Today's New York Times article about Rabbi Levi Meisner, master of the shofar and teacher to aspiring shofar blowers of the world, inspired us to seek out shofar experts recorded in our