My new shofar

My Judaica collection is inexorably growing, for better or for worse.  Today, a group of HUC students went to explore shofars with a merchant who supports progressive Judaism in Israel (and so will work with HUC and sell women tallitot, etc.).  Before we left, Josh, our soon to be 5th year rabbinical student who has been coordinating activities this summer, mentioned that we could try various shofars and try to find a good match, one that “called out” to us.  Naturally, a lot of us immediately thought Harry Potter and wand shopping.  I’d already compared attending HUC to Hogwartz, and this reinforced my impression:  A select group of individuals coming together in a far away land, to study somewhat esoteric subjects (for the world at large) such as History of the Second Temple Period, Hebrew language, and traditional prayers (=spells).  The various Houses will return to LA, Cincinnati, New York, and there are a few going to England and Germany after this year.  Our leaders often have a special title (Rabbi=Wizard) and especially in Israel being Reform sometimes feels like being a Wizard in an oblivious Muggle world.  Anyway, before this gets any more heretical, I’ll get back to the shofar business.

Playing the shofar in my apartment

When Josh said that we would need to find a shofar that called out to us, I didn’t really think he meant that literally.  I figured I would try a few and see which one would do, and if it took a while so be it.  Then I touched the first shofar.  It didn’t look like what I wanted, it was all polished instead of half polished and half left rough.  I tried blowing a note, then tested out the range of pitches (as a trumpet player I didn’t have a problem learning the technique).  It had the same intervals as a bugle would, although probably not the same pitches, and it was relatively easy to get a good, solid sound.  I tried a few more shofars but none of them had the confident ease of sound or the right intervals that I was looking for.  After more doodling around on my first choice, I decided it was indeed calling out to me in a clear, “Tekiyahhh, take me yaaaaa.”  So it was love at first sight, and now it is sitting on my bed waiting for me to figure out where the heck to put it.  By coincidence, it cost me exactly the same amount as a Tallit that I bought early from the same guy.

Wand down (shofar), robe down (tallit), now I just need a broomstick so I don’t have to walk that infernal 30 minutes to school every day.

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