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Messages of the Shofar

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What is a shofar?

  • The horn of a ram
  • It is curved
  • It can be tan or black
  • It is blown at the narrow end; the sound comes from the wide end

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The Torah Instructs:

  • “On the seventh month, on the first day, shall be declared holy for you…It shall be a day of sounding the ram’s horn.” (Numbers 29:1)

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Message #1

  • “Sound the shofar to G-d with a cry of joy. For G-d is supreme, awesome; a great king over all the earth.” (Psalms 47:2-3)
  • Declaring G-d King of the world

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Message #2

  • “Blow the shofar in Zion and sound the trumpet on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of G-d has come.” (Joel 2:1)
  • A call to repentance

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Message #3

  • “The sound of the shofar grew much stronger; Moses spoke, and G-d responded with a firm voice” (Exodus 19:19)
  • Receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai

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Message #4

  • “I appointed watchmen (prophets) over you who warned, ‘Hearken to the sound of the shofar’ ” (Jeremiah 6:17)
  • The admonitions of our prophets

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Message #5

  • “You shall blow on the trumpets, by your burnt offerings and by your peace offerings” (Numbers 10:10)
  • The Beit Hamikdosh / Holy Temple in Jerusalem

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Message #6

  • “He saw a ram, behind, caught by its horns in the thicket. Abraham went, took the ram, and offered it as an offering in place of his son” (Genesis 22:13)
  • The Binding of Isaac

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Message #7

  • “Would a shofar be blown in the city, and the people not tremble?” (Amos 3:6)
  • Fear of G-d

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Message #8

  • “The great day of G-d is near…a day of fury is that day…a day of shofar sounds” (Tzefania 1:14-16)
  • The Day of Judgement

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Message #9

  • “It will be on that day, a great shofar will be blown, and those who are lost in the land of Assyria, and those cast away in the land of Egypt, will come….to G-d on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13)
  • Gathering of the exiles, arrival of Mashiach

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Message #10

  • “All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers of the earth…when the shofar sounds you will hear” (Isaiah 18:3)
  • Revival of the dead

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Additional Message

  • “From the tight spot I call to G-d; G-d answered me with expansiveness” (Psalms 118:5)
  • The shofar is blown at the narrow end, and the sound comes from the wide end.
  • A person who feels blocked in and contrite, inspires a response of wideness and open-handedness