Shofar

What the shofar is

The shofar is an old horn instrument kept for Jewish religious use. Most are made from a ram's horn, though the tradition allows other animals as well. It has no keys, slides or valves, so the player shapes every note with the lips and the breath, and the sound sits closer to a bugle than to a flute. No two are alike in size or shape, because the animal chosen and the amount of finishing work both vary. Sephardi horns often carry a carved mouthpiece like a small trumpet's, while Ashkenazi ones do not. Jewish law treats the shofar as an object used to carry out a commandment, not as something holy in itself.

Bible and temple

The Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and later rabbinic writers all mention it. At Mount Sinai, the book of Exodus says, a blast came out of the thick cloud and made the Israelites tremble. The horn announced the start of a month and of the Jubilee, the fiftieth year. It signalled war, went with processions, and David brought it into the temple orchestra. Joshua's soldiers blew horns around Jericho, and troops heard the call from a hilltop before battle. The trumpets of Numbers 10 are a different instrument, the ḥaṣoṣrah. In the Temple at Jerusalem the shofar took the centre on Rosh Hashanah, a trumpet on either side; on fast days the trumpets held the middle.

Sounds and the duty

The duty is to hear the blasts, not to produce them. The Torah mentions blowing in connection with the high holidays three times, and the sages drew from this that three sets are needed. Each complex sound has a plain note before and after it, giving nine in all. Because the exact complex sound was in doubt, three versions were kept, so the day holds series of nine, nine and twelve. On Rosh Hashanah the custom is a hundred or a hundred and one blasts; thirty of them are the core obligation, and most of the rest come during the Mussaf prayer.

Who blows the horn

The sounder is called the ba'al tekiah, the master of the blast, and the role is an honour. Any adult Jewish man the congregation accepts may take it, and he should be learned in Torah and God-fearing. Someone who is not himself obliged cannot discharge the duty for a person who is. Women and children are exempt, because the commandment belongs to a fixed time, but they are encouraged to come and listen. When the blower aims that all who hear will fulfil the commandment, anyone listening with that same intention does fulfil it; standing still is taken as intent to hear.

Horns and making

According to the Talmud any animal of the cattle family may supply a shofar except the cow, and a ram is preferred. The horn is keratin around a bony core, with cartilage inside that can be removed; antler is solid bone and cannot be hollowed, so it is never used. In practice Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities blow a domestic ram's horn, and Jews of Yemen blow the horn of a kudu. Moroccan shofars are flat with one wide bend. No ritual slaughter is needed. One legal work ranks horns: a curved ram first, then other curved kinds, then straight ones, then a non-kosher animal, and a cow's not at all. A crack that spoils the sound disqualifies a shofar, and so does paint or silver plating added for show.

How Shofar is kept

The congregation gathers in the synagogue. The ba'al tekiah, the appointed sounder, lifts the horn and blows the set patterns: a long plain note, then the complex sounds, then the plain note again, repeated in three cycles. Worshippers stand and listen, since hearing is the duty. On Rosh Hashanah this happens about a hundred times through the day, most of them during the Mussaf prayer. Through Elul the horn sounds on weekday mornings to wake people to the coming year, and it is blown once more at the close of Yom Kippur, after the fast ends. On Shabbat it is not blown.

When and where

The shofar belongs to the autumn high holidays. Its main day is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, which opens the month of Tishrei. It is also heard on weekday mornings throughout Elul, the month before, and at the evening end of Yom Kippur. On Shabbat, including a Shabbat that falls on Rosh Hashanah, it stays silent.

It is kept wherever Jewish communities pray, and its best-known setting is the synagogue. Its early ceremonial use belongs to the Temple in Jerusalem. After the Temple was destroyed, sounding it on Shabbat was limited to wherever the Sanhedrin sat, and it stopped once that body ended. Today the person who blows may stand in any congregation, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yemeni or Moroccan.

What Shofar means

Saadia Gaon, a medieval sage, collected reasons for the rite. The blasts, he taught, recall the making of the world, the start of a new year, the revelation at Sinai, the words of the prophets, the loss of the Temple and the binding of Isaac. They stir awe of God and of the day of judgement. They also point to a future gathering of exiles, to redemption and to the rising of the dead.

Days Shofar is marked

Questions people ask about Shofar

See also

Yom KippurThe holiest day in Judaism, dedicated to fasting, prayer and atonementRosh HashanahThe Jewish New Year marked by shofar horn blasts, prayer and sweet foodsMuharramThe sacred opening month of the Islamic year, observed through remembrance and fastingTashlikhA Jewish new year rite of casting sins into flowing water, kept by the waterside

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Shofar on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.