Shofar blowing

The blowing of the shofar ( he, תקיעת שופר, ) is a ritual performed by Jews on Rosh Hashanah. The shofar is a musical horn, typically made of a ram's horn. Jewish law requires that the shofar be blown 30 times on each day of Rosh Hashanah, and by custom it is blown 100 or 101 times on each day.

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns, a holy convocation.

Modern practice

Initially, the blasts made by the ram's horn were blown during the first standing prayer ( Amidah) on the Jewish New Year, but by a rabbinic edict, it was enacted that they be blown only during the Mussaf, Mussaf-prayer, because of an incident that happened, whereby congregants who blew the horn during the first standing prayer were suspected by their enemies of staging a war-call and were massacred. Even though the underlining motive for the rabbinic enactment was no longer prevalent in ensuing generations, their enactment still stands and is practised by all Jewish communities to this very day, to blow the ram's horn only during the Mussaf-prayer.

Types of blast

The following blast are blown on Rosh Hashanah:
* ' () is a single long blast of the shofar.
* ' () is composed of three connected short sounds.
* ' () - in most Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions, this is a string of many short-lived, broken blasts made by the tongue (e.g. tut-tut-tut-tut, etc.). In the Yemenite, Tunisian and Babylonian Jewish communities as well as many Western Ashkenazic communities, it is a single long, reverberating blast.
* It is customary for the last ''tekiah'' in a set of 30, and the last ''tekiah'' blown overall on a day of Rosh Hashana, to be extended in length, called a ''tekiah gedolah'' ("great ''tekiah''").

Combinations of blasts

The blasts are blown in the following set groups:
* ''tekiah''-''shevarim''-''teruah''-''tekiah'' (abbreviated ''TaShRaT'') [being a long sustained blast (''tekiah''), followed by three short lilting blasts (''shevarim''), with the resounding pitch of a person who is crying, and again by a long sustained blast (''tekiah''). This series was to be repeated three times, for a total of 12 blasts]
* ''tekiah''-''shevarim''-''tekiah'' (abbreviated ''TaShaT'') [being one long sustained blast (''tekiah''), followed by three short lilting blasts (''shevarim''), followed by a long sustained blast (''tekiah''). This series was also to be repeated three times]
* ''tekiah''-''teruah''-''tekiah'' (abbreviated ''TaRaT'') [being a long sustained blast (''tekiah''), followed by a long quavering blast (''teruah''), and again a long sustained blast (''tekiah''). Again, this series was to be repeated three times]

Place in the prayer service

In Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities, it is customary to hear 100 or 101 or 102 sounds in the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah morning, although the minimum requirement is to hear 30 sounds. The sounds are scheduled as follows:
* 30 shofar blasts are sounded to fulfill the mitzvah of shofar blowing, after the Torah reading and before Mussaf. In many communities, these blasts are preceded by reciting Bible verses related to the shofar. Two blessings are recited before the blasts: one on the Biblical commandment of "hearing the sound of the shofar", and the blessing of Shehecheyanu; on the second day (except when the first day falls on the Sabbath), Sephardic Jews and Western Ashknazic Jews omit Shehecheyanu, but Eastern Ashkenazic Jews recite it. The blasts here consist of the ''TaShRaT'' sequence three times, followed by ''TaShaT'' three times, then ''TaRaT'' three times.
* In most Sephardic and many Hasidic communities, 30 shofar blasts are blown in the silent Mussaf prayer, 10 blasts after each of the three central blessings. Each sequence of 10 blasts consists of ''TaShRaT'', ''TaShaT'', ''TaRaT'' one time each. In most Ashkenazic communities, these blasts are not performed.
* Shofar is blown during the leader's repetition of the Mussaf prayer. There are several customs for how this is done:
**The original custom from the Geonim is to blow one ''TaShRaT'' after the first blessing, one ''TaShaT'' after the second blessing, and one ''TaRaT'' after the third blessing, for a total of 10 blasts during the repetition of Musaf. This custom has been preserved in the Western Ashkenazic rite and many Yemenite Jews.
***A variation of that opinions is to blow three ''TaShRaT'' after the first blessing, three ''TaShaT'' after the second blessing, and three ''TaRaT'' after the third blessing, for a total of 30 blasts during the repetition of Musaf. This is the custom today of Spanish and Portuguese Jews.
**Another version, suggested by Rabbeinu Tam, is to blow one ''TaShRaT'' after each blessing, for a total of 12 blasts during the repetition of Musaf. Until recently, this was the widespread custom in Eastern Ashkenazic communities, but it is preserved today in very few places.
**Most Eastern Ashkenazic (except for those that preserve the previous practice above) and Edot Hamizrach communizes today follow the opinion of the Isaiah Horowitz, Shelah to blow 10 blasts - ''TaShRaT'', ''TaShaT'', ''TaRaT'' - after each of the three blessings.
* In most communities, as many blasts are needed to get to a total of 100, 101 or 102 are blown after musaf. Thus, in communities where they blow 30 during the silent Amidah and 30 during the repetition, only 10 or 11 are needed to complete the 100 or 101. In communities where shofar is not blown during the silent Mussaf prayer and they blow 30 during the repetition, 40 or 41 blasts are blown. And in communities following the opinion of the Geonim or Rabbeinu Tam, 60 blasts are blown after musaf; in communities following the Geonim, this makes a total of 100, whereas in communities following the opinion of Rabbeninu Tam, they end up with 102.

