Is A Shofar Taken From A Dead Animal

Wind instrument fabricated from an animal horn

A shofar ( shoh-FAR ; from Hebrew: שׁוֹפָר, pronounced [ʃoˈfaʁ] ( listen )) is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram'southward horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the histrion's embouchure. The shofar is blown in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and at the stop of Yom Kippur; it is also diddled every weekday morning time in the month of Elul running up to Rosh Hashanah.^[1] Shofars come up in a variety of sizes and shapes, depending on the option of animal and level of finish.

Bible and rabbinic literature [edit]

The shofar is mentioned ofttimes in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and rabbinic literature. In the first instance, in Exodus 19, the blast of a shofar emanating from the thick cloud on Mount Sinai makes the Israelites tremble in awe.

The shofar was used to announce the new moon^[ii] and the Jubilee year.^[iii] The showtime day of Tishrei (now known as Rosh Hashana) is termed a "memorial of blowing",^[four] or "day of blowing",^[5] the shofar. Shofars were used for signifying the start of a war.^[six] They were also employed in processions^[7] equally musical accompaniment,^[8] and were inserted into the temple orchestra by David.^[9] Notation that the "trumpets" described in Numbers 10 are a different instrument, described by the Hebrew give-and-take for 'trumpet' (Hebrew: חצוצרה, romanized: ḥaṣoṣrah ), not shofar (Hebrew: שופר).^[x]

In the Temple in Jerusalem, the shofar was sometimes used together with the trumpet. On Rosh Hashana the principal ceremony was conducted with the shofar, with the instrument placed in the center with a trumpet on either side; it was the horn of a wild goat and straight in shape, being ornamented with gold at the mouthpiece. On fast days the main anniversary was conducted with the trumpets in the middle and with a shofar on either side. On those occasions the shofarot were rams' horns curved in shape and ornamented with argent at the mouthpieces.^[11]

On Yom Kippur of the jubilee year the anniversary was performed with the shofar as on New year's day.^[12] Shofar first indicated in Yovel (Jubilee Year—Lev. 25:8–13). Indeed, in Rosh Hashanah 33b, the sages ask why the Shofar sounded in Jubilee year. Rosh Hashanah 29a indicates that in ordinary years both Shofars and trumpets are sounded but in the Jubilee Year only the Shofar blasts. The Rabbi's created the exercise of the Shofar's sounding every Yom Kippur rather than just on the Jubilee Year (once in l years).

Otherwise, for all other special days, the Shofar is sounded shorter and two special silver Trumpets announced the cede. When the trumpets sound the signal, all the people who were inside the cede prostrate themselves, stretching out flat, face down, and on the ground.^{[ citation needed ]}

The shofar was blown in the times of Joshua to help him capture Jericho. As they surrounded the walls, the shofar was blown and the Jews were able to capture the urban center.^[13] The shofar was commonly taken out to war so the troops would know when a battle would begin. The person who would accident the shofar would call out to the troops from atop a hill. All of the troops were able to hear the call of the shofar from their position because of its singled-out sound.^{[ citation needed ]}

Post-Biblical times [edit]

While the shofar is best known nowadays for its utilize on Rosh Hashana, it also has a number of other ritual uses. It is blown each morning during the month of Elul,^[15] and to mark the finish of the day of fasting on Yom Kippur, once the services accept been completed in the evening.^[16] In Talmudic times information technology was as well blown to introduce Shabbat.^[17] At the inception of the diaspora, during the brusk-lived ban on playing musical instruments, the shofar was enhanced in its use, as a sign of mourning for the destruction of the temple. The announcement of the ban'due south source was in fact set to the music itself as the lamentation "Al Naharoth Bavel" inside a few centuries of the ban. (A full orchestra played in the temple. The ban was and then that this would not exist taken for granted, hence the wording of the ban, "if I forget thee O Jerusalem, over my chiefest joy...".)^{[ citation needed ]} The shofar is mostly no longer used for secular purposes (see a notable exception in a section further down).^[xviii]

