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  • Period
    • Prehistory3000000 BCE - 5001 BCE
    • Antiquity5000 BCE - 399 CE
    • Middle Ages400 CE - 1500 CE
    • Age of Reason1500 CE - 1879 CE
    • Modern Times1880 CE - 1980 CE
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  • he
  • Login
  • Register
  • Period
    • Prehistory3000000 BCE - 5001 BCE
    • Antiquity5000 BCE - 399 CE
    • Middle Ages400 CE - 1500 CE
    • Age of Reason1500 CE - 1879 CE
    • Modern Times1880 CE - 1980 CE
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
    • English subscription
  • News
  • Past Issues
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
  • Holidays Archive
    • Holidays Archive
    • Festivals of Tishrei
    • Hanukkah
    • Tu BiShvat
    • Purim
    • Pesach
    • Holocaust
    • Independence Day
    • Lag baOmer
    • Jerusalem Day
    • Shavuot
    • Tisha B’Av
  • en
  • he
  • -3000000
  • -2900000
  • -2800000
  • -2700000
  • -2600000
  • -2500000
  • -2400000
  • -2300000
  • -2200000
  • -2100000
  • -2000000
Prehistory
  • -1900000
  • -1800000
  • -1700000
  • -1600000
  • -1500000
  • -1400000
  • -1300000
  • -1200000
  • -1100000
  • -1000000
  • -900000
Prehistory
  • -800000
  • -700000
  • -600000
    • 500000 BCE :

      Flints Galore
  • -500000
    • 500000 BCE :

      Flints Galore
  • -400000
  • -300000
  • -200000
  • -100000
    • 60000 BCE :

      Not Just Cave Dwellers
    • 20000 BCE :

      Rhinos in Samaria
    • 7000 BCE :

      Masking Death Prehistoric City
    • 3000 BCE :

      What would you like, Egyptian or Philistine ?
    • 2000 BCE :

      4,000 Year Old Jerusalem Tomb: a Treasure Trove of Decapitated Toads
    • 1150 BCE :

      Where did the Philistines come from?
    • 1100 BCE :

      Is This Ziklag?
    • 1000 BCE :

      Babylonian Deluge
    • 800 BCE :

      Horses in the rain Ruin of Samaria!
    • 750 BCE :

      Which Isaiah? How many clerks ?
    • 650 BCE :

      Temple Off the Mount
    • 590 BCE :

      Stamped by the Mayor
    • 586 BCE :

      Signs of Destruction
    • 516 BCE :

      Who are You, Samaritans?
    • 480 BCE :

      Esther – the Persian Version
    • 460 BCE :

      Nehemiah on the Wall
    • 200 BCE :

      Forgotten Archive
    • 167 BCE :

      A Brief History of the Hasmoneans
    • 164 BCE :

      Pools and Palaces
    • 160 BCE :

      Fighting for Heart and Soul The Youngest Maccabee
    • 150 BCE :

      Telltale Tremor
    • 141 BCE :

      Cast a Giant Shadow
    • 110 BCE :

      A Dig Full of Holes
    • 100 BCE :

      אוצר ממצולות ים Anonymous Hasmonean
    • 20 BCE :

      Mystery of Caesarea’s Disappearing Port Jerusalem Potters
    • 18 BCE :

      Paving the Past
    • 0 BCE :

      Nabateans in the Bible Lords of the Desert Pilgrim City
  • 0
  • 100000
  • 200000
Prehistory
  • -5000
  • -4980
  • -4960
  • -4940
  • -4920
  • -4900
  • -4880
  • -4860
  • -4840
  • -4820
  • -4800
Antiquity
  • -4780
  • -4760
  • -4740
  • -4720
  • -4700
  • -4680
  • -4660
  • -4640
  • -4620
  • -4600
  • -4580
Antiquity
  • -4560
  • -4540
  • -4520
  • -4500
  • -4480
  • -4460
  • -4440
  • -4420
  • -4400
  • -4380
  • -4360
Antiquity
  • -4340
  • -4320
  • -4300
  • -4280
  • -4260
  • -4240
  • -4220
  • -4200
  • -4180
  • -4160
  • -4140
Antiquity
  • -4120
  • -4100
  • -4080
  • -4060
  • -4040
  • -4020
  • -4000
  • -3980
  • -3960
  • -3940
  • -3920
Antiquity
  • -3900
  • -3880
  • -3860
  • -3840
  • -3820
  • -3800
  • -3780
  • -3760
  • -3740
  • -3720
  • -3700
Antiquity
  • -3680
  • -3660
  • -3640
  • -3620
  • -3600
  • -3580
  • -3560
  • -3540
  • -3520
  • -3500
  • -3480
Antiquity
  • -3460
  • -3440
  • -3420
  • -3400
  • -3380
  • -3360
  • -3340
  • -3320
  • -3300
  • -3280
  • -3260
Antiquity
  • -3240
  • -3220
  • -3200
  • -3180
  • -3160
  • -3140
  • -3120
  • -3100
  • -3080
  • -3060
  • -3040
Antiquity
  • -3020
    • 3000 BCE :

      What would you like, Egyptian or Philistine ?
  • -3000
    • 3000 BCE :

