442 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



the incident. It is possible that it was sought to establish a basis for 

 the sacredness of the Ram's horn from the fact that it was a ram or 

 Uiyil which was caught in the thickets by its horns and which served 

 as an offering instead of Isaac. In Talmud Bosh hashana we read 

 "Ye shall blow before me with a shofar of a ram, in order that ye may 

 be reminded of the sacrifice of Isaac, the son of Abraham." 



The hymn referred to above contains the acrostic Abbas, Judah, 

 Samuel : i. e., Judah ben Samuel ibn Abbas, a poet of the twelfth cen- 

 tury, who traveled from Spain to the Orient, and afterward became 

 Eabbi of Fez.* 



MISHNIC REGULATIONS. 



The Mishna permitted the use of any horn. In Bosh hashana in, 

 3, we read: " Every kind of horn may be used because it is a qeren." 

 Eabbi Jose remarked, are not all shofars called qeren (horn) 1 ? (Joshua 

 vi, 6.) 



The shofar of New Year's day was usually the straight horn of a 

 yaal, a kind of antelope or wild goat (chamois), the mouthpiece of 

 which was covered with gold; while the shofar of fast days was a ram's 

 horn whose mouthpiece was covered with silver. 



The statute is found in Mishnah Rosh hashana in, 3: "The 

 shofar of the New Year was the straight horn, of a yaal, the mouth- 

 piece of which was covered with gold, and two trumpets were placed 

 on either side. The sound of the shofar was prolonged and that of the 

 trumpets made short, because the command of the day is for the shofar; 

 (IV) and on fast days crooked rain's horns were used, whose mouth- 

 pieces were covered with silver and two trumpets were stationed be- 

 tween them. The sound of the shofar was made short and that of the 

 trumpets prolonged, because the command of the day is with reference 

 to the trumpets (v). The year of the jubilee is like the New Year with 

 respect to the sounding and the blessings. Rabbi Jehudah, on the con- 

 trary, says: "On New Year they sound with the horns of rams, and at 

 the Jubilee with chamois/' 



The instrument used in the modern synagogehas no adornments. It 

 probably represents a more ancient form than the instrument described 

 in the Mishna. 



A shofar, which had been broken and joined together could not be 

 employed, though its use was admissible, if it contained a hole which 

 had been closed so as not to interfere with the sound. t 



In the modern synagogue the shofar is not sounded on New Year's 

 day when it occurs on the Sabbath. This seems to have been the 



* Karpeles, Geschiehte der Judischen Literatur, p. 496. 



t "It is unlawful to use a shofar which had been rent and afterwards joined to- 

 gether; also one composed of several pieces joiued together. If a shofar had a hole 

 which had been closed, if it hinders the proper sound, it may not be used; but if it 

 does not affect the proper sound it may be used." — Mishna Jionh hashana, ill, 6. 



