What Is a Shofar? The Ram's Horn, Its Sounds and Its Meaning
The shofar is a horn, usually from a ram, blown on Rosh Hashanah and at the close of Yom Kippur. It is the oldest instrument still in continuous ritual use in Judaism, and it is deliberately not a musical instrument. It has no mouthpiece, no keys and no fixed pitch.
What the Shofar Is Made From
Any horn from a kosher animal may be used, except the horn of a cow or ox. The exclusion is traditionally explained by the golden calf: the instrument of atonement should not recall the sin.
- Ram's horn is the most common and the most traditional, curved and relatively short.
- Yemenite shofar comes from the kudu antelope, long and dramatically spiralled, common in Sephardi and Yemenite communities.
- Ibex and goat horns are also used.
The horn is hollowed, cleaned and shaped, and a narrow opening is made at the tip. Nothing is added. A shofar with a fitted mouthpiece is not valid.
The Four Sounds
| Name | Sound |
|---|---|
| Tekiah | One long, unbroken blast |
| Shevarim | Three medium blasts, like sighing |
| Teruah | Nine short staccato blasts, like sobbing |
| Tekiah Gedolah | One very long blast, held as long as breath allows |
On Rosh Hashanah a total of one hundred blasts is sounded in most communities. The sequence is fixed and the person blowing, the baal tekiah, prepares for it seriously. The final tekiah gedolah at the end of Yom Kippur closes the fast.
Why It Is Blown
The Torah calls Rosh Hashanah a day of sounding the horn without explaining why. Later tradition supplied the reasons, and kept several rather than choosing one.
- A wake-up call. Maimonides described the shofar as saying: sleepers, awake from your sleep, and examine your deeds.
- The binding of Isaac. A ram was caught by its horns in a thicket and offered in Isaac's place. The ram's horn recalls that moment.
- Coronation. Rosh Hashanah marks God's kingship, and a horn is how a king is proclaimed.
- Wordless prayer. The sound is often described as what is left when language runs out.
When the Shofar Is Sounded
- Throughout the month of Elul, each weekday morning, as preparation.
- On Rosh Hashanah, both days, during and after the morning service.
- At the very end of Yom Kippur, a single long blast.
- It is not blown when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat.
Rosh Hashanah 5787 begins at sundown on 11 September 2026, with Yom Kippur on 20 September. Full dates are in our Jewish holidays guide for 2026 and 2027.
The Shofar Beyond the Synagogue
The shofar appears in the Bible at the walls of Jericho, at Sinai, and as the signal of war and of the jubilee year. In 1967 it was sounded at the Western Wall after the Old City of Jerusalem was taken, and the photograph of that moment became one of the defining images of modern Israel.
It is also blown at the inauguration of Israeli presidents, which is an unusual case of a ritual instrument holding a place in the civic life of a modern state.
Common Questions
Is the shofar hard to blow?
Yes. It works like a brass instrument, sounded by vibrating the lips against the opening rather than by blowing into it. Most people produce nothing at all on a first attempt.
Can anyone blow the shofar?
In principle yes. In practice a congregation appoints someone who can do it reliably, since a hundred blasts under pressure is not a small task.
What is the difference between a shofar and a trumpet?
A trumpet is manufactured and tuned. A shofar is a hollowed horn with no mechanism, producing only the notes its own shape allows. The Temple also used silver trumpets, chatzotzrot, which were a separate instrument.
Why is the tekiah gedolah held so long?
Custom rather than law. At the end of Yom Kippur it marks the close of the fast, and the length has become a small point of pride for whoever is blowing.
From the MoT Shop
We do not sell shofarot. We print Jewish and pro-Israel designs onto apparel, made to order and shipped worldwide. Browse our Rosh Hashanah apparel, our Star of David and Jewish symbols collection, or read about the menorah and the chanukiah.
