How the spiritual sound of the shofar shapes the Jewish new year

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Sarah Pessin , University of Denver

(THE CONVERSATION) 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 animal horn – typically a ram’s horn – used as a wind instrument, the shofar is featured over 70 times in the Torah . In ancient Jewish tradition, horns were sounded for everything from calls to action to royal coronations . In the spirit of both, the Bible calls upon Jews to raise forth shofar blasts on Rosh Hashana, which literally means the “head,” or start, of the year.

The holiday is a time of commu