Origin Biblical: the ram's horn is commanded in the Torah and its use is continuous
A horn, usually a ram's, sounded in the synagogue during the month of Elul, on Rosh Hashanah and at the close of Yom Kippur. It is not a musical instrument in the ordinary sense; it produces a small set of prescribed calls, a long blast, three broken notes, nine staccato ones, and the sequence is fixed, counted and legally required rather than performed.
A ram's horn is preferred over other kosher horns for the association with the ram caught in the thicket in Genesis 22. Cow horn is excluded, traditionally because of the golden calf. The sound is described in the tradition as a wordless cry, and the rabbinic literature is comfortable saying that it means more than it says.
Facts
Physical Form
MaterialHorn of a ram or other kosher animal 1 Meaning
Symbolic MeaningThe ram's horn shofar produces a fixed, legally required sequence of calls rather than performed music, and its sound is described in Jewish tradition as a wordless cry that means more than it says. 1 Use
Who May Handle ItTrained or authorised specialists only 1 ConsecrationNot consecrated; an instrument, not a consecrated object 1 Origins
Origin PeriodBiblical: the ram's horn is commanded in the Torah and its use is continuous 1 Status
Status TodayIn active religious use 2 Object category (class) Learn More
A Horn That Is a Legal Requirement, Not an Instrument
The shofar is sounded on the high holy days, and the tradition is careful to distinguish it from music: it is a wordless cry that the law requires, not a performance.
Prescribed calls
The shofar produces a small set of prescribed calls, a long blast, three broken notes, nine staccato ones, and the sequence is fixed, counted and legally required rather than freely performed. A ram horn is preferred for the association with the ram caught in the thicket in Genesis 22, and cow horn is excluded, traditionally because of the golden calf. The rabbinic literature is comfortable saying that the sound means more than it says, and it is described as a wordless cry rather than a melody.
A test of Jewish safety
The shofar has also been a marker of what Jewish practice a place will tolerate. It was blown at the Western Wall at the close of Yom Kippur throughout the British Mandate in defiance of a ban imposed in 1930 after the 1929 riots, and men were repeatedly arrested for it until the ban ended with the Mandate. Like the hanukkiah placed in a street-facing window, the shofar is an audible practice whose freedom or suppression has served as a barometer of Jewish security.
What the Horn May Not Be Made from, and Who May Blow It
A shofar is made by hollowing and heat shaping the horn of a ram or another kosher animal, never reinforced, painted over its natural surface, or built up with additional material the way a musical instrument might be, since Jewish law requires it to remain recognizably a natural horn.
What is specifically excluded
A cow or ox horn is traditionally avoided regardless of how suitable it might otherwise be, out of reluctance to use an animal associated with the incident of the golden calf, a restriction that narrows the acceptable source animals more than physical requirements alone would. Beyond that, the horn is not decorated in ways that would obscure its natural form, though exterior engraving that does not alter the shape is accepted by many authorities.
Training, and what happens to a cracked one
Blowing a shofar correctly, producing the required sequence of blasts, is a skill practiced and often formally assigned to one trained congregant, a baal tokea, rather than left to whoever is available. A shofar that cracks or otherwise stops producing a proper sound is not a text bearing object, so it carries no burial requirement, it is simply retired or, if the damage is minor, repaired by a specialist familiar with the horn's natural structure.
Connections
Associated With
The shofar is sounded in the synagogue during the month of Elul and on Rosh Hashanah.
Source Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editionMichael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.)
The shofar is sounded at the close of Yom Kippur.
Source Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editionMichael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.)
Belongs to Tradition
Source Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editionMichael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.)
Element Of
Sounded through the month of Elul and on the new year, and the hearing of it rather than the blowing is the obligation.
Source Shulchan AruchJoseph Karo
The horn is sounded on the new year in Reform congregations, and it survived the classical reforms where much of the ceremonial did not.
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition
Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.), Macmillan Reference USA, 2007on the shofar, its calls and the Mandate-era banView the Source 2. Shofar (Wikipedia)
- Wikipedia 'Shofar': 'is blown in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur'; checked 2026-09-27.
lead paragraph
A shofar ( shoh-FAR; from שׁוֹפָר, pronounced [ʃoˈfar] ) is an ancient musical horn, typically a ram's horn, used for Jewish ritual purposes.
Lead section
A shofar ( shoh-FAR; from שׁוֹפָר, pronounced [ʃoˈfar] ) is an ancient musical horn, typically a ram's horn, used for Jewish ritual purposes.
Opening sentence
A shofar ( shoh-FAR; from שׁוֹפָר, pronounced [ʃoˈfar] ) is an ancient musical horn, typically a ram's horn, used for Jewish ritual purposes.
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