From Rabbi Craig Mayers
August & September 2018
Shalom Chaverim! About 7 years ago I took part in a Boy Scout leader training course called “Wood Badge.” On one of the days of this training, conducted mostly outdoors, the participants were engaging in different skill trainings, and at the end of each one a long tone was sounded on a kudu* horn to signify it was time to move to the next station. To most people, it was just an interesting way to summon or gather the people, but for me – well, all I could think of when I heard the sound was “T’kiah!”
As it turned out, the Scout leader who was blowing the kudu horn was a “member of the tribe,” and we had some good laughs about it. And yes, he is the Shofar blower at his synagogue when he’s not summoning Scouters with a kudu horn at outdoor training events. I just knew he must be a shofar blower from the way he sounded that horn, and I was right!
My takeaways from this experience were several. First, that the sound of a shofar call evokes very particular feelings in us Jews. There are highly specific emotions that accompany hearing the Shofar, and they didn’t match up to the time and place I was hearing the sound. It was March, and I wasn’t in shul, I was in the woods. Maybe this was part of what made my hearing it so jarring. Thoughts like “It’s not the right time of year!;” “Why am I hearing a Shofar outside at a Scout camp?” went through my head. It was out of place and season, so no wonder I was so surprised at the first hearing of it. Nevertheless, the first reaction I had to the sound was a visceral one, experiencing the emotions of being in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah.
Another thought is that even though this was a secular activity, the kudu horn was being used for a similar purpose as our Shofar. The founder of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, took lessons from his time serving the British military in Africa. He noted that kudu horns were used by African warriors on the battlefield as signaling tools. He incorporated this tradition into his program. Was he aware that many centuries before, Jews had used the Shofar to call the people to action? Perhaps, perhaps not. But either way, here was another example of the Shofar being used to get everyone’s attention, and spur activity.
The main mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah is to hear the Shofar. This year, may we all experience the stirring of emotions that the call of the Shofar evokes, and heed the call to action. That call to do something, to make wrong things right; to improve that which is in our power to improve. May we be inspired by that sound to better ourselves, our communities and the whole world in this New Year. On behalf of myself, Terry and my entire family, I wish you Shanah Tovah, G’mar Chatima Tovah, and Happy New Year!
Rabbi Craig Mayers
* In case you were wondering, a kudu is in fact a kosher animal, and our Yemenite brethren are well-known for using kudu Shofars.
Shalom Chaverim! About 7 years ago I took part in a Boy Scout leader training course called “Wood Badge.” On one of the days of this training, conducted mostly outdoors, the participants were engaging in different skill trainings, and at the end of each one a long tone was sounded on a kudu* horn to signify it was time to move to the next station. To most people, it was just an interesting way to summon or gather the people, but for me – well, all I could think of when I heard the sound was “T’kiah!”
As it turned out, the Scout leader who was blowing the kudu horn was a “member of the tribe,” and we had some good laughs about it. And yes, he is the Shofar blower at his synagogue when he’s not summoning Scouters with a kudu horn at outdoor training events. I just knew he must be a shofar blower from the way he sounded that horn, and I was right!
My takeaways from this experience were several. First, that the sound of a shofar call evokes very particular feelings in us Jews. There are highly specific emotions that accompany hearing the Shofar, and they didn’t match up to the time and place I was hearing the sound. It was March, and I wasn’t in shul, I was in the woods. Maybe this was part of what made my hearing it so jarring. Thoughts like “It’s not the right time of year!;” “Why am I hearing a Shofar outside at a Scout camp?” went through my head. It was out of place and season, so no wonder I was so surprised at the first hearing of it. Nevertheless, the first reaction I had to the sound was a visceral one, experiencing the emotions of being in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah.
Another thought is that even though this was a secular activity, the kudu horn was being used for a similar purpose as our Shofar. The founder of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, took lessons from his time serving the British military in Africa. He noted that kudu horns were used by African warriors on the battlefield as signaling tools. He incorporated this tradition into his program. Was he aware that many centuries before, Jews had used the Shofar to call the people to action? Perhaps, perhaps not. But either way, here was another example of the Shofar being used to get everyone’s attention, and spur activity.
The main mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah is to hear the Shofar. This year, may we all experience the stirring of emotions that the call of the Shofar evokes, and heed the call to action. That call to do something, to make wrong things right; to improve that which is in our power to improve. May we be inspired by that sound to better ourselves, our communities and the whole world in this New Year. On behalf of myself, Terry and my entire family, I wish you Shanah Tovah, G’mar Chatima Tovah, and Happy New Year!
Rabbi Craig Mayers
* In case you were wondering, a kudu is in fact a kosher animal, and our Yemenite brethren are well-known for using kudu Shofars.
