Blowing Shofar

Yesterday my son and I went to visit my mother-in-law. It was a relatively short visit as we did not get a chance to head over there until later in the day. My wife had made some comment to her mom the day before about me blowing shofar at services.

The shofar is a ram’s horn that is blown on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Yom Kippur to signify the end of the fast). At my congregation, on Yom Kippur, they urge all congregants who have a shofar, to bring it to services and to blow it at the appropriate time. There are often 50 people or more blowing the shofar.

My wife and I picked one up a few years ago. As a former trombone player, I can get some sounds out of the shofar (since the mouth positions are similar). My wife tried getting a sound out of the shofar with no luck. Then she handed it to me and was amazed that I was able to get a sound. She mentioned this to her mother.

My mother-in-law was impressed and since she had not heard the shofar blow at all over this holiday season (since she is in rehab), she asked if I could bring it when we came to visit and blow the shofar for her. I was happy to oblige.

I mentioned in earlier posts that I had hoped to do some cooking of holiday foods for her to help create a holiday atmosphere. I never got to do that. I sort of felt that by doing this, I helped create a holiday mood for my mother-in-law and that it helped.

The visit was relatively short, although we did end up staying close to an hour. It was a pleasant visit and one that I hoped filled all of my mother-in-law’s expectations. At least for the little time we were there, it seemed to make a difference.