According to all opinions, the mitzvah is fulfilled by hearing the initial set of 30 blasts. Thus, if a person cannot attend the synagogue prayers, they will commonly arrange for a shofar blower to visit and blow only 30 blasts for them.

Additional laws

Duration of the notes

Among Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities, the ''teruah'' is blown as nine very short notes, while the ''shevarim'' is blown as three longer notes, each equal in duration to three short notes. The ''tekiah'' must be longer than the blast which it comes before and after. Thus the ''tekiah'' must be more than 9 short notes in duration when blowing ''TaRaT'' or ''TaShaT'', and more than 18 short notes when blowing ''TaShRaT''.

The Shulchan Aruch rules that the minimum length of a ''teruah'' and ''tekiah'' are identical, but agrees that a longer ''teruah'' is also valid. In Yemen, the practice was to make the ''teruah'' double the length of a ''tekiah''. Each community is advised to follow its ancestral tradition.

Pausing between ''shevarim'' and ''teruah''

When ''shevarim'' and ''teruah'' are blown together, a dispute exists whether they must be blown in a single breath, or whether one may pause (for a duration of no longer than a breath) between them. The Shulchan Aruch suggests that "one who fears God" should blow in a single breath before Mussaf, and with two breaths during Mussaf. The Chazon Ish adopted this practice. However, general Ashkenazi custom is to always stop for breath between ''shevarim'' and ''teruah'', both before and during Mussaf (but not between the three blasts of ''shevarim'').

Rabbi Yihya Saleh, explaining the Yemenite custom, wrote that a breath is taken between ''shevarim'' and ''teruah'', both before and during Mussaf. In this regard, the Yemenite practice was more lenient than that of the Shulchan Aruch.

History

Initial 9 blasts

The Torah twice defines Rosh Hashanah as a day of ''teruah'' or horn-blowing (, ), without specifying exactly how this is to be done.

The rabbis of the Talmud concluded that a shofar must be used for this blowing, and that each ''teruah'' must be preceded and followed by a ''tekiah''. Since the word ''teruah'' appears three times in the Torah in connection with holidays of the seventh month, the rabbis concluded that a ''teruah'' must be blown three times, making a total of nine blasts (three sets of ''tekiah''-''teruah''-''tekiah''). The three sets also correspond to the three special blessings of Mussaf: ''malchiyot'', ''zichronot'', and ''shofarot''.

