{"id":49814,"date":"2026-09-04T00:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=49814"},"modified":"2026-09-27T10:09:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T17:09:42","slug":"the-sound-of-the-shofar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2026\/09\/04\/the-sound-of-the-shofar\/","title":{"rendered":"The sound of the shofar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every Jewish New Year, just before we stand to hear the sound of the shofar, I get nervous for the blower. What if they can\u2019t produce the sound? I remember a Rosh Hashanah when this occurred, and the red, exasperated face of the blower as he tried repeatedly to produce sound. He got it in the end, but, as the minutes ticked by, the entire congregation was perspiring with anxiety on his behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very awe-inspiring part of the service, and we\u2019re cognizant of that. We take our job very seriously,\u201d said Gordon Cherry, who has been a Temple Sholom shofar blower for 40 years. A professional trombonist, he still needs to practise before Rosh Hashanah rolls around each year, and the tradition of blowing the shofar at morning services during the month of Elul is the perfect preparation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"photo
Even though he\u2019s a professional trombonist and he has been a Temple Sholom shofar blower for 40 years now, Gordon Cherry still needs to practise before Rosh Hashanah. (photo from Gordon Cherry)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur religion is so practical, because, by starting on the first of Elul, it\u2019s a wake-up for the holidays, a way to get your chops in shape for the big day,\u201d he said. \u201cThe practise has to do with the lips and lungs, because our lip muscles are small and the opening of the shofar is small. If you picked up a shofar and blew, you\u2019d just get air. But when you do it daily at services and you practise at home, too, you\u2019re going to get in pretty good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Chabad Richmond, Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman has been blowing the shofar for years. \u201cThe ability is primarily technique, like any wind instrument,\u201d he reflected. \u201cSome shofars are a breeze to sound, others are more difficult, but you need strength in the tekiyah gedolah, the longest blast. The more air you can bring into your lungs, the longer the sound will be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are specific rules about the proper sounding of the groupings, and the order and duration of each sound, he added. \u201cIt\u2019s like playing in the orchestra. You might meddle with an instrument but, if you\u2019re not well versed, you can\u2019t join the orchestra. The same is true for Rosh Hashanah, where you have to play specific sounds and notes, and they\u2019re very important.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cherry noted that shofars come in two types: the ram\u2019s horn, which is J-shaped, and the kudu horn, which is longer and curly, requiring blowers to manage the air differently. There are also a couple of techniques to produce the sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe traditional way to blow is to play off the side of your lip, halfway between the centre and the corner, where the lip is a lot thinner,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut about a third of blowers place the shofar in the centre of the lip.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Baitelman, the spiritual preparation prior to blowing the shofar is just as important as the physical. \u201cWith the sound of the shofar we are coronating G-d as the sovereign for another year, and the person sounding the shofar is the representative of that declaration,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a heavy and serious responsibility. It\u2019s not about showmanship, but about the awesome moment of Rosh Hashanah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPractising is important, and I review the laws of what happens if you make a mistake, because mistakes happen,\u201d he added. \u201cBut it\u2019s mostly about the spirituality and awesomeness of the moment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauren Kramer<\/strong>, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every Jewish New Year, just before we stand to hear the sound of the shofar, I get nervous for the blower. What if they can\u2019t produce the sound? I remember a Rosh Hashanah when this occurred, and the red, exasperated face of the blower as he tried repeatedly to produce sound. He got it in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":49816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[25044,1802,218,2011],"class_list":["post-49814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-gordon-cherry","tag-high-holidays","tag-judaism","tag-shofar"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49814"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49817,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49814\/revisions\/49817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}