      What would you like, Egyptian or Philistine ?
  • -2980
  • -2960
  • -2940
  • -2920
  • -2900
  • -2880
  • -2860
  • -2840
  • -2820
Antiquity
  • -2800
  • -2780
  • -2760
  • -2740
  • -2720
  • -2700
  • -2680
  • -2660
  • -2640
  • -2620
  • -2600
Antiquity
  • -2580
  • -2560
  • -2540
  • -2520
  • -2500
  • -2480
  • -2460
  • -2440
  • -2420
  • -2400
  • -2380
Antiquity
  • -2360
  • -2340
  • -2320
  • -2300
  • -2280
  • -2260
  • -2240
  • -2220
  • -2200
  • -2180
  • -2160
Antiquity
  • -2140
  • -2120
  • -2100
  • -2080
  • -2060
  • -2040
  • -2020
    • 2000 BCE :

      4,000 Year Old Jerusalem Tomb: a Treasure Trove of Decapitated Toads
  • -2000
    • 2000 BCE :

      4,000 Year Old Jerusalem Tomb: a Treasure Trove of Decapitated Toads
  • -1980
  • -1960
  • -1940
Antiquity
  • -1920
  • -1900
  • -1880
  • -1860
  • -1840
  • -1820
  • -1800
  • -1780
  • -1760
  • -1740
  • -1720
Antiquity
  • -1700
  • -1680
  • -1660
  • -1640
  • -1620
  • -1600
  • -1580
  • -1560
  • -1540
  • -1520
  • -1500
Antiquity
  • -1480
  • -1460
  • -1440
  • -1420
  • -1400
  • -1380
  • -1360
  • -1340
  • -1320
  • -1300
  • -1280
Antiquity
  • -1260
  • -1240
  • -1220
  • -1200
  • -1180
  • -1160
    • 1150 BCE :

      Where did the Philistines come from?
  • -1140
  • -1120
    • 1100 BCE :

      Is This Ziklag?
  • -1100
    • 1100 BCE :

      Is This Ziklag?
  • -1080
  • -1060
Antiquity
  • -1040
  • -1020
    • 1000 BCE :

      Babylonian Deluge
  • -1000
    • 1000 BCE :

      Babylonian Deluge
  • -980
  • -960
  • -940
  • -920
  • -900
  • -880
  • -860
  • -840
Antiquity
  • -820
    • 800 BCE :

      Horses in the rain Ruin of Samaria!
  • -800
    • 800 BCE :

      Horses in the rain Ruin of Samaria!
  • -780
  • -760
    • 750 BCE :

      Which Isaiah? How many clerks ?
  • -740
  • -720
  • -700
  • -680
  • -660
    • 650 BCE :

      Temple Off the Mount
  • -640
  • -620
Antiquity
  • -600
    • 590 BCE :

      Stamped by the Mayor
    • 586 BCE :

      Signs of Destruction
  • -580
  • -560
  • -540
  • -520
    • 516 BCE :

      Who are You, Samaritans?
  • -500
    • 480 BCE :

      Esther – the Persian Version
  • -480
    • 480 BCE :

      Esther – the Persian Version
    • 460 BCE :

      Nehemiah on the Wall
  • -460
    • 460 BCE :

      Nehemiah on the Wall
  • -440
  • -420
  • -400
Antiquity
  • -380
  • -360
  • -340
  • -320
  • -300
  • -280
  • -260
  • -240
  • -220
    • 200 BCE :

      Forgotten Archive
  • -200
    • 200 BCE :

      Forgotten Archive
  • -180
    • 167 BCE :

      A Brief History of the Hasmoneans
    • 164 BCE :

      Pools and Palaces
    • 160 BCE :

      Fighting for Heart and Soul The Youngest Maccabee
Antiquity
  • -160
    • 160 BCE :

      Fighting for Heart and Soul The Youngest Maccabee
    • 150 BCE :

      Telltale Tremor
    • 141 BCE :

      Cast a Giant Shadow
  • -140
  • -120
    • 110 BCE :

      A Dig Full of Holes
    • 100 BCE :

      אוצר ממצולות ים Anonymous Hasmonean
  • -100
    • 100 BCE :

      אוצר ממצולות ים Anonymous Hasmonean
  • -80
  • -60
  • -40
    • 20 BCE :

      Mystery of Caesarea’s Disappearing Port Jerusalem Potters
  • -20
    • 20 BCE :

      Mystery of Caesarea’s Disappearing Port Jerusalem Potters
    • 18 BCE :

      Paving the Past
    • 0 BCE :

      Nabateans in the Bible Lords of the Desert Pilgrim City
  • 0
  • 20
    • 40 CE :

      Wanton Destruction on a Calamitous Scale Golden Nostalgia
  • 40
    • 40 CE :

      Wanton Destruction on a Calamitous Scale Golden Nostalgia
    • 44 CE :

      King’s Canopy in Shilo
Antiquity
  • 60
    • 62 CE :

      The Pilgrims’ Progress
    • 66 CE :

      Don’t Call Me Joseph Dead Sea DNA
    • 67 CE :

      Romans on the Roofs of Gamla
  • 80
  • 100
  • 120
    • 130 CE :

      Backs to the Western Wall
    • 132 CE :

