Blowing the Shofar

This portrait shows a shofar player. The shofar is a ritual wind instrument that is usually made from a ram’s horn. Among other things, it is used in the liturgy on both Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year's festival, and at the end of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. When a trumpet is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, it is usually a shofar that is meant. One example is the well-known story about the conquest of Jericho, in which the blasts of seven trumpets cause the city walls to collapse.