The Big Story

Souls

The sound of the shofar calls us to repent.

ELIZABETH APPLEBALTM

AppleThee Editor

L

ong before it became known
solely as the instrument used
to waken our hearts and
souls to the ending of one
year, and the coming of another, the
shofar was used as an alarm.
In ancient Israel, the shofar was blown
when it became necessary to gather an
army before an enemy attack; during
worship services in the Beit IlaMikihtsb,
the Holy Temple; and to announce an
important event, such as the appoint-
ment of a new king.
With time, however, and as the Jewish
community came to regard Rosh
Hashanah as the day of God's judgment,
the shofar came to be associated exclu-
sively with the holiday. And indeed,
Rosh Hashanah is known as Yom Teruai,
(Day of Blowing the Horn).
Just about everyone knows what a
shofar looks like. But did you know that
strict regulations determine how it is cre-
ated and how it is to be used? After you
have made your shofar at the Shofar
Factory (or even if you're just blowing
one of your own, or hearing one at your
synagogue or temple), consider these
facts about the shofar:
• The shofar is blown every morning
but one (not including Shabbat) during
the month of Elul, in preparation for
Rosh Hashanah_ The exception is the
day before the New Year begins, which
is skipped to make clear the difference
between blowing the shofar on Rosh
Hashanah, which is a mitzvah (com-
mandment), and blowing it throughout
Elul, which is tradition only.
• The shofar may be made of the horn
of any animal except the cow, because of
its connection to the golden calf If you
want to try making your own, however,
you might want to start with that of a
ram, gazelle, goat, antelope or Rocky
Mountain goat. These are easiest to use
because their centers are made of carti-
lage, which is simpler to remove than
solid bone.
Most shofrot are made of a ram's horn
because of the ram that was sacrificed in
place of Yitzhak (Isaac), whose story we
read on the second day of Rosh
Hashanah. Bereshit 22:13 recounts: "And
Avraham lifted up his eyes and looked
and behold, behind him was a ram
caught by its horns in the thicket."
Scholars note that the Jewish people
have themselves been caught in many
"Thickets" (i.e. troubles), but always they
return to God with the sound of the
ram's horn on Rosh Hashanah.

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• Other important occasions associat-
ed with the blowing of the ram's horn:
When the Jewish people accepted the
Torah at Mount Sinai, the shofar was
sounded, and the sound of the shofar
will be heard upon the arrival of the
Mashiach (Messiah).
• While almost everyone simply blows
directly into the horn, help on this often
challenging task has been available for
some time. In 1940, the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations first
produced a mouthpiece specifically to
aid in blowing the shofar.
• Have you ever wondered exactly
how the rabbis knew in what way to
blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah?
Why this many blasts, short and long?
Leviticus 25:9 reads, "Then you shall
sound the horn loud [teruahj in the sev-
enth month, on the tenth day of the
month — the Day of Atonement —
you shall have the horn sounded
throughout your land."
The word teruah appears once above,
while "horn" (or shofar) is used twice,
both before and after teruah. Thus, the
rabbis said, tentah should be heard
once, sandwiched between regular blasts
of the shofar, or tekiot (tekiah is the sin-
crular form).
The Torah contains three verses that
mention blowing the shofar (in addition
to the Leviticus verse mentioned above,
see Leviticus 23:24 and Numbers 29:1).
Therefore, the rabbis said, the blast of
the shofar, the entire tekiah, teruah, teki-
ah should be made three times.
• Traditionally, one hears 100 blasts
from the shofar. 30 before the Musaf
prayer, 30 during Musaf, and 40 imme-
diately after Musaf
• While most people enjoy hearing the
shofar at their synagogue or temple, this
is not a Halachah (Jewish law). The
mitzvah (commandment) is simply hear-
ing the sounds of the shofar. So if you
cannot leave your home, a rabbi can
arrange for someone to come blow the
shofar for you.
• Two blessings are said when one
blows the shofar. One is for the mitzvah,
commandment, of blowing the shofar

(Baruch atah HaShern ... Who has com-
manded us to hear the sound of the sho-
far). The second is the Shebechiyami, in
which we thank God for allowing us to
arrive at an important moment.
If you want to hear the sound of the
shofar before the holiday, be sure to visit
www.uahc.org/paipa024/shofar.htm
This site, operated by Congregation
Keneseth Israel, a Reform temple in
Allentown, Pa., allows you to hear the
tekiah, teruah and shevarim sounds.

❑

the horn," explained Rabbi
Davidson of Oak Park.
Then Rabbi Davidson discovered
another source: a Chabad House in
Riverdale, N.Y. "Now they come
with the bones removed," said Rabbi
Davidson, who works as a Yiddish
teacher when he's not helping make
shofrot. "That makes it a lot easier."
Rabbi Davidson prefers goat horns
when shopping for future shofrot.
"They're not as curved as the rams'
horns," he said. "Some of those are
so curved you can hardly get
through them."
At factories where shofrot are
made and sold to the public, rams'
horns are typically softened with a
blowtorch, then set in a vise to
straighten so a hole can be drilled
through, Rabbi Davidson said. And
while the rabbi does have a blow-
torch, he's not ready to go to work
on each and every horn needed for
the Apples & Honey Shofar Factory
just yet.

After the horns arrive from New
York, Rabbi Davidson will drill a
hole through each and form the
mouthpiece. The fun stuff is left for
children, who complete the shofrot
by sanding and smoothing them at
the Shofar Factory. The horn is nat-
ural, of course, Rabbi Davidson says.
"So it's still rough."
In addition to helping visitors fin-
ish their shofrot, Rabbi Davidson
will blow through each to make cer-
tain it can actually be used.
"The children are always amazed
at how I can produce different
sounds from the shofar," he said —
and how he has the capacity to do it
time and again. (As anyone who has
ever blown a shofar can attest, it is
not a job for weak lungs.)
"Thank God," he said. "I'm able
to blow all of them."

❑

Tell Me Why

Covered

Wig has roots in Jewish law.

PHILLIP AND ELIZABETH
APPLEBAUM

Q: Can you trace the origin of the
Orthodox use of the sheitel (wig)?

From reader M.P. of Haslett, MI
A: It is a principal of Halachah, Jewish
law, that Jewish women who are mar-
ried or were married (widows and
divorcees) cover their hair. The law is
derived from the Torah, Parshat Naso
(Numbers 5:18), which gives the case of
a suspected adulteress who is brought
before the priest. The priest puts the
woman through an ordeal in which her
hair is uncovered.
The Talmud, in Ketuvot 72a, estab-
lishes from this the principal that under
ordinary circumstances a married
woman's hair should be covered.
The concept further was promulgated
in the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish
Law), "Orach Chayim," section 75.

Through the centuries, married Jewish
women have covered their hair with
various materials, most often a scarf,
shawl or cloth of some type. In Europe,
it became customary for some women
to replace the cloth (tichl in Yiddish)
with a bonnet (kupke) or a wig (sheit1).
By the 20th century, the use of the
wig became widespread. Nonetheless,
some rabbis opposed its use, arguing
that the wig defeated the purpose of the
Halachah, making it appear that the
woman's hair was, in fact, uncovered.
In modern Israel, for the most part,
wigs are worn by observant Ashkenazic
women.
Most SephardiC women still use a
cloth covering. In light of the question
asking about "Orthodox use," it should
be noted that it is only the Orthodox
who observe this Halachah.

❑

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