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