Halakha (Jewish law) rules that the Rosh Hashana shofar blasts may not be sounded on Shabbat, due to the potential that the ba'al tekiah (shofar sounder) may inadvertently bear it, which is in a form of forbidden Shabbat work.^[19] Originally, the shofar was sounded on Shabbat in the Temple in Jerusalem. Afterward the temple's destruction, the sounding of the shofar on Shabbat was restricted to the identify where the great Sanhedrin was located. However, when the Sanhedrin ceased to exist, the sounding of the shofar on Shabbat was discontinued.^[20]

Mitzvah [edit]

Jewish "Slichot" prayer service with shofar during the Days of Repentance preceding Yom Kippur at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Sometime Urban center, 2008.

The Sages indicated that the mitzvah was to hear the sounds of the shofar. If a shofar was blown into a pit or cave, 1 fulfilled the mitzvah if they heard the original sound, but not if they heard the echo.^[21] Thus, virtually modern halakhic authorities hold that hearing a shofar on the radio or the Internet would non be valid to satisfy the mitzvah because "electronically reproduced sounds do not suffice for mitzvot that require hearing a specific natural sound.... However, 1 should consult a competent rabbi if an unusually pressing situation arises, as some government believe that performing mitzvot through electronically reproduced sound is preferable to not performing them at all."^[22]

According to Jewish police force women and minors are exempt from the commandment of hearing the shofar diddled (as is the example with any positive, time-spring commandment), only they are encouraged to nourish the ceremony.

If the ba'al tekiah (shofar sounder) blows with the intention that all who hear will perform the mitzvah, then anyone listening—even someone passing by—who intends to hear the Shofar tin can perform the mitzvah considering the community blower blows for everybody. If the listener stands all the same, it is presumed he intends to hear.^[23] If 1 hears the blast simply with no intention of fulfilling the mitzvah, so the mitzvah has not been fulfilled.

Qualifications [edit]

Yemenite Jew blowing the shofar, late 1930s

The expert who blows (or "blasts" or "sounds") the shofar is termed the ba'al tokeah or ba'al tekiah (lit. "primary of the blast"). Beingness a ba'al tekiah is an honor. Every male Jew is eligible for this sacred office, providing he is acceptable to the congregation. The i who blows the shofar on Rosh Hashanah should exist learned in the Torah and shall exist God-fearing.

The Shulchan Aruch discusses who is fit to blow the shofar on behalf of a congregation:

• Anyone not obligated to fulfill the mitzvah of sounding the shofar cannot fulfill the commandment for (cover) some other whose duty it is to perform the mitzvah.
• Although a woman (who is exempt from this mitzvah because it is fourth dimension-bound) may non blow the shofar for men (whose duty information technology is to perform the mitzvah), a woman may intone the shofar for herself and other women. Similarly, she may say a approving over the mitzvah even though it is non mandatory (the requisite approval contains the words "asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav 5'tzivanu", "who sanctified usa with His commandments [mitzvot] and commanded us to ...", only women are not allowable in this mitzvah).
• Only a freeman (not even a slave who will become gratis in the side by side month) can be a Ba'al Tekiah.^[24]

Shape and material [edit]

Cross department of an animal's horn. To make a shofar, the bone (crosshatches) and fleshy sheath (white) are removed, leaving the bodily horn.

Choice of animal [edit]

According to the Talmud, a shofar may be fabricated from the horn of whatever animal from the Bovidae family except that of a cow,^[25] although a ram is preferable.^[26] Bovidae horns are fabricated of a layer of keratin (the aforementioned material equally homo toenails and fingernails) around a core of os, with a layer of cartilage in betwixt, which can exist removed to leave the hollow keratin horn. An antler, on the other manus, is made of solid bone, so an antler cannot exist used as a shofar because information technology cannot be hollowed out.