      Bar Kokhba in Jerusalem
  • 140
  • 160
  • 180
    • 200 CE :

      Bathing Rabbis
  • 200
    • 200 CE :

      Bathing Rabbis
  • 220
  • 240
    • 250 CE :

      Trio in Togas
  • 260
Antiquity
  • 280
    • 300 CE :

      Washed Out by the Rain
  • 300
    • 300 CE :

      Washed Out by the Rain
  • 320
  • 340
    • 350 CE :

      זה השער
  • 360
  • 380
    • 400 CE :

      Blessed Wine
  • 400
    • 400 CE :

      Blessed Wine
  • 420
  • 440
  • 460
  • 480
    • 500 CE :

      Shofar – Blasting Away Pilgrims’ Riches Playing with Water? Byzantine Cistern in Jerusalem Playground
Antiquity
  • 400
    • 400 CE :

      Blessed Wine
  • 410
  • 420
  • 430
  • 440
  • 450
  • 460
  • 470
  • 480
  • 490
    • 500 CE :

      Shofar – Blasting Away Pilgrims’ Riches Playing with Water? Byzantine Cistern in Jerusalem Playground
  • 500
    • 500 CE :

      Shofar – Blasting Away Pilgrims’ Riches Playing with Water? Byzantine Cistern in Jerusalem Playground
Middle Ages
  • 510
  • 520
  • 530
    • 539 CE :

      Georgians in Ashdod
  • 540
  • 550
  • 560
  • 570
  • 580
  • 590
  • 600
  • 610
Middle Ages
  • 620
    • 630 CE :

      The Fire of Faith
  • 630
    • 630 CE :

      The Fire of Faith
  • 640
  • 650
  • 660
  • 670
  • 680
  • 690
  • 700
  • 710
    • 717 CE :

      What’s a Jewish Menorah doing on early Islamic coins and vessels ?
  • 720
Middle Ages
  • 730
  • 740
  • 750
  • 760
  • 770
  • 780
  • 790
    • 800 CE :

      Whose Head is it Anyway? Potter’s Treasure
  • 800
    • 800 CE :

      Whose Head is it Anyway? Potter’s Treasure
  • 810
  • 820
  • 830
Middle Ages
  • 840
  • 850
  • 860
  • 870
  • 880
  • 890
  • 900
  • 910
  • 920
  • 930
  • 940
    • 950 CE :

      Cave of Revenge
Middle Ages
  • 950
    • 950 CE :

      Cave of Revenge
  • 960
  • 970
  • 980
  • 990
  • 1000
  • 1010
  • 1020
  • 1030
  • 1040
  • 1050
Middle Ages
  • 1060
  • 1070
  • 1080
  • 1090
    • 1096 CE :

      Heroes on the Walls of Haifa
    • 1099 CE :

      Heroes on the Walls of Haifa
  • 1100
  • 1110
  • 1120
  • 1130
  • 1140
  • 1150
  • 1160
Middle Ages
  • 1170
  • 1180
    • 1187 CE :

      Locking Horns at the Battle of Hattin
  • 1190
  • 1200
  • 1210
  • 1220
  • 1230
  • 1240
  • 1250
  • 1260
  • 1270
    • 1280 CE :

      Z-rated: For Forties Plus
Middle Ages
  • 1280
    • 1280 CE :

      Z-rated: For Forties Plus
    • 1286 CE :

      Mystery of the Zohar Zohar Unzipped
  • 1290
    • 1300 CE :

      Ancient Ring in the Flowerbed
  • 1300
    • 1300 CE :

      Ancient Ring in the Flowerbed
  • 1310
  • 1320
  • 1330
  • 1340
  • 1350
    • 1354 CE :

      Ready for Elijah
  • 1360
  • 1370
  • 1380
    • 1390 CE :

      Divinely Plagued
Middle Ages
  • 1390
    • 1390 CE :

      Divinely Plagued
  • 1400
  • 1410
  • 1420
  • 1430
  • 1440
  • 1450
  • 1460
  • 1470
    • 1475 CE :

      A Widow in Print
  • 1480
  • 1490
    • 1496 CE :

      Once Bitten, Twice Shy – Portuguese Jewry
Middle Ages
  • 1500
    • 1501 CE :

      Portuguese Messiah at the Stake
  • 1510
    • 1520 CE :

      Salonika’s Mystic Quartet
  • 1520
    • 1520 CE :

      Salonika’s Mystic Quartet
    • 1526 CE :

      Who Was David Ha-Reuveni?
  • 1530
    • 1533 CE :

      Kabbalists in Salonika
  • 1540
  • 1550
  • 1560
  • 1570
  • 1580
  • 1590
  • 1600
Age of Reason
  • 1610
  • 1620
    • 1630 CE :

      The Price of Dissent
  • 1630
    • 1630 CE :

      The Price of Dissent
  • 1640
  • 1650
  • 1660
    • 1667 CE :

      Was ‘The Jewish Bride’ Really Jewish? Messianic Mania
  • 1670
    • 1675 CE :

      Topsy Turvy
  • 1680
  • 1690
    • 1700 CE :

      Newton’s Fourth Law In the Service of the Czar Haman’s Pockets Trying to Belong
  • 1700
    • 1700 CE :

