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SOUNDS OF NEW YEAR
"New York Newsday", 2005"
For as long as Jews have had to explain what a shofar is, the shorthand has been to call it a ram's horn -- sounded on Rosh Hashanah and Yomn Kippur.
Turns out, though, that when Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year 5766 is celebrate in synagogues worldwide beginning tomorrow, rams actually don't have the monopoly.
Purveyors of Jewish goods say that horns of other animals are also sounded - including, frequently, the gnu, or African antelope, which may have less cache than the stately ram but can grow longer, fancier horns.
"It's much more impressive," said Danny Levine owner of J.Levine Books & Judaica in midtown, holding up a Israeli-made gray and mauve gnu shofar about 2-feet long that retails for about $175.
The ram's horn in seen as synonumous with a shofar because it is preferred, said Malcolm I. Hoenlein, executive vice chairmain of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
The shofar's origins lie in the story of Abraham's attemped sacrifice of Isaac at God's behest. When an angel alerted Abraham that the killing was only a divine test, the patriach discovered a ram with a horn caught in a thicket, and sacrificed the animal instead.
"We are reminded of the devotion entrusted," Hoenlein said in an interview. "We try to emulate that as well."
Horns of most any kosher animal -- that is, one properly slaughtered, cloven hoofed and which chewed its cud - are acceptable. Cows' and calves' horns are banned, however.
With rams horns often growing to no more than a foot or so, some choose longer shofars from other animals.
The shofar is to be sounded 100 times during both days of Rosh Hashanah, tomorrow and Wednesday. It is also sounded at the end of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, which starts Oct.12 and end the evening of Oct.13. Jews pray to be inscribed in the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah. God seals it 10 days later, on Yom Kippur.
The twisted, longer shofars favored by Jews of the Middle east, Spain or North Africa are actually often from gnus, said Levine, whose store is marking it 100th anniversary this year. In the days leading up to the High Holy days, shofars are selling briskly, he said.
Because there is often no mouthpiece in a shofar, blowing it requires the taut pursing of the lips. To would-be shofar sounders, Levine offers this advice: It's best to place the shofar at the side of one's mouth and not blow too hard.
And for those convinced their best efforts souns more like a car sputtering than a plea for forgiveness, Levine also offers this last bit of advice: "Practice."
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