Shofar blowing

A man blowing a shofar

The blowing of the shofar, or ram's horn, on the Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Hebrew: תקיעת שופר‎, pronounced [teki'at shofarʻ] – although not exclusively limited to a ram's horn, as almost any natural bovid horn serves the purpose, excepting a cow's horn,^[1][2] is an injunction that is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Leviticus 23:24) in undefined terms, without divulging how this was to be done:

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.^[3]

Three series

The original practice in Israel was to hear a total of only nine blasts made by the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah. This practice was later changed by Rav Abbahu of Caesarea (3rd century CE), because of doubts that had arisen surrounding the actual performance of this commandment.^[4]

During the first series, Rav Abbahu enacted that they blow a [very long] sustained blast (Teki'ah), followed by three [short] lilting blasts (Shevarim),^[5] followed by a [long] quavering blast (Teru'ah),^[6] and again by a [very long] sustained blast (Teki'ah). This series was to be repeated three times. This prescribed order is often called by the mnemonics: TaSHRaT – Teki'ah, Shevarim, Teru'ah, Teki'ah.^[7]

During the second series, he enacted that they blow one [very long] sustained blast (Teki'ah), followed by three [short] lilting blasts (Shevarim), followed by a [very long] sustained blast (Teki'ah). This series was also to be repeated three times. This prescribed order is often called by the mnemonics: TaSHaT – Teki'ah, Shevarim, Teki'ah.^[8]

During the third series, he enacted that they blow a [very long] sustained blast (Teki'ah), followed by a [long] quavering blast (Teru'ah), and again a [very long] sustained blast (Teki'ah). Again, this series was to be repeated three times. This prescribed order is often called by the mnemonics: TaRaT – Teki'ah, Teru'ah, Teki'ah.^[9]

The first series has a combination of four interchanging sounds made by the horn, which, when repeated thrice, make for a total of twelve blasts. The second series has a combination of three interchanging sounds, which, when repeated thrice, make for a total of nine blasts. The third and final series has a combination of three interchanging sounds, which, when repeated thrice, make for a total of nine blasts. The sum total is thirty blasts.

Besides the greater number of blasts made by the horn, the substantial change made by Rav Abbahu is in his adding the "short, lilting blasts" (Shevarim), which blasts have the resounding pitch of a person who is crying. This was added because of a doubt originating over the meaning of the word used by Onkelos and by the Targum Yerushalmi, both Aramaic translations on Lev. 23:24 and Num. 29:1, and where both texts translate "a quavering blast" (Teru'ah) as "a wailing sound," (Aramaic: Yababa), which happens to be also the same word used in describing the sound made by the mother of Sisera in Judges 5:28, when she moaned the loss of her son. With the ram's horn, it was not known if this word meant short, intermittent lilting blasts, or one long quavering blast, from whence he prescribed that we do both in the first series.

Another doubt, however, arose because of this enactment. It was not known whether or not the addition of "three short lilting blasts" in between the older practice would disqualify the whole. For this reason, we also blow "three short lilting blasts" in a series by itself, and "one long quavering blast" in a series by itself. Each is done separately.

Yemenite custom

Rabbi Yihya Saleh (died 1805), while explaining the Yemenite custom in the first series known as TaSHRaT (see supra), writes in his Commentary Etz Hayyim on the Baladi-rite Siddur^[10] that the short lilting blasts (Shevarim) and the long quavering blast (Teru'ah) are made in two breaths, both, in the series made while sitting and in the series made while standing. In this regard, the Yemenite practice was more lenient than that of the Shulchan Aruch.^[11]

Those who practise making 70 blasts with the ram's horn (Shofar), more notably the Yemenite Jews of the Baladi-rite, do so only because the first thirty blasts are made while the congregation is sitting. These same thirty blasts are repeated when the congregation stands up during the Mussaf-prayer, during which time the emissary of the congregation (Shaliach Tzibbur) leads them in prayer out-loud. Since he fulfills their obligation, the Mussaf-Prayer is only said once by them.^[12] There is no "chazarah" (repetition of the prayer), and subsequently, there is no need to make an additional thirty blasts at this time. Another ten blasts are made at the end of the prayer, in accordance with a tradition passed down from the days of the Geonim.

Other customs

A Haredi man blowing a shofar

Those who practise 101 blasts, follow a teaching that is first mentioned by the Tosafists ("ba'ale ha-tosafot")^[13] (Rosh Hashanah 33b, s.v. שעור) in the name of the Arukh.^[14] Thirty blasts are blown while the congregation is sitting. Another thirty blasts are made while standing silently in the Mussaf-Prayer. Another thirty blasts are made at the "chazarah" (repetition) of the Mussaf-Prayer. Ten blasts are made at the end of the prayer, according to a tradition left us by the Geonim. These are usually blown while in the midst of saying the "Kaddish Tiskabal." Finally, a very long sustained blast is made at the end of all these, concluding the Shul service on Rosh Hashanah.^[15] At the recess of Yom Kippur, four blasts are made (Mnemonics: TaSHRaT – Teki'ah, Shevarim, Teru'ah, Teki'ah). Several reasons are given for this practice, one of which is said to have the effect of confusing Satan.

In some Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions, the quavering blast (Teru'ah) is believed to be a string of many short-lived, broken blasts made by the tongue (e.g. tut-tut-tut-tut, etc.), rather than a long, trembling blast originating from the stomach as practised by the Yemenite and Babylonian Jewish communities. Moreover, according to Maimonides,^[16] the quavering blast (Teru'ah) is actually twice the length of a sustained blast (Teki'ah), while Rabbi Joseph Karo holds the view that the quavering blast is identical in length to that of a sustained blast.^[17] Each community is admonished to persist in the tradition which his fathers received.

