Curved and straight

ROSH HASHANAH EDITION 5777 SECTION D take the curved shofar for granted as the central symbol of the Days of Awe, and most prominently, of Rosh Hashanah. A debate takes place in the Talmud. Should the shape of the shofar be curved and bent, or should it be straight? Before thinking about that Talmudic question, though, why in the first place do we blow the shofar during this season, and specifically on Rosh Hashanah? Before the rabbis of the Talmud debated the shofar, the Torah references the name of the holiday of Rosh Hashanah with the sound of the shofar: “Yom T’ruah” (“Day of Sounding”) in the Book of Numbers; or “Zichron T’ruah” (“Remembrance of Sounding”) in the Book of Leviticus. As reflected in the […]