There is no requirement for ritual slaughter (shechita). Theoretically, the horn can come from a non-kosher animal, because under most (just not all) interpretations of Jewish law, the shofar is non required to be muttar be-fikha ('permissible in your rima oris'); the mitzvah is hearing the shofar, non eating the brute it came from.^[27] The shofar falls into the category of tashmishei mitzvah – objects used to perform a mitzvah that do not themselves have inherent holiness.^[28] Moreover, because horn is ever inedible, it is considered afra exist-alma ('mere dust') and not an unkosher substance.^[29]

The Elef Hamagen (586:5) delineates the order of preference: 1) curved ram; 2) curved other sheep; 3) curved other animal; 4) straight—ram or otherwise; 5) non-kosher creature; 6) cow. The first 4 categories are used with a bracha (approving), the 5th without a bracha, and the concluding, not at all.^[30]

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Construction [edit]

In exercise two species are generally used: the Ashkenazi and Sefardi shofar is made from the horn of a domestic ram, while a Yemeni shofar is fabricated from the horn of a kudu. A Moroccan shofar is flat, with a single, wide curve. A crack or hole in the shofar affecting the audio renders it unfit for ceremonial use. A shofar may not be painted in colors, but it may be carved with artistic designs.^[31] Shofars (specially the Sephardi shofars) are sometimes plated with silver beyond function of their length for display purposes, although this invalidates them for use in religious practices.

The horn is flattened and shaped by the application of rut, which softens it. A hole is made from the tip of the horn to the natural hollow inside. It is played much like a European brass instrument, with the player blowing through the hole while buzzing the lips, causing the air column inside to vibrate. Sephardi shofars usually take a carved mouthpiece resembling that of a European trumpet or French horn, only smaller. Ashkenazi shofars exercise non.

Because the hollow of the shofar is irregular in shape, the harmonics obtained when playing the instrument can vary: rather than a pure perfect 5th, intervals every bit narrow as a fourth, or as broad as a sixth may exist produced.

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  A modest shofar made from a ram'southward horn.

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  A shofar fabricated from the horn of a Greater kudu.

• 

  A modest shofar made from a ram's horn.

Utilise in modern Jewish prayer [edit]

The shofar is used mainly on Rosh Hashanah. Information technology is customary to blow the shofar 100 or 101 times on each twenty-four hour period of Rosh Hashanah; however, halakha only requires that it be blown 30 times. The various types of nail are known equally tekiah, shevarim, and teruah. The 30 required blasts consist of the sequences tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah, tekiah-shevarim-tekiah, tekiah-teruah-tekiah, each sequence repeated three times.

The shofar is also blown in synagogue at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. Some only blow a tekiah gedolah; others blow tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah.

Because of its inherent ties to the Days of Repentance and the inspiration that comes along with hearing its piercing blasts, the shofar is likewise blown after morning time services for the entire month of Elul, the last month of the Jewish civil twelvemonth, preceding Rosh Hashana. It is not blown on the last day of Elul, however, to mark the deviation between the voluntary blasts of the month and the mandatory blasts of Rosh Hashana. Shofar blasts are also used during penitential rituals such equally Yom Kippur Katan and optional prayer services chosen during times of communal distress. The exact modes of sounding can vary from location to location.

In an endeavor to better the skills of shofar blowers, an International 24-hour interval of Shofar Written report is observed on Rosh Chodesh Elul, the start of the calendar month preceding Rosh Hashanah.^[32]

• 

  A Jewish Haredi man blowing a Shofar, 2012

• 

  Hasidic Jew, blowing the kudu shofar in Uman, Ukraine, 2010

Non-religious usage [edit]

National liberation [edit]

Shlomo Goren blowing the shofar in front of the Western Wall, June 1967

During the Ottoman and the British rule of Jerusalem, Jews were non allowed to sound the shofar at the Western Wall. Later on the Six-Day War, Rabbi Shlomo Goren famously approached the Wall and sounded the shofar. This fact inspired Naomi Shemer to add an additional line to her vocal "Jerusalem of Gilt", saying, "a shofar calls out from the Temple Mount in the Erstwhile City."^[33]

The Shofar has been sounded as a sign of victory and celebration. Jewish elders were photographed bravado multiple shofars after hearing that the Nazis surrendered on May 8, 1945. The shofar has played a major role in the pro-Israel movement and oftentimes played in the Salute to Israel Parade and other pro-State of israel demonstrations.

