440 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



" With the sound of the trumpet the Lord will reveal the period and 

 appointed time, when He will blow the trumpet and go in the whirl- 

 winds of the south; then shall the wicked kingdom of Edom be de- 

 stroyed. God is exalted with a triumphal shout." 



"O Lord, with the sound of the trumpet wilt Thou blow upon the 

 holy mountain ; the beautiful dwelling of Zion wilt Thou expand ; Mount 

 Seir shall be rent; the fixed stake shall be plucked up and removed. 

 God is exalted with a triumphal shout." 



This is followed by a hymn composed of the various passages (to be 

 discussed later on) in the Bible, in which the use of the shofar is 

 mentioned. The sounding of the cornet thereupon follows. 



The liturgy of the German and Polish Jews contains the ten reasons 

 for sounding the shofar stated by Saadia Gaon.* 



Rabbi Saadia observes that God commanded us to sound the cornet 

 as alluding to the following subjects: 



First. Because this day is the beginning of the creation on which 

 God created the world and thus began to reign over it; and as it is 

 customary at the coronation of kings to sound the trumpets and cornets 

 to proclaim the commencement of their reign, we, in like manner, pub- 

 licly proclaim, by the sound of the cornet, that the Creator is our king, 

 and thus says David, •• With trumpets and the sound of the cornet 

 shout ye before the Lord."" 



Second. As the New Year is the first of the ten penitential days, 

 we sound the cornet as a proclamation to admonish all to return and re- 

 pent, which if they do not, they cannot plead ignorance, as having been 

 fully informed. Thus also we find earthly kings publish their decrees 

 that none may plead ignorance thereof. 



Third. To remind us of the law given on Mount Sinai, as it is said, 

 Exodus xix. Hi, "and the voice of the cornet was exceedingly loud," 

 and that we ought to bind ourselves to the performance thereof, as our 

 ancestors did, when they said, "All that the Lord has said, will we do. 

 and be obedient." 



Fourth. To remind us of the prophets who are compared to watch- 

 men blowing the trumpets as mentioned in Ezekiel xxxiii, 4, "Whoso- 

 ever heareth the sound of the cornet and taketh not warning, and the 

 sworu cometh and taketh him away, his blood shall be upon his own 

 head, but he that taketh warning shall save his life." 



Fifth. To remind us of the destruction of the Holy Temple, and the ter : 

 rifying alarm of the enemy's warriors shouting to battle as mentioned 

 in Jeremiah iv, 10, '•because thou hast heard, oh my soul, the sound of 

 the trumpet, the alarm of war," and therefore, when we hear the sound 

 of the cornet, we ought to beseech the Almighty to rebuild the Holy 

 Temple. 



"Saadia lien Joseph, 892-942, our of the great Jewish scholars of the middle a.^es. 

 He translated the Bible iuto Arabie and wrote niauy important works. 