      Newton’s Fourth Law In the Service of the Czar Haman’s Pockets Trying to Belong
  • 1710
Age of Reason
  • 1720
  • 1730
  • 1740
  • 1750
  • 1760
  • 1770
  • 1780
    • 1790 CE :

      Groping for Truth
  • 1790
    • 1790 CE :

      Groping for Truth
  • 1800
    • 1806 CE :

      Napoleon’s Jewish Court
  • 1810
    • 1812 CE :

      Red Rose of Petra
  • 1820
    • 1827 CE :

      A Soul Divided
Age of Reason
  • 1830
    • 1832 CE :

      Blackface Minstrel Shows
    • 1840 CE :

      With Thanks from Damascus
  • 1840
    • 1840 CE :

      With Thanks from Damascus
    • 1842 CE :

      Charlotte Rothschild – First Jewish Female Artist
    • 1845 CE :

      The Angry Convert
    • 1848 CE :

      Jewish? French? Italian!
    • 1850 CE :

      Matza – More Than Just Crumbs
  • 1850
    • 1850 CE :

      Matza – More Than Just Crumbs
    • 1852 CE :

      Mum’s the Word Mum’s the Word
    • 1860 CE :

      Written Off
  • 1860
    • 1860 CE :

      Written Off
    • 1868 CE :

      Hungarian Schism
    • 1870 CE :

      A Man unto Himself The Kaiser’s Cap
  • 1870
    • 1870 CE :

      A Man unto Himself The Kaiser’s Cap
    • 1873 CE :

      Boy Wonders
    • 1875 CE :

      The Many Faces of Maurycy Gottlieb Shtreimel Variations: The History of a Hat
    • 1877 CE :

      Off the Boat
    • 1880 CE :

      Fastest Jew in the West
  • 1880
    • 1880 CE :

      Fastest Jew in the West
    • 1881 CE :

      The Jewish Girl who Set the Wild West Ablaze
    • 1882 CE :

      When Etrogim Briefly Grew on Trees
    • 1883 CE :

      Kafka – Too Short A Story
    • 1884 CE :

      The Original Zionist Congress
    • 1886 CE :

      Place in the Sun
    • 1887 CE :

      Marc Chagall – the Surrealist Jew
    • 1889 CE :

      New York – A Community in Flux
    • 1890 CE :

      PIONEER POET
  • 1890
    • 1890 CE :

      PIONEER POET
    • 1892 CE :

      When Shakespeare Spoke Yiddish
    • 1894 CE :

      Herzl’s Psychodrama Egypt’s Jewish Molière The Too Jewish Missionary
    • 1895 CE :

      Zionist with Cello
    • 1897 CE :

      The Jewish Father of French Impressionism The Congress that Founded the Jewish State The Pied Piper of Yom Kippur
    • 1900 CE :

      Healing Minds with Sigmund Freud
  • 1900
    • 1900 CE :

      Healing Minds with Sigmund Freud
    • 1906 CE :

      The Saga of a Budapest Family Sukka
    • 1908 CE :

      The Jewish American Secret Police
    • 1909 CE :

      black wedding
    • 1910 CE :

      One Hundred Good Years
  • 1910
    • 1910 CE :

      One Hundred Good Years
    • 1913 CE :

      Planting Seedlings Mark Gertler – Nothing but Art
    • 1914 CE :

      Did Jew Know? Tomorrow’s War Ticket to Riches
    • 1915 CE :

      Albert Einstein’s Quantum Leap Forgotten Jews of Bisan
    • 1916 CE :

      Amedeo Modigliani – Jewish Expressionism
    • 1917 CE :

      The Gateway The Viscount of Megiddo Return of the Spies Guard Down Long Before Balfour
    • 1918 CE :

      Luboml City Post Dying in Vain
    • 1920 CE :

      Isidor Kaufmann – Jewish Ritual Beauty My Son, the Gangster The Fourth Commandment and the Eighteenth Amendment
  • 1920
    • 1920 CE :

      Isidor Kaufmann – Jewish Ritual Beauty My Son, the Gangster The Fourth Commandment and the Eighteenth Amendment
    • 1921 CE :

      Make Art, Not War
    • 1924 CE :

      God Save the Dutch Queen It Takes a (Hasidic) Village
    • 1927 CE :

      Painter of Jerusalem Breaking the Sound Barrier No Business Like Show Business
    • 1929 CE :

      Painting Propaganda
    • 1930 CE :

      The Wedding That Wasn’t
  • 1930
    • 1930 CE :

      The Wedding That Wasn’t
    • 1933 CE :

      Haifa and Salonika – the Jewish Ports
    • 1935 CE :

      Gefilte Jazz
    • 1936 CE :

      Megilla with a Secular Twist
    • 1940 CE :

      A Beautiful Mind 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Hedy Lamarr
Age of Reason
  • 1880
    • 1880 CE :

      Fastest Jew in the West
    • 1881 CE :

      The Jewish Girl who Set the Wild West Ablaze
    • 1882 CE :

      When Etrogim Briefly Grew on Trees
    • 1883 CE :

      Kafka – Too Short A Story
    • 1884 CE :

      The Original Zionist Congress
    • 1886 CE :