In the inauguration ceremony of the President of Israel, a shofar is diddled one time the President has been sworn in, followed by a call of "Long live the President".^{[34] [35]}

Non-religious musical usage [edit]

A musician blows the shofar during a performance past Shlomo Bar, 2009.

In popular music, the shofar is used by the Israeli Oriental metal band Salem in their adaptation of "Al Taster" (Psalm 27). The late trumpeter Lester Bowie played a shofar with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In the flick version of the musical Godspell, the first act opens with bandage member David Haskell blowing the shofar. In his performances, Israeli composer and singer Shlomo Gronich uses the shofar to produce a very wide range of notes.^[36] Since 1988 Rome-based American composer Alvin Curran's project Shofar features the shofar as a virtuoso solo instrument and in combination with sets of natural and electronic sounds. Madonna used a shofar played by Yitzhak Sinwani on the Confessions Tour and the album Confessions on a Dance Floor for the song "Isaac", based on Im Nin'alu. In 2003, The Howard Stern Show featured a contest chosen "Blow the Shofar", which asked callers to correctly identify popular songs played on the shofar. Additionally, Stern Bear witness writer Benjy Bronk has repeatedly used a shofar in his antics.^[37] The shofar is sometimes used in Western classical music. Edward Elgar's oratorio The Apostles includes the audio of a shofar, although other instruments, such as the flugelhorn, are usually used instead.

The shofar has been used in a number of films, both as a sound event and every bit office of musical underscores. Elmer Bernstein incorporated the shofar into several cues for his score for Cecil B. DeMille's The X Commandments; i of the shofar calls recorded by Bernstein was later reused by the sound editors for Return of the Jedi for the Ewoks' horn calls.^{[ citation needed ]} Jerry Goldsmith's scores to the films Alien and Planet of the Apes also incorporate the shofar in their orchestration.

Come across likewise [edit]

• Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer
• Church bells
• Conch (instrument)
• Erkencho
• Shankha
• Shofar blowing

Notes [edit]

