Whether they are Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist or Reform, whether they gather on a California beach or in a New York City synagogue, Jews share at least one common element at their Rosh ...

Of all the commandments in the Torah, the blowing of the shofar on the Jewish New Year is one of the most important. The ancient sound — signaling the beginning of the days of repentance — is heard on ...

Growing up in White Meadow Lake during the 1960's, Eric Freedman had an unspectacular career at Hebrew school. He recalls daydreaming about basketball during classes and making the occasional ...

This weekend marks the culmination of the Days of Awe, a time of intense soul-searching that began with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Jewish communities gather to listen to the trumpet-like ...

This coming Monday, Oct. 3, at sundown with great solemnity, the curved horn of the shofar will be lifted once again to sound the distinctive wailing notes – Tekiah – Shevarim – Teruah – Tekiah – in ...

Merrick Fagan is a bass player and bartender, not a rabbi, but during the High Holy Days, he is entrusted with a sacred, God-ordained task. At Rosh Hashanah morning services, he blows a hollowed-out ...

The shofar blasts and then pierces. It goes inside, cleanses. There is but one mitzvah - a commandment of Jewish law - for the Jewish New Year: Hear the sound of the shofar. Rosh Hashanah was in ...

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and the opening of its High Holidays, heralds a time for reflection and renewal. But it ushers the season in with the most jolting introduction it can get: The ...

Hearing the shofar [ram’s horn] sounded on Rosh Hashana is the quintessential New Year ritual. People come to synagogue on the New Year to hear a shofar master sound the alert sequence just as it was ...

Mark Lipof blows a shofar during the lead-up to Yom Kippur at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Mass., in 2010. Michael Fein/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images It’s the Jewish High ...