Mystical systems
Shofar
Direct answer
Shofar: The shofar is a horn, usually a ram's, blown as a ritual instrument in Judaism, above all on Rosh Hashanah, the new year, and at the end of Yom Kippur.
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At a glance
- Also called
- rams horn, tekiah
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Yom Kippur, Psalmody, Repentance, Mount Sinai
The shofar is a horn, usually a ram's, blown as a ritual instrument in Judaism, above all on Rosh Hashanah, the new year, and at the end of Yom Kippur.
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What is a shofar made of?
A shofar is made from the hollowed horn of a ram or another kosher animal such as a goat or antelope. It has no reed, valves or finger holes; the player buzzes the lips against the narrow end, and the horn gives two or three raw notes. The Torah calls the new year a day of blasting, and hearing the shofar is the central commandment of that festival.
Four calls are sounded. Tekiah is one long note. Shevarim is three broken notes, likened to sighing. Teruah is nine or more short notes, likened to sobbing or an alarm. Tekiah gedolah is a single note held as long as the breath lasts. They are blown in set groups, by wide custom one hundred blasts in the course of the Rosh Hashanah service. One long blast marks the end of the Yom Kippur fast. The horn is also blown on weekday mornings in the month before the new year.
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What sets Shofar apart
The shofar is an instrument valued for being unmusical. It cannot play a melody, its pitch depends on the accident of each horn, and the law prefers it plain, with no added mouthpiece and no gilding where the lips touch. The calls are defined by length and breaking, not by note. Because the tradition could not decide whether the biblical teruah was a groan or a sob, it blows both, and both together, which is how one commanded sound grew into a hundred.
- Material: a ram's horn by preference; never a cow's
- Commanded in: Leviticus 23:24 and Numbers 29:1
- Four calls: tekiah, shevarim, teruah and tekiah gedolah
- Customary count: one hundred blasts on each day of Rosh Hashanah
- Not blown: when Rosh Hashanah falls on the Sabbath, in most communities
- The ram: recalls the one offered in place of Isaac, Genesis 22
Often mistaken for something else: The silver trumpets of Numbers 10 were made instruments blown by priests in the Temple; the shofar is a natural horn, and the one of the two still in ritual use.
The story behind Shofar
In the Hebrew Bible the horn sounds at Mount Sinai, announces the jubilee year, signals in war and brings down the walls of Jericho. After the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE it remained the one ancient instrument kept in synagogue worship. The Talmud debates what teruah should sound like, and the practice of blowing both broken and staccato calls is credited to Rabbi Abbahu of Caesarea, about 300 CE. Maimonides in the twelfth century read the blast as a call to sleepers to wake and examine their deeds.
Why Shofar matters
Shofar is among the oldest instruments still used for its original purpose, and its sound is a wordless prayer at the heart of the Jewish year.
How to read Shofar
It is blown by a trained member of the congregation at fixed points of the service; the listeners fulfil the commandment by hearing it.
Shofar in practice: an example
At the close of Yom Kippur a congregation that has fasted for a day stands in silence for one last, long note of the horn.
Where readings of Shofar go wrong
Shofar is a ritual object of a living religion. Its use as a prop or a noisemaker outside that setting gives offence to many Jews.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- shofar meaning, rams horn, shofar sounds, shofar blowing, tekiah
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What is a shofar made of?
Most are made from the horn of a ram. Horns of goats and of antelope such as the kudu, long and spiralled, are also used, especially among Yemenite Jews. A cow's horn is not used.
What are the sounds of the shofar?
Tekiah, one long blast; shevarim, three medium broken notes; teruah, a run of at least nine short notes; and tekiah gedolah, a very long final blast.
Why is the shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah?
The Torah commands a day of blasting without giving a reason. Later teachers explain it as a coronation of God as king, a reminder of the ram offered in place of Isaac, and a call to wake up and repent.
