Ba’alei Tekiah: Shofar Blowers at Bet Shalom
Bet Shalom has a unique tradition: at the end of N’ilah, the final service on Yom Kippur, several people blow their shofars in sequence from around the congregation to the center. It is an auditory exclamation mark to the holiest day of the year. Meet the four current congregants who participate in this mitzvah, our ba’alei tekiah, Michael Serber, Dan Feder, Joel Feder and me, Eric Bressler.
When did you start blowing the shofar and why? How did you learn?
Michael: I was in about 9th grade when I started blowing the shofar. I was a trumpet player in school (I still play the trumpet), so blowing the shofar seemed like a natural fit for me. I started blowing for youth services at Beth El Synagogue and eventually became the primary shofar blower for the adult services. I've been very honored to blow shofar at Bet Shalom for over 25 years.
Dan: My father, Paul Feder, traveled to Israel frequently in the early 1960s as an early investor in the Sheraton in Tel Aviv. He brought back shofars and we would have our pick. He blew the shofar in the synagogue, so my brothers and my sister knew how to blow it. I began to blow the shofar at the age of about 6 because my brother wouldn’t let me listen to his transistor radio unless I blew the shofar. I picked it up, tooted out a few notes, and then I was allowed to listen to my brother’s transistor radio. After I was about 13 years old I blew shofar at services in Fargo, ND, then did the same in college at a synagogue in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Joel: I grew up in a family of shofar blowers; it’s just part of our family’s Jewish identity. I have childhood memories of my dad blowing a long shofar at services every year for Bet Shalom’s High Holy Days. It is, as we all say, tradition, and I wanted to be like my dad. In the bottom drawer of his night stand he kept, and probably still has, two small shofars in a blue bag. From as young as I can remember each year I would take those out, and my sister and I would try to make noises from them. Eventually I succeeded. Since then I’ve been blowing the shofar.
Eric: I bought my first shofar as a souvenir in a shop on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem in 1991. I was going for the pretty look of this kudu horn, not playing quality as I didn’t know how to make sounds with it yet. Around 2009 it occurred to me to learn to blow it and participate in the ceremony at the end of N’ilah as a ba’al tekiah (בעל תקיעה). I got some rudimentary instruction and practiced until I could blow it confidently.
Tell us about the shofar you use in services. When did you get it, how did you choose it, what’s its story?
Michael: For my 30th birthday I made a trip to New York for the first time to see the sights and visit relatives. One of my missions was to find a shofar that sounded good and was easier to blow than what I had been using. I like the shrill, piercing sound of a smaller shofar rather than the long ones that are currently more in style, so that's what I was looking to find. I went to the Lower East Side, where I was amazed at the number of small shops offering Judaica, books and shofars. Most of the shops had their wares strewn about and shofars of all sizes and shapes piled unceremoniously in cardboard boxes. The shopkeepers insisted I wear a kippah while trying out the shofars. I must have visited about a dozen shops and tried out almost 100 shofars before finding the "perfect" one that had the sound I was seeking and a large mouthpiece that made it easy to blow. That's the shofar I'm still using, over 35 years later.
Dan: The Shofar I use the most often is one that I picked up when I went to a shofar factory in Israel in 2003. My wife Hillary and I were part of a Harry Kay leadership group trip. I had been trying shofars all over Israel for people on my list, my brother, my son, Robert Kramer and others on the Harry Kay trip. A storekeeper in Safed had some that weren’t very good, and he realized that I was looking for quality shofars. I was picky on tone and if it was easy to play. I bought a piece of artwork from him, so he was more than happy to hook me up with his source. It was like striking gold! On the last night of our trip, we were in Tel Aviv and were able to duck out. We took a taxi into a seedy industrial neighborhood where I met the owner of Shofarot Israel. I ended up purchasing almost a dozen long shofars, but I probably tried three times as many. They made it out of Israel fine. But going through customs at MSP became really interesting when I told them that they were rams horns for religious purposes [even though they are kudu horns].
Joel: My mom and dad went on a trip to Israel at one point, and my father made a point of visiting a shofar factory. I heard he spent hours standing there testing and playing each and every shofar he could get his hands on until he found the one he thought sounded best. He brought that shofar back from Israel and gifted it to me. It’s the shofar I’ve sounded at Bet Shalom’s high holidays both at services my father’s attended and at services where we blew alongside each other.
Eric: Eventually I realized that my first shofar did not blow easily. I tried carving out the mouthpiece a bit with little success. So on another Israel trip in 2015 I shopped for a better horn. In Jerusalem’s Machane Yehudah market I asked the shop keeper for a high quality shofar for use in services. I had measured my suitcase, so I knew the maximum length I could buy! He let me try several, and I selected the kudu horn I use now which is much easier to blow than my first one and has a bigger, lower sound.
What does it mean to you to participate religiously by blowing the shofar?
Michael: The High Holy Days have always been my favorite time of the Jewish year because of the opportunity for reflection and introspection. For me, blowing the shofar and hearing the shofar blown serves as kind of a wake-up call for me to reflect on the past year and to resolve to improve myself during the coming year.
Dan: After I moved to Minneapolis and joined Bet Shalom, I’ve blown the shofar at Bet Shalom’s High Holy Days every year but three since about 1983. It’s important to me because it’s tradition. When I blow the shofar I can hear my father and my brother, which connects me to my family. It also connects me to the synagogue.
Joel: Growing up seeing my dad blow shofar, and now having the honor of doing it myself, sometimes even alongside him, is priceless. My children now get to witness this and remember it as part of their Jewish identity. Tradition is the fabric of our religion, and sounding the shofar is about as important as it gets when it comes to certain points in the Jewish calendar. It’s an honor to participate and to be asked. It’s even more special to have the ability to do it alongside the man who taught me.
Eric: Participating in services as an instrumental musician is one of my ways of praying to God and feeling the divine presence, especially in my most inspired moments. Blowing the shofar as part of this team of ba’alei tekiah connects me to God as if we are praying responsively. It’s a deeply holy way to end Yom Kippur.