IDecorating the Shofar

Rav Moshe Taragin

 

The mishna (Rosh Ha-shana 26b) describes the unique ceremony of blowing the shofar in the Mikdash (Temple). Although the mitzva of shofar applies everywhere, it has a special relevance to the Mikdash. Based upon the verse, "With trumpets (chatzotzrot) and the voice of shofar, make noise before God the King" (Tehillim 98:6), the mishna determines that when the shofar was blown in the Mikdash on Rosh Ha-shana it was accompanied by two trumpets. In addition, the shofar used in the Mikdash was covered with gold to make the process more aesthetic. Disturbed by this scenario, the gemara considers whether a shofar may be plated with any foreign material. This shiur will examine the various concerns the gemara raises regarding these plates or coverings.The gemara (Rosh Ha-shana 27a) questions the mishna by citing a source disqualifying a shofar whose mouth is covered with gold. To solve this contradiction, the gemara (commentary and additional caselaw subsequent to the Mishnah) claims that the mishna (describing the shofar in the Mikdash) refers to a gold plate covering an area other than where the shofar-blower places his mouth. The beraita (rabinnic ruling not in the Mishna) which prohibited a gold covering referred to gold placed in the area where the mouth touches the shofar. However, the gemara provides no reason to differentiate between these two situations. To complicate matters further, an ensuing gemara (27b) cites a beraita that any gold covering the inner area of the shofar invalidates the entire shofar. If, however, the gold covers the outside area of the shofar, the shofar may still be used, as long as the gold doesn't alter the sound emitting from the shofar. This gemara seems to provide a basis for its ruling - namely, the altering effect of the gold upon the sound. Presumably, ANY gold covering the inner surface area will affect the sound and, hence, such a scenario is completely unacceptable. By contrast, gold on the outside of the shofar may not influence the sound and hence cannot be absolutely rejected. Its impact upon the sound must first be gauged, and only if such impact is determined can the shofar be invalidated.

 

 

 

There are two fundamental approaches to decorating the outside of a shofar with gold. One of the halachot deals with change of sound. The other deals with beautifying (chatzitza) the shofar as an object of mitzvah. The Ramban (aka as Nachmanides or Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça (de) Porta) libved from 1194 – 1270), a leading medieval Jewish scholar, from Girona, Catalonia, in Rosh HaShanah27b focuses solely on the issue of affecting the sound. Any inner gold will change the sound and is therefore invalid. Gold plating on the outside must be checked for this effect. In fact, musically, anything that changes the inner or outer walls of a shofar, just as in a brass instrument, will affect the tonality.Sound moves forward in a straight line when traveling through a medium having uniform density. Like light, however, sound is subject to refraction, which bends sound waves from their original path.The pressure exerted against the molecules of air in the tube causes the particles to move forward along the tube until they bump into others, setting them in motion while the first bounce back. This process creates regular pulsations producing sound waves. Throughout the sounding length of the tube, the entire wave moves at the speed of sound. The air itself moves only slowly, and the phenomenon has been compared to the starting of a freight train, in which the first burst of energy from the engine jerks the car behind, which in turn passes the impulse of the car behind it, and so on throughout the length of the train. The note produced by this basic wave form is called the fundamental. If the pressure of the generating vibration is increased sufficiently, the sound waves divide in half, producing an antinode in the exact middle. Any ornament, inside or outside, will indeed affect the density of the shofar and Accordingly affect the tone.Regarding the chatzitza (buffer) between the person's mouth and the shofar, the chatzitza cannot be seen when the Baal Tkiah blows the shofar. Therefore, the gold on the outside of the shofar losses its value as a beautifier of a mitzvah. Indeed, the miozvah is in the sound itself – not the instrument. The paramount importance of the shofar is not the instrument but the sound. See Mishnah Berurah 582.2. Arthur L. FinkleAuthor of Easy Sounding the Shofar

 

There are two fundamental approaches to decorating the outside of a shofar with gold. One of the halachot deals with change of sound. The other deals with beautifying (chatzitza) the shofar as an object of mitzvah. The Ramban (aka as Nachmanides or Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça (de) Porta) libved from 1194 – 1270), a leading medieval Jewish scholar, from Girona, Catalonia, in Rosh HaShanah27b focuses solely on the issue of affecting the sound. Any inner gold will change the sound and is therefore invalid. Gold plating on the outside must be checked for this effect. In fact, musically, anything that changes the inner or outer walls of a shofar, just as in a brass instrument, will affect the tonality.Sound moves forward in a straight line when traveling through a medium having uniform density. Like light, however, sound is subject to refraction, which bends sound waves from their original path.The pressure exerted against the molecules of air in the tube causes the particles to move forward along the tube until they bump into others, setting them in motion while the first bounce back. This process creates regular pulsations producing sound waves. Throughout the sounding length of the tube, the entire wave moves at the speed of sound. The air itself moves only slowly, and the phenomenon has been compared to the starting of a freight train, in which the first burst of energy from the engine jerks the car behind, which in turn passes the impulse of the car behind it, and so on throughout the length of the train. The note produced by this basic wave form is called the fundamental. If the pressure of the generating vibration is increased sufficiently, the sound waves divide in half, producing an antinode in the exact middle. Any ornament, inside or outside, will indeed affect the density of the shofar and Accordingly affect the tone.Regarding the chatzitza (buffer) between the person's mouth and the shofar, the chatzitza cannot be seen when the Baal Tkiah blows the shofar. Therefore, the gold on the outside of the shofar losses its value as a beautifier of a mitzvah. Indeed, the miozvah is in the sound itself – not the instrument. The paramount importance of the shofar is not the instrument but the sound. See Mishnah Berurah 582.2. Arthur L. FinkleAuthor of Easy Sounding the Shofar