      Place in the Sun
    • 1887 CE :

      Marc Chagall – the Surrealist Jew
    • 1889 CE :

      New York – A Community in Flux
    • 1890 CE :

      PIONEER POET
  • 1890
    • 1890 CE :

      PIONEER POET
    • 1892 CE :

      When Shakespeare Spoke Yiddish
    • 1894 CE :

      Herzl’s Psychodrama Egypt’s Jewish Molière The Too Jewish Missionary
    • 1895 CE :

      Zionist with Cello
    • 1897 CE :

      The Jewish Father of French Impressionism The Congress that Founded the Jewish State The Pied Piper of Yom Kippur
    • 1900 CE :

      Healing Minds with Sigmund Freud
  • 1900
    • 1900 CE :

      Healing Minds with Sigmund Freud
    • 1906 CE :

      The Saga of a Budapest Family Sukka
    • 1908 CE :

      The Jewish American Secret Police
    • 1909 CE :

      black wedding
    • 1910 CE :

      One Hundred Good Years
  • 1910
    • 1910 CE :

      One Hundred Good Years
    • 1913 CE :

      Planting Seedlings Mark Gertler – Nothing but Art
    • 1914 CE :

      Did Jew Know? Tomorrow’s War Ticket to Riches
    • 1915 CE :

      Albert Einstein’s Quantum Leap Forgotten Jews of Bisan
    • 1916 CE :

      Amedeo Modigliani – Jewish Expressionism
    • 1917 CE :

      The Gateway The Viscount of Megiddo Return of the Spies Guard Down Long Before Balfour
    • 1918 CE :

      Luboml City Post Dying in Vain
    • 1920 CE :

      Isidor Kaufmann – Jewish Ritual Beauty My Son, the Gangster The Fourth Commandment and the Eighteenth Amendment
  • 1920
    • 1920 CE :

      Isidor Kaufmann – Jewish Ritual Beauty My Son, the Gangster The Fourth Commandment and the Eighteenth Amendment
    • 1921 CE :

      Make Art, Not War
    • 1924 CE :

      God Save the Dutch Queen It Takes a (Hasidic) Village
    • 1927 CE :

      Painter of Jerusalem Breaking the Sound Barrier No Business Like Show Business
    • 1929 CE :

      Painting Propaganda
    • 1930 CE :

      The Wedding That Wasn’t
  • 1930
    • 1930 CE :

      The Wedding That Wasn’t
    • 1933 CE :

      Haifa and Salonika – the Jewish Ports
    • 1935 CE :

      Gefilte Jazz
    • 1936 CE :

      Megilla with a Secular Twist
    • 1940 CE :

      A Beautiful Mind 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Hedy Lamarr
  • 1940
    • 1940 CE :

      A Beautiful Mind 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Hedy Lamarr
    • 1942 CE :

      Flowing But Not Forgotten All-American Rebbe
    • 1943 CE :

      Fight for the Spirit Spark of Rebellion Drawing for Dear Life
    • 1945 CE :

      Damned If You Do Lights, Camera, Zionism!
    • 1946 CE :

      Escape Room
    • 1947 CE :

      United Nations Vote – 29 November 1947
    • 1948 CE :

      Posting Independence The Battle on the Hill Sky-Heist Scent of Freedom The Best Defense Cable Car to Jerusalem
    • 1949 CE :

      Shmuel Zanwil Kahane and the Legend of the Holy Ashes
    • 1950 CE :

      Lost in Eilat Eilat’s Treasures Strength in Numbers The Shrine on the Mountain Voice Behind the Iron Curtain
  • 1950
    • 1950 CE :

      Lost in Eilat Eilat’s Treasures Strength in Numbers The Shrine on the Mountain Voice Behind the Iron Curtain
    • 1951 CE :

      Curator or Creator
    • 1952 CE :

      The Night of the Murdered Poets
    • 1955 CE :

      The Hitchhikers’ Guide to Jew York
    • 1957 CE :

      Shmuel Zanwil Kahane’s Map of Holy Sites
    • 1960 CE :

      Jewish as Can Be
  • 1960
    • 1960 CE :

      Jewish as Can Be
    • 1967 CE :

      1967 Declassified Comments Through Lions’ Gate De-Classified Comments New Life in Jerusalem’s Old City
  • 1970
    • 1973 CE :

      Faith Under Fire
  • 1980
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    Home / Shofar – Blasting Away

Shofar – Blasting Away

Sounding the Alarm
Continuing Tradition
Hanging by a Thread
Which Horn Is Best?
Ram, Goat, or Antelope?
Sound of the Kudu
When is a horn not a shofar?
By: ארי זיבוטובסקי וארי גרינספן

When is a shofar not a ram’s horn, and when can it be heard besides the months of Elul and Tishrei? The answer lies in Djerba and Yemen

Sounding the Alarm

Reverberating throughout Elul (the last month of the Jewish year, roughly corresponding to August/September) and climaxing on the High Holy Days, the blast of the shofar has changed little since it was first heard millennia ago. The rudimentary animal horn and the primal sound it produces evoke a raw emotion difficult to pin down. Humble in origin, the shofar can come from a goat, an antelope, or other species, although the standard horn is that of a ram.

