Jews around the world will once again hear the sound of the shofar as Rosh Hashanah is celebrated this week. The shofar is typically made of a ram’s horn, but in Yemenite tradition the horn of a kudu is used. The shofar ceremony comprises two blessings followed by a series of blasts consisting of three different notes: tekiah–one long blast, shevarim–three broken sounds, and teruah–nine staccato notes. The total number of blasts is traditionally 100 for Ashkenazic Jews and 101 for Sephardim, with Yemenite Jews sounding 41 blasts. The shofar has also made appearances in popular movies, songs, and television programs, including which of the following?
10thStreetShofar (retouched) by Jonathunder is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
A. The 1983 movie Return of the Jedi and the 1979 film Alien.
B. Judith Shatin’s 1996 composition Elijah’s Chariot which was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, and the 2013 album Shofar Rags by electronic musician Alvin Curran.
C. Steve “Gangsta Rabbi” Lieberman’s 2005 recording of Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport and punk band Yidcore’s 2007 song They Tried to Kill Us. They Failed. Let’s Eat!
D. Madonna’s 2005 song Isaac which featured a shofar blown by Yemenite singer Yitzhak Sinwani, and a commercial for the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards featuring rapper Macklemore blowing the shofar.
E. The 1963 movie Come Blow Your Horn and Carol King’s 1971 hit song Shofar Away.