References

1. Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 3:2. Although Maimonides ruled differently in his Code of Jewish Law (Hilchot Shofar 1: 1): "…the shofar (horn) with which they make the blast, whether on the New Year's day (Rosh Hashanah), or the Jubilee (Yovel), is the curved horn of sheep. Now all [other] horns are invalid, except the horn of a sheep…", the custom of Israel was to make use of other horns, and not only that of the ram (the male sheep). Some would use the horn of the wild goat (Walia ibex) on Rosh Hashanah, while others made use of the long, spiraling horn of the kudu antelope (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) because of its deep, reverberating sound. Compare the teaching of Rabbi Isaac b. Judah ibn Giat, who wrote: "All shofars are valid, excepting that of a cow since it is a [solid] horn. Said Rabbi Levi: 'The shofar of Rosh Hashanah and of Yom Kippurim are curved, while those of the entire year are straight, and thus is the Halacha.' Why is it that they blow with a shofar of a ram on Rosh Hashanah? Said the Holy One, blessed be He: 'Blow before me the shofar of a ram so that I might remember on your behalf the binding of Isaac the son of Abraham, and I impute it over you as if you had bound yourselves before me.'..." (Rabbi Isaac ibn Giat, Sefer Shaarei Simchah (Me'ah She'arim), vol. 1, Firta 1861, p. 32 [Hebrew])
2. Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 586:1); cf. Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 26a)
3. editors, editors. "The Jewish Bible". Jewish Publication Society: Philadelphia 1917.
4. Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 4:9
5. A dispute is mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim, section # 590, items # 4 & 5) about the validity of blowing the "Shevarim" and "Teru'ah" (of the first series) when there is a pause made between them. One opinion holds that it is not necessary to blow them in one breath, so long as there is no more than the pause of a breath between them. (See: Mishna Berura, ad loc.). The second opinion holds that they should be made all in one breath. Rabbi Joseph Karo, in his Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim section # 590, item # 4) writes: "He who fears God, when blowing the ram's horn on Rosh Hashanah, will make the three, short lilting blasts and the long quavering blast all in one breath, so as to prevent an unbreak in continuity during the series known as TASHRAT." The "Chazon Ish", likewise, explains that "all in one breath" means that they should be done without any "hefseq" - that is, without any break in continuity. Rabbi Moshe Iserlisch (the Rama) says that the custom of Ashkenaz was to follow the first opinion carried in the Shulchan Aruch (ibid 590:4), meaning, during the TASHRAT series, it is not necessary to blow the short lilting blasts (Shevarim) and the long quavering blast (Teru'ah) in one breath. However, during the TASHAT series it is necessary to blow the short lilting blasts (Shevarim) in one breath.
6. Rabbi Joseph Karo, in his Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim section # 590, item # 3), says that, as a first rule, the prescribed length of a quavering blast (Teru'ah) on Rosh Hashanah is identical to that of a sustained blast (Teki'ah), yet he agrees there that had he blown a longer quavering blast, he still fulfills his obligations thereby. In Yemen, the practice was somewhat different, viz. to make the quavering blast (Teru'ah) double that of a sustained blast (Teki'ah), in accordance with the opinion of Maimonides.
7. Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 34a
8. Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 34a
9. Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 34a
10. Tiklāal Etz Hayyim, vol. III, Jerusalem 1894, p. 70a
11. Rabbi Yosef Qafih, while explaining the same Yemenite custom as he had seen it, writes that in the second series known as TASHAT (see supra) "the custom and instruction that was widely accepted in Yemen was to make the [three] short lilting blasts (Shevarim) in [only] one breath, while the [three] short lilting blasts (Shevarim) and the long quavering blast (Teru'ah) in the [first] series known under the mnemonics as TaSHRaT, [and] which are [blown] when the congregation sits, are all done in one breath. Moreover, those [same blasts] (i.e. the Shevarim and the Teru'ah) that are made when standing are done in two breaths. And thus do I have it as a practice, etc." (See: Rabbi Yosef Qafih's Commentary on Maimonides' Mishne Torah, Seder Zemanim (part ii), Hilchot Shofar, ch. 3, vs. 3, footnote # 3, Kiryat Ono 1986 [Hebrew]). Cf. Tur 590:4 who brings down the aforesaid dispute in the names of Rabbeinu Tam and Rabbi Isaac ibn Giat.
12. This practice is actually mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud (Berakhoth 32b and 36a). Even though the emissary of the congregation fulfills their obligation, the custom in Yemen was that each person prays silently along with the emissary of the congregation.
13. The source for blowing only one-hundred notes during Rosh Hashanah, as opposed to one-hundred and one, is mentioned in the Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 33b (Tosefot, s.v. שעור), where it says in the name of the Arukh that the one-hundred blasts represent the one-hundred moans (Heb. פעיות) made by the mother of Sisera. Therefore, in order to reach that number, the series of thirty blasts had to be repeated twice during the Mussaf-prayers.
14. cf. Sefer Ha-Arukh of Rabbi Nathan b. Yechiel of Rome, s.v. ערב.
15. In England, they omit this very long sustained blast (Teki'ah Gedolah) made at the end, making rather a total of only one-hundred blasts. This is because the very last blast blown in the last series of ten is a very long sustained blast.
16. Maimonides, Mishne Torah (Hilchot Shofar 3:4)
17. Joseph Karo, Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 590:3)