From 9 to 30 blasts

In the Talmudic era, doubts arose regarding the correct sound of the ''teruah'' blast - whether it should be a series of short, lilting blasts similar to a person moaning (now known as ''shevarim''), or else a staccato beat sound similar to a person whimpering (now known as ''teruah''), or else a combination of the two sounds (''shevarim-teruah''). Therefore, Rav Abbahu of Caesarea (3rd century CE), ruled that shofar blowing should be performed according to each of the three possibilities:
* Three sets of ''tekiah, teruah, tekiah'' (in case what we call ''teruah'' is the correct sound of the Biblical ''teruah'')
* Three sets of ''tekiah, shevarim, tekiah'' (in case what we call ''shevarim'' is the correct sound of the Biblical ''teruah'')
* Three sets of ''tekiah, shevarim-teruah, tekiah'' (in case what we call ''shevarim-teruah'' is the correct sound of the Biblical ''teruah'')

If ''tekiah, shevarim-teruah, tekiah'' is considered to be four blasts, then Rabbi Abbahu's requirement makes for a total of 30 blasts.She’iltoth, She'iltoth de'Rav Achai Gaon, ''P. ve'Zoth Ha-berachah'', # 170 - ''Le-Rosh Hashanah'': Translation: "One must blow a sustained blast (teki'ah), three [short] lilting blasts (shevarim), a quavering blast (teru'ah) and a sustained blast (teki'ah), seeing that Rabbi Abbahu enacted in Caesarea the mnemonics: TaSHRaK (teki'ah, shevarim, teru'ah and teki'ah), TaSHaK (teki'ah, shevarim, and teki'ah), TaRaK (teki'ah, teru'ah, and teki'ah)."; Maimonides, ''Mishne Torah'' (Hilchot Shofar VeLulav 3:2–3)

According to another opinion, Rabbi Abbahu instituted a total of 12 rather than 30 blasts, specifically ''tekiah, shevarim-teruah, tekiah'' repeated three times. However, modern halacha accepts the opinion that 30 blasts are blown.

From 30 to 100 blasts

The Talmud specifies that the shofar is blown on two occasions on Rosh Hashana: once while "sitting" (before the Mussaf prayer), and once while "standing" (during the Mussaf prayer). This increases the number of blasts from the basic requirement of 30, to 40, 42, or 60, based on the above-mentioned opinions.

The ''Nathan ben Jehiel, Arukh'' mentions a custom to blow 100 blasts: 30 before Mussaf, 30 during the Mussaf silent prayer, 30 during the cantor's loud repetition of Mussaf, and 10 more after Mussaf.Arukh 272:1; mentioned in Tosafot Rosh Hashana 33b s.v. שעור The final 10 blasts are by tradition dating to the Geonim, and in some communities are blown in the middle of "Kaddish Tiskabal." Blowing 100 (or 101 or 102) blasts is nearly universal today (with the exception of many Yemenite and Spanish Portuguese Jews), although many congregations omit the 30 blasts in the silent prayer, and instead blow 40 after Mussaf, and some communities do only 10 (or 12) during the repetition and blow 60 afterwards.

The number 100 in the ''Arukh'' is intended to correspond to the tears which Sisera's mother is said to have shed when her son was killed in battle. (The Hebrew word used to describe her wailing is ' (); this is cognate to ''yevava'' (), the Aramaic translation of ''teruah''.) The short Biblical story of Sisera's mother contains 101 letters; while the Arukh only mentions 100 blasts. This discrepancy is explained by saying that while each shofar blast is intended to "nullify" one of her cries due to hatred of Israel, nevertheless we leave her one tear out of recognition of the pain suffered by any bereaved mother. In any case, Sephardic communities typically blow 101 blasts, with the 101st symbolizing her legitimate mourning.

Symbolic meaning

Maimonides wrote that even though the blowing of the shofar is a Biblical statute, it is also a symbolic "wake-up call", stirring Jews to mend their ways and repent: "Sleepers, wake up from your slumber! Examine your ways and repent and remember your Creator."

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook suggested that the doubt whether the shofar sound is supposed to be short, intermittent blasts (''Shevarim''), like a person groaning in remorse, or a series of short, staccato bursts (''Teru'ah''), like the uncontrolled wailing of a person in extreme anguish and grief, may be connected to Maimonides’ explanation. Some people are moved to better themselves due to an intellectual recognition that something was seriously amiss in their lives. Their shofar sounds – what motivates them to repent – are the heavy sighs and groans of the introspective individual, the ''Shevarim''. For others, the stimulus comes from the heart. They are moved by the overwhelming pain and anguish of a person who has lost his way – the emotional outburst and wailing of the ''Teru’ah''. The most effective form of repentance, however, utilizes the strengths of both faculties, the emotions and the intellect, combining together the ''Shevarim'' and the ''Teru'ah''.

References

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