Mark Lipof blows a shofar during the lead-up to Yom Kippur at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Mass., in 2010. Michael Fein/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images It’s the Jewish High ...

In front of Ahavas Chesed Synagogue in west Mobile, there is a 16-foot-long sculpture of a shofar — the ram’s horn blown in Biblical times like to herald the new moon or a jubilee year, among other ...

Of all the commandments in the Torah, the blowing of the shofar on the Jewish New Year is one of the most important. The ancient sound — signaling the beginning of the days of repentance — is heard on ...

Merrick Fagan is a bass player and bartender, not a rabbi, but during the High Holy Days, he is entrusted with a sacred, God-ordained task. At Rosh Hashanah morning services, he blows a hollowed-out ...

On a recent morning walk in the neighborhood, my wife and I approached a street corner where about a dozen people seemed to be waiting for someone. We were mildly curious but kept walking. Just after ...

As the last service of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, was about to end, Warren Aleck stood up in the balcony of Congregation Beth El. He began the walk toward the pulpit. A few people along ...

Originally published in the Forward September 6, 2002. To adapt the famous categorization of Claude Levi-Strauss, if such wind instruments as clarinets and cornets are “cooked,” the shofar is ...

Growing up in White Meadow Lake during the 1960's, Eric Freedman had an unspectacular career at Hebrew school. He recalls daydreaming about basketball during classes and making the occasional ...

It’s the Jewish High Holiday season, and Jews the world over are preparing to visit their local synagogues – for community, for prayer, and to hear the arresting, soulful sounds of the shofar. An ...