“You shall sound the loud trumpet on the 10th day of the 7th month. On the Day of Atonement, you shall sound the shofar throughout all your land.” (Leviticus 25:9)
In 2023 the Day of Atonement in the Jewish religion begins at sunset on September 24 and ends at nightfall on September 25. Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. “For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.” (Leviticus 16:30)
“And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, neither the native nor the stranger who sojourns among you.” (Leviticus 16:29)
A shofar (Hebrew shophar) is the horn of a ruminant animal, usually a ram. In modern Judaism the shofar is used especially during Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur. According to Jewish tradition Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the universe, the day God created Adam and Eve. It is celebrated as the head of the Jewish year. It begins on the eve of Tishrei 1, the first day of the 7th month in the Jewish calendar (this year it fell on September 15, 2023). It ends at sundown on the next day (landing this year on September 17, 2023). The blowing the shofar (ram’s horn) in the synagogue on the mornings of the Rosh Hashana is a regular feature of Jewish worship.
The word shofar (adapted directly from ancient Hebrew) has been used in English since the early 1800s to describe the ancient musical horn used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the player's embouchure. In Biblical times the shofar was used for many public announcements, both religious and civil. The custom is to sound the shofar in several series that alternate shorter notes resembling sobbing and wailing with longer unbroken blasts.
The first recorded instance of the sound of a shofar was at Mt. Sinai when the Israelites gathered there after escaping from Egypt. Exodus 19:16 states, “On the morning of the third day there was thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud shofar, so that all the people in the camp trembled.”
Shofars were used when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. (Book of Joshua chapter 6) The prophet Isaiah wrote, “And in that day a great shofar will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 27:13) This is echoed in the New Testament in connection with the end of the world. “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
In pop music, the shofar was 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 film version of the musical Godspell, the first act opens with cast member David Haskell blowing the shofar. In his performances, Israeli composer and singer Shlomo Gronich uses the shofar to produce a wide range of notes. 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.
The shofar has been used in several films, both as a sound effect and as part of musical underscores. Elmer Bernstein incorporated the shofar into several cues for his score for Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments; one of the shofar calls recorded by Bernstein was later reused by the sound editors for Return of the Jedi for the Ewoks' horn calls.
Just because something is old, doesn’t mean it isn’t useful.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to [email protected]. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
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