1. ^ "Jewish prayer-volume". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
2. ^ Psalm 81:3 (iv)
3. ^ Leviticus 25:nine
4. ^ Hebrew: זכרון תרועה, lit.'zikron teruˁah', Leviticus 23:24
5. ^ Hebrew: יום תרועה, lit.'yom teruˁah', Numbers 29:1
6. ^ Joshua six:four; Judges 3:27; 7:xvi, 20
7. ^ 2 Samuel half dozen:15; 1 Chronicles 15:28
8. ^ Psalm 98:half dozen; compare Psalm 47:5
9. ^ Psalm 150:3
10. ^ Sidney B. Hoenig, "Origins of the Rosh Hashanah Liturgy", The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 57, The Seventy-5th Ceremony Volume of the Jewish Quarterly Review (1967), pp. 312–331. • Published past University of Pennsylvania Press. Accessed 31 Dec 2009
11. ^ Mishnah Rosh Hashana iii:3
12. ^ Mishnah Rosh Hashana three:4
13. ^ Joshua 6
14. ^ It has been said that when the Mashiach comes, the Sephardic community will exist ready to anoint him and blow the shofar to announce his arrival. Legend has information technology there is a tunnel from under the Yohanan Ben Zakkai synagogue that leads directly to the Temple Mount.
15. ^ Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 128:2
16. ^ Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 133:26
17. ^ Shabbat 35b
18. ^ Judith Kaplan Eisenstein, Heritage of Music, New York: UAHC, 1972, pp. 44–45.
19. ^ Rosh Hashanah 29b
20. ^ Kieval, The High Holy Days, p. 114
21. ^ Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3:5; Mishnah Berurah 587:1–iii
22. ^ "Fulfilling Mitzvot Through Electronic Hearing Devices", Chaim Jachter and Ezra Frazer, Gray Matter volume 2 pp. 237–244. ISBN 1-933143-10-10
23. ^ Mishnah Berurah 590:9
24. ^ Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 589:1–6
25. ^ Rosh Hashanah, 26a. Although Maimonides ruled differently (Mishneh Torah Hilchot Shofar 1:1: "…the shofar with which they make the boom, whether on Rosh Hashanah or the Yovel, is the curved horn of sheep. At present all [other] horns are invalid, except the horn of a sheep…"), the custom of Israel was to make utilize of other horns, and not only that of the ram (the male person sheep). Some would use the horn of the wild goat (Walia ibex) on Rosh Hashanah, while others made use of the long, spiraling horn of the kudu antelope because of its deep, reverberating audio. Compare the teaching of Rabbi Isaac b. Judah ibn Giat, who wrote: "All shofars are valid, excepting that of a cow since it is a [solid] horn. Said Rabbi Levi: 'The shofar of Rosh Hashanah and of Yom Kippurim are curved, while those of the unabridged twelvemonth are straight, and thus is the Halacha.' Why is it that they blow with a shofar of a ram on Rosh Hashanah? Said the Holy I, blessed exist He: 'Blow before me the shofar of a ram so that I might remember on your behalf the binding of Isaac the son of Abraham, and I impute it over you every bit if you had jump yourselves before me.'..." (Rabbi Isaac ibn Giat, Sefer Shaarei Simchah (Me'ah She'arim), vol. 1, Firta 1861, p. 32 [Hebrew])
26. ^ Mishnah Berurah 586:1
27. ^ Navon, Mois (2001). "The Ḥillazon and the Principle of "Muttar be-Fikha"" (PDF). The Torah U-Madda Periodical. 10/2001: 142–162. Retrieved xv June 2016. see pages 147-148 ff.
28. ^ Megillah 26b
29. ^ Avot 67b
30. ^ Elef Hamagen, Rabbi Shemarya Hakreti, edited by Aharon Erand, Jerusalem: Mekitzei Nirdamim, 2003
31. ^ Shulkhan Arukh, Orach Chayim 586:17
32. ^ International Day of Shofar Study
33. ^ Jerusalem of Gold Archived 29 November 1999 at the Wayback Machine accessed 9 December 2008
34. ^ "Isaac Herzog sworn in every bit State of israel'south eleventh president". The Times of Israel.
35. ^ "הרצוג הושבע לנשיא ה-11 של ישראל: "הפצעים שנפערו בחברה שותתי דם. עלינו להתחיל לתקן" - וואלה! חדשות". 7 July 2021.
36. ^ The Abraham Fund Initiatives: Press Clips – Crossing the Middle Eastern Tightrope Archived ix June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
37. ^ From 'Star Wars' To Madonna: 7 Times Shofars Showed Upward Outside Shul

References [edit]

• Arthur 50. Finkle, Easy Guide to Shofar Sounding, Los Angeles: Torah Aura, 2003
• Hearing Shofar: The Still Small-scale Phonation of the Ram'due south Horn past Michael T. Chusid, a three volume compendium of shofar data.

Farther reading [edit]

• Arthur l. Finkle, Shofar Sounders Reference Transmission at the Wayback Motorcar (archived 26 Oct 2009), LA: Torah Aureola, 1993
• Montagu, Jeremy. 2016. The Shofar: Its History and Usage. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

External links [edit]

• Media related to Shofars at Wikimedia Commons
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Shofar". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Printing.
• Shulkhan Arukh limited English language translation includes Rosh Hashanah chapters 585–590 regarding the shofar.
• Shofar sounds several videos with shofar sounds and explanations
• biblicaltrumpets.org - A inquiry site on the use of trumpets in both Old and New Attestation.
• The origins of the Shofar - Ajudaica 101
• A Shofar Blast in the Ghetto of Terezin, Yad Vashem website
• Shofar in a forced labor camp in Skarzysko-Kamienna during the Holocaust, Yad Vashem website

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shofar

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