In the Bible, the shofar’s uses are varied. When Joshua captured Jericho, seven priests blasted shofars while encircling the city walls, and Gideon’s three hundred men blew ram’s horns to launch a surprise attack on their Midianite oppressors. In a more peaceful vein, a shofar was traditionally sounded every fifty years, at the end of Yom Kippur, to proclaim the economic reset of the Jubilee year, when all slaves went free.

Horn blasts played an important part in ancient battles, serving as signals, warnings, or means of psychological warfare. The biblical Gideon, for example, blew horns to startle his Midianite foe at the outset of his surprise attack.Nicolas Poussin, Battle of Gideon against the Midianites, oil on canvas, 1625

Horn blasts played an important part in ancient battles, serving as signals, warnings, or means of psychological warfare. The biblical Gideon, for example, blew horns to startle his Midianite foe at the outset of his surprise attack.

The shofar was also used in ancient times to announce the onset of the Sabbath. The Talmud (Sukka 53b and Shabbat 35b) describes a series of six shofar blasts blown shortly before Shabbat, alerting people to stop working, prepare food for this holy day, and light candles. One of the more fascinating finds originating on the Temple Mount is a stone from the southwest corner of the Temple platform (then one of the highest points in Jerusalem), engraved: “for the place of trumpeting.” Close to both the Upper City (today’s Jewish Quarter) and the Lower, this spot would have been an ideal place to proclaim the start of the Sabbath – and the daily Temple service.

The Shulhan Arukh (Orah Haim 256), the 16th-century codex compiled in Safed by Rabbi Joseph Karo, reports that this pre-Sabbath tradition no longer existed in its author’s day, although he had heard of it. In Kraków, Karo’s colleague Rabbi Moses Isserles recommended the practice accepted in his community, which had replaced the pre-Sabbath shofar blasts with a town crier. One of the few vestiges of this custom is the sounding of the air-raid siren in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities a few minutes before candle lighting.

“[Belonging] to the place of trumpeting.” This stone, discovered in the southwest corner of the Temple Mount and now on display in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, corroborates the mishnaic description of a specific point on the mount from which shofars or trumpets soundedPhoto courtesy of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

“[Belonging] to the place of trumpeting.” This stone, discovered in the southwest corner of the Temple Mount and now on display in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, corroborates the mishnaic description of a specific point on the mount from which shofars or trumpets sounded

Continuing Tradition

We recently visited the Tunisian island of Djerba, possibly the last place in the world where the original practice continues. An anomaly in the modern world, Djerba is a flourishing and even growing traditional Jewish community in a Muslim country. Every Friday, one of its members circulates among the one- and two-story homes in the Hara Kabira neighborhood (Hara is a Berber word of Greek origin meaning “segregated place”) where most Jews live, encouraging shopkeepers to lock up before Shabbat. Much the same thing happened in Jerusalem circa 1900, except that in Djerba they also blow the shofar. The Rosh Hashana sequence of ten shofar blasts (various combinations of tekia, terua, and shevarim notes) is sounded twice – once about ten minutes before candle lighting, to remind people to halt all business, and once when the candles are to be lit. According to the locals, the practice was suspended in other communities for fear of the non-Jews. Living as they do in an essentially all-Jewish district, Djerba’s Jews have no such concerns.

Community rabbi Chaim Biton has been the shofar blower for almost fifty years, having inherited the role from a cousin while still in his teens. We arrived at his house well before candle lighting, determined to record the custom for posterity. One of us took up a listening position in the “town square,” while the other accompanied Biton up to the roof, one of the highest points in town. After frequent glances at his watch, he blew the first series. Looking quite winded, he slowly paced the roof for the next ten minutes, then repeated the sequence. Everyone in Djerba has watches and cell phones, so the Jews all know exactly what the time is, yet they savor this sweet anachronism.

An ancient custom continues on the rooftops of Djerba. Rabbi Chaim Biton with his shofarPhoto: Ari Zivotofsky

An ancient custom continues on the rooftops of Djerba. Rabbi Chaim Biton with his shofar

Hanging by a Thread

Most people associate the shofar with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. Even Jews who rarely if ever come to synagogue make an effort to hear the shofar on the High Holy Days. But what happens when Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbat?

The Mishna in tractate Rosh Hashana (4:1–2) discusses whether blowing the shofar desecrates the Sabbath. The rabbis conclude that the shofar should not be blown that day, lest it be carried in public, transgressing a biblical prohibition. In the confines of the Temple, however, the shofar was sounded even on the Sabbath, since a highly regarded rabbinic court was always present to prevent such offenses.

After the Second Temple’s destruction, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai announced that the seat of the highest religious court of the land – the seventy-member Sanhedrin – would now replace the Temple as a “safe zone” for Sabbath observance. He therefore permitted the shofar to be blown on Shabbat in Yavneh, the Sanhedrin’s new abode.

Early medieval commentators discussed whether such leniency could be extended to any city with a religious court numbering at least twenty-three. Could a regular rabbinic court of three sages count as well? In Fez, the renowned Rabbi Isaac Alfasi (1013–1103) said yes. As a result, the Moroccan Jews of his day evidently blew the shofar even when Rosh Hashana coincided with Shabbat.

