continued from page 46

A “NATURAL”
Steven Fine, executive director at 
Congregation B’nai Moshe, told us how 
he came to sound the shofar at that 
congregation:
“Growing up, I was what I refer to 
as a ‘shul rat’ as I liked to hang out in 
shul. Following my father’s term as 
synagogue president and mine as USY 
chapter president, we became janitors 
of our synagogue, Livonia Jewish 
Congregation (which became Beit 
Kodesh before joining B’nai Moshe). 
Isn’t that a normal progression?
“One day while I was cleaning in the 
sanctuary, I picked up Rabbi Martin 
Gordon’s shofar to see if I could blow 
it. I’m guessing I was 14 at the time. Lo 
and behold, I got a strong sound out of 
it. My father came into the sanctuary 
as he wondered who was blowing 
the shofar. He said, ‘Let me try’ and 
proceeded to make a sound like a 
dying animal. I blew it again and had a 
near perfect tekiyah, shevarim, teruah. 
Of course, I had to try a tekiyah 
gedolah. I was surprised that I could go 
on and on for over 30 seconds. I guess 
you could say I was a natural. 
“When I was 17, Rabbi Gordon 
was no longer affiliated with the 
synagogue, and they were looking for 
a shofar blower. My father volunteered 
me as I had gotten pretty good over the 
last few years of just randomly picking 
it up and blowing. I was the shofar 

blower until I joined B’nai Moshe after 
getting married.
 “I came to B’nai Moshe in 1986. In 
1987, at age 25, I auditioned in front 
of Cantor Louis Klein to be Sexton 
Shalom Ralph’s back up for shofar 
blowing at B’nai Moshe. Mr. Ralph had 
been blowing shofar for B’nai Moshe 
since 1949. He was now 77 and, against 
his family’s wishes, he was determined 
to continue to blow shofar.
“When the shofar service began, I sat 
on the bimah next to Cantor Klein as 
Mr. Ralph chanted the prayers before 
the shofar blowing service. Rabbi 
Stanley Rosenbaum called out the first 
‘tekiyah’ and Mr. Ralph couldn’t get a 
good sound. He tried again and again. 
No one was rooting for him more than 
I was as no one wants to be the one 
who follows a legend. Finally, Cantor 
Klein said, ‘Go. You need to blow 
shofar.’
“I reluctantly walked to the shulchan 
(table) and Mr. Ralph just shook his 
head and whispered, ‘I can’t do it’” and 
began to slowly walk away. I grabbed 
his hand and said, ‘You are going to 
stand right here with me. I need your 
strength.’
“While my lung capacity has grown 
smaller and my shofar has grown larger 
over the years, each year when I stand 
before the congregation to blow shofar 
I think of Mr. Ralph. I indeed followed 
a legend.” 

Ben Jacobovitz 
blows his 
shofar.

Shofar legend Shalom Ralph at B’nai Moshe

Steven Fine and his 
shofar. He followed 
the legendary Shalom 
Ralph as shofar blower 
at B’nai Moshe.

Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg’s shofar collection

48 | SEPTEMBER 22 • 2022 
 
 
 
 

