Students make shofars for Jewish New Year
By Dan Farnham
With the Jewish New Year on Sept. 15, the Chabad Jewish Student Center held a "Shofar Factory" Wednesday on the Quad in preparation for the holiday.
The Chabad Jewish Student Center is an organization that fosters Judaism for those who practice it on campus.
Dozens of students visited the table outside of the Illini Union to make their own shofar, a wind instrument made of a ram's horn. Jews traditionally blow a shofar on Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur.
The Center's director, Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, led the workshop. Tiechtel said the instrument has historical significance in the Jewish faith and that its sound represents the cry of a child. It was also used long ago to alert people of fires.
Students making their shofars first sanded the horns to smooth their surfaces. Next, they drilled a hole in the horns' tips and used another bit to widen the bore. This makes the mouthpiece wide while gradually narrowing the hole as it goes further inside. Musicians play the shofar like a brass instrument, buzzing their lips into the mouthpiece to create sound.
Tiechtel said he would normally teach people how to make a shofar in a classroom-like setting so he could review its history and significance. But the workshop was created to be more informal and used for "cultural, social and educational" purposes, instead of a strictly religious activity. This way, he hoped to attract a wider variety of people by making Judaism fun.
Sonya Kontorovich, sophomore in FAA, and Rob Jacobson, freshman in engineering, came to the workshop.
"I just transferred here (from Colorado State) so I thought it would be a good way to meet other Jewish people on campus," Kontorovich said.
Jacobson said he has seen shofars before but had never created his own.
"I was kind of interested in seeing how they are made," Jacobson said.
Although junior in LAS Tram Dang was not Jewish, she made a shofar to try something new.
"This is something I haven't seen before," Dang said.
The Chabad Jewish Student Center will host dinners, services and other events during the Jewish New Year. Those interested can find more information at www.ChabadCU.org.