Likewise, fragments of early medieval liturgical poetry from the Cairo Geniza depict the blowing of the shofar in such a case:

O King who warned the court / to blow in the courthouse / when the New Year falls on the Sabbath,
O King who strengthened them with the teaching / that the shofar should be tied to a post / when the New Year falls on the Sabbath,
O King who made it clear to the congregation / not to blow unless the protocol-makers were present / when the New Year falls on the Sabbath,
O King who ordered aloud that none should hold [the shofar] in his hand / but should close his lips upon it where it was bound / when the New Year falls on the Sabbath

The changes described here – tying the shofar to a pole and blowing it without touching it – were to underscore the unique circumstances of Rosh Hashana on Shabbat, so the shofar could be blown without worrying how it got to the synagogue.

We found further evidence of this practice in the basement repository of the Sephardic community in Sofia, Bulgaria. Three very old, black horns had been placed there, a long thread wound around each. Might these threads have bound the shofar to a post, so it could be blown when Rosh Hashana fell on Shabbat?

Was this shofar blown on the Sabbath? A black shofar tied with a leather thong, discovered in the basement of the Sephardic synagogue in Sofia, BulgariaPhoto: Ari Greenspan

Was this shofar blown on the Sabbath? A black shofar tied with a leather thong, discovered in the basement of the Sephardic synagogue in Sofia, Bulgaria

In 1881, Rosh Hashana coincided with the Sabbath. In Jerusalem, a relatively recent arrival from Hungary, Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlesinger (see “A Man unto Himself”), decided to blow the shofar in accordance with Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai’s ruling for Yavneh. Schlesinger assembled twenty-three learned rabbis, so he would be blowing before a prestigious religious court. Rabbi Yehiel Michel Tukachinsky, then a ten-year-old, vividly remembered the hullabaloo created by Schlesinger’s plan. One by one, his twenty-three court judges disappeared, leaving him with barely a minyan. Yet Rabbi Shmuel Salant, chief rabbi of Jerusalem, refused to ban the event, though he also didn’t sanction it. Rabbi Tukachinsky writes:

In the summer of 1904, when I brought the coming year’s calendar of laws and customs in the Holy Land to the great Rabbi Eliyahu Rabinowitz Teomim [1843–1905] for approval, he sighed and said: “It’s a shame that this coming year Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbat, as I may never again fulfill the biblical command to hear the shofar.” (He was feeling unwell and indeed passed away on 3 Adar I, 5665 [1905].) Then the rabbi added: “If Rabbi Akiva Yosef [Schlesinger] were to blow the shofar this coming Rosh Hashana, I would go stand behind the wall to hear its sound.” (Rabbi Yehiel Michel Tukachinsky, Ir Ha-kodesh Ve-ha-mikdash [The Holy City and the Temple], vol. 3, p. 284 [Hebrew])

This photo, taken late Friday afternoon by the American Colony Photo Department in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea She’arim neighborhood in 1934, attests that a shofar was still used to announce the onset of the Sabbath in the holy city well into the 20th centuryLibrary of Congress collection

This photo, taken late Friday afternoon by the American Colony Photo Department in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea She’arim neighborhood in 1934, attests that a shofar was still used to announce the onset of the Sabbath in the holy city well into the 20th century

Which Horn Is Best?

To appreciate exotic shofars (or shofarot in Hebrew), one has to know a bit about the different types of animal horns. A horn is a protrusion of bone covered with a layer of keratin (the protein our hair and nails are made of). Horns are not to be confused with antlers, which are made of bone (covered with a velvety “skin” during the growth period), are shed annually, and may not be used as a shofar. A kosher shofar is made from a horn cut from a dead animal. The keratin sheath is separated from the bony inner horn. The resulting hollow shell is what actually serves as the shofar. The wide, open end of the horn was originally attached to the animal’s skull; the narrow end, which is solid, will have a cavity drilled into it to become the mouthpiece. Most shofars undergo a heat treatment allowing the solid part to be straightened for drilling. Otherwise the drill could easily hit the curved part of the horn, puncture it, and make the shofar invalid.

Since any horned animal is kosher, any animal horn may be used for a shofar – except a cow’s. So the antelope and gazelle can provide valid shofars, as can the ibex. Like a medieval trumpet, the horn of an African gemsbok produces beautiful, deep bass sounds. Acoustics notwithstanding, ram’s horns are highly preferable, since Abraham sacrificed a ram instead of his son in the biblical story of the Binding of Isaac.

Although there is little evidence as to what kind of horn was used in antiquity, ancient coins and mosaics give us a clue. The crude, tiny images appearing on coins suggest a short, curved horn such as that of a ram, but mosaic representations, being much bigger, are probably a better indication.  In 1921 a mosaic floor was uncovered just south of Tiberias, in the remains of a small synagogue dating from the third to fifth centuries CE, when the Sanhedrin convened in the city. (Known today as the Severus Synagogue, this house of worship was probably the main one in the area and may well have been frequented by the period’s foremost scholars.) The shofar that appears together with other ritual items in one of the mosaic’s main panels actually resembles a bull’s horn, which according to nearly all opinions is unacceptable as a shofar. Presumably, then, the mosaic depicts a curved ram’s horn.

