The shofar Rosh Hashanah

The shofar Rosh Hashanah: The modern Jewish synagogue has preserved in its ceremonial, among other customs, the use of the shofar, translated in the English version of the Bible "cornet." Several times during the service on New Year's day, or Bosh hashanah, at the conclusion of the Day of Atonement, on the seventh day of the festival of Tabernacles or Sukkoth, Hosh'ana Raba, and during the entire month of Ellul, after the recital of the supplications or Selichoth, the shofar is sounded. Its use on all these occasions is not general and probably never was, but it still survives in many places. For the New Year's service it is the characteristic feature.

The shofar is usually made of a ram's horn, straightened and flattened by heat. All natural horns can be shaped either by heat or by cooking in oil.

The bore of the instrument is a cylindrical tube of very small caliber, which opens into a kind of bell of parabolic form.

It is not only the solitary ancient musical instrument actually preserved in the Mosaic ritual, but is the oldest form of wind instrument known to be retained in use in the world.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE XCVII. Shofars And Other Horns.

1. Modern shofar, ordinary form. (Cat. No. 154402.) 2. Shofar, Italian form. (Cat. No. 95142.)

3. African war horn (antelope). (Cat. No. 4960.), 4. Shringa. (Cat. No. 92709. India.)

5. Siamese copper horn. (Cat. No. 27293.), 6. Large African war horn of ivory, from plaster cast in National Museum. (Original in museum of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.) (Cat. No. 94892.)

7. Small African war horn of ivory, from plaster cast in National Museum. (Original in museum of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.) (Cat. No. 94893.), 8. Ivory war horn. (Cat. No. 127193. Byanzi, Africa.)

9. African war horn. (Cat. No. 5412.) 10. Embuchi; Ivory war horn. (Cat. No. 4793. Pala Ballas, Africa.)

11. Ivory war horn. (Cat. No. 4793. West coast of Africa.), 12. Ivory war horn. (Cat. No. 127195. Byanzi, Africa.)

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TEXT and IMAGE CREDIT: The Shofar. Author: Cyrus Adler. Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1894. Original from: the University of Michigan. Digitized: May 18, 2010. Length: 14 pages. Subjects: Shofar