A
shofar is an instrument made from the horn of a ram or other kosher animal.
It was used in ancient Israel to announce the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh) and
call people together. It was also blown on Rosh Hashanah, marking the beginning
of the New Year, signifying both need to wake up to the call to repentance,
and in connection with the portion read on the second day of Rosh Hashanah,
the Binding of Isaac (Genesis, chapter 22) in which Abraham sacrifices a
ram in place of his son, Isaac.
Today,
the shofar is featured most prominently in the Rosh Hashanah morning services.
It is considered a commandment to hear the shofar blown.
There
is a great deal of symbolism tied in with the legal requirements for what
constitutes a proper shofar. The shofar of Rosh Hashanah, whose purpose
it is to rouse the Divine in the listener, may not be constructed of an
artificial instrument. It must be an instrument in its natural form and
naturally hollow, through whom sound is produced by human breath, which
God breathes into human beings. This pure, and natural sound, symbolizes
the lives it calls Jews to lead. What is more, the most desirable shofar
is the bent horn of a ram. The ram reminds one of Abraham's willing sacrifice
of that which was most precious to him. The curve in the horn mirrors the
contrition of the one who repents.
In
the Talmud, we read: Rabbi Abbahu said: Why do we sound the shofar? Because
the Holy One, blessed be God, said: Blow me a ram's horn that I may remember
to your credit the binding of Isaac, the son of Abraham, and I shall account
it to you as a binding of yourselves before Me. The Torah tells us: Abraham
look up and behold, he saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns [Genesis
22:13]. This teaches us that the Holy One, blessed be God, showed our ancestor
Abraham the ram tearing himself free from one thicket and becoming entangled
in another. Said the Holy One, blessed be God, to Abraham: Thus are your
children destined to be caught in iniquities and entangled in misfortunes,
but in the end they will be redeemed by the horns of a ram. Therefore the
prophet Zechariah said of the time of redemption: And the Lord shall be
seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth like the lightning; and the
Lord God shall blow the shofar, and shall move in stormy winds of the south
[Zechariah 9:14]. [Rosh Hashanah 16a].
