told us about the
physical character
of the shofar (animal horn),
the sounding of which is the
central religious act of Rosh
Hashanah? They tell us that
the horn must be taken from
a kosher animal, such as the
sheep, goat, mountain goat,
antelope or gazelle.
We are warned against
using the horn of the cow, in
spite of the fact that it is
kosher, as it is associated with
the golden calf and idolatry.
Rabbi Abbahu teaches that
the ram's horn is preferable as
it curved shape is suggestive
of the bending of the will and
the submission of the wor-
shippers about to repent
before God in the ten days
between Rosh'Hashanah and
Yom Kippur. The ram's horn
also recalls the sacrifice made
by Abraham in the biblical
story of the Akedah. This
story of Abraham's great faith
and trust in God and in God's
great mercy is the Haftorah
portion for the second day of
Rosh Hashanah.
The sages also insist that
the shofar be a minimum of
four inches long, and have no
holes in it. It is specifically
forbidden to try to fill any
holes, and make perfect what
is flawed. Cracks along the
width of the shofar disqualify
it, but a shofar cracked along
its length may be used pro-
viding there is enough space
left between the mouthpiece
and the crack to fulfill the
minimum size requirement
for the shofar.
The shofar should not be
painted in such a way as to
change its color although it is
permissible to coat the shofar
with gold. It is also permitted
to decorate the shofar with
geometrical designs and pat-
terns, and to inscribe biblical
verses and the name of the
community or individual
owner of the shofar on it.
Such designs and inscriptions
are particularly common-
place on shofarot made by
Ashkenazi communities, with
whom it was also common
practice to reshape the
animal horn through a
delicate process of heating
from within. Often the horn
was reshaped into a ninety
degree angle.
The most striking and cer-
tainly the largest of all
shofarot are those made in
the Yemenite communities.
Unable to use the ram of
Yemen, which was not kosher,