Shofars figure prominently in ancient synagogue mosaics. In this fragment from Hamat Tiberias, found in 1921 and dated to the third or fourth century, two shofars appear among the four species, seven-branched menoras, and coal pans surrounding what may represent the Temple façade-

Shofars figure prominently in ancient synagogue mosaics. In this fragment from Hamat Tiberias, found in 1921 and dated to the third or fourth century, two shofars appear among the four species, seven-branched menoras, and coal pans surrounding what may represent the Temple façade

The first coins produced by Jews were authorized by the Persian Empire in Yahud – the Persian name for the province of Judea – in about the sixth century BCE. They often featured a shofar, among other symbolsPhoto courtesy of the Ne’eman Collection

The first coins produced by Jews were authorized by the Persian Empire in Yahud – the Persian name for the province of Judea – in about the sixth century BCE. They often featured a shofar, among other symbols

Discovered in Jericho in 1936, the sixth- or seventh-century Shalom al Yisrael synagogue also features a mosaic floor. Among its design elements are a holy ark, a menora, a palm branch (or lulav), and a shofar, also clearly a curved ram’s horn.

Similar evidence from synagogue mosaics in Beth She’an, Tzippori, and Ashkelon – all dating from the same period – confirm this conclusion, as does a late-fifth-century ritual bath at Kibbutz Hulda.

But the conventional ram’s horn has occasionally been exchanged for something else, and not always intentionally.

 

Ram, Goat, or Antelope?

A surprising anecdote was recounted in a letter by Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Mulhausen (died ca. 1421) and quoted in 1869 by Abraham Berliner in the Zionist daily Ha-levanon (35, 26 Elul 5629).

A colleague of Rabbi Mulhausen’s, Reb Zamlin Hakohen, visited a nearby workshop where a non-Jewish father and son made shofars used throughout Germany. There he stumbled upon the terrible secret that all these shofars were made from goat horns! Even when a Jew handed them a ram’s horn to be fashioned into a shofar, they substituted a goat horn. The reason was very simple – goats’ horns are straighter than rams’, and the mouthpiece can thus be drilled right through, with no heating or straightening. Mulhausen bemoans the shocking fact that for forty years, all the Jews of Germany had been blowing goat-horn shofars! (Several years ago, goat horns were also used in Lubavitch shofar -making demonstrations in the United States – hopefully by mistake.)

Mulhausen arranged for Reb Zamlin to teach Jews the trade, and for two years they manufactured ram’s horn shofars. These were apparently dire times, which Mulhausen attributed to the “curse of Rabbi Isaac” (Rosh Hashana 16b), according to which tragedy strikes whenever the shofar is not blown – or blown improperly. Mulhausen attempted to put things right by publicly cursing anyone making or using a shofar produced from anything other than a ram’s horn. This curse applied whenever a ram’s horn was available, even if it was smaller or produced a poorer sound than other kosher horns.

Mulhausen had other complaints. He pronounced all the Torah scrolls of his generation defective, contending that the scribes didn’t know how to spell or space the text. It’s hard to believe that among Jews as organized as the Germans, both the shofars and the Torah scrolls were invalid, so Mulhausen’s quibbles should probably be taken with a grain of salt. But the use of goats’ horns instead of rams’ has certainly not been limited to his time.

Sound of the Kudu

The best-known example of the sounding of a non-ram’s-horn shofar is also the most puzzling. Yemenite Jewry generally follows the rulings of Maimonides, who clearly states in his Mishneh Torah (Laws of the Shofar 1:1) that the commandment of blowing the shofar requires a ram’s horn. Yet the “Yemenite shofar” is made from the long, twisted horns of the greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), a kind of antelope.

Rabbi Jacob Sapir of Jerusalem recounted in his book Even Sapir (1990, p. 165) how he spent Rosh Hashana 5620 (1859) in the Yemenite town of Mocha, and mentioned his difficulty blowing the local shofar. He described it as the meter-long, twisted horn of an ibex, which produced a loud, frightening blast. Ibex horns are curved, however, not twisted, so he probably meant the horn of the kudu.

Although the late Rabbi Joseph Kapah (1917–2000, Yemen and Jerusalem) asserted that most Yemenite Jews did use rams’ horns, he admitted that the kudu horn was also blown, particularly in the city of Sana’a. When challenged, those using the kudu shofar claimed an ancient tradition among Yemenite Jews, in accordance with the basic law that all horns may serve as shofars, as long as they don’t come from a cow.

A Yemenite shofar made from a kudu hornPhoto: Olve Utne

A Yemenite shofar made from a kudu horn

When is a horn not a shofar?

Whether it’s used exclusively in the period leading up to Rosh Hashana or for other purposes as well, whether it’s blown to mark the Sabbath or in spite of it, and whether it sounds the deep notes of the kudu or antelope or the higher, nasal pitch of the ram’s horn, the shofar continues to reverberate in the Jewish consciousness. There’s a growing tendency to embrace a variety of horns – some easier to blow, some harder – sounded with different degrees of virtuosity. But however and wherever it’s blown, the shofar echoes the Jewish people’s long and varied wanderings.

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By: ארי זיבוטובסקי וארי גרינספן

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