Rosh Hashanah: Chabad in Santa Monica Offers Shofar Factory for Kids Sept. 15, 2019

In preparation for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, Chabad in Santa Monica will be getting ready with a hands-on workshop.  Each participant will sand, saw, drill and polish their very own authentic Shofar. Sept. 15 at 11 am. $18 per participant. Ages 5-12. Parents welcome to join and assist. Chabad in S. Monica 1428 17th St  RSVP info@jewishsmonica.com or call 310-341-3837.

Rosh Hashanah in 2019 will start on Sunday, the 29th of September, and will continue for 2 days until Monday, the 30th of September.

A shofar is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the player's embouchure. The shofar is blown in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and at the very end of Yom Kippur, and is also blown every weekday morning in the month of Elul running up to Rosh Hashanah.

Shofars come in a variety of sizes and shapes, depending on the choice of animal and level of finish.

The shofar is mentioned frequently in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and rabbinic literature. In the first instance, in Exodus 19, the blast of a shofar emanating from the thick cloud on Mount Sinai makes the Israelites tremble in awe.

The shofar was used to announce the new moon and the Jubilee year. The first day of the seventh month (Tishrei) is termed "a memorial of blowing", or "a day of blowing", the shofar. They were used for signifying the start of a war. Later, they were also employed in processions, as musical accompaniment, and eventually were inserted into the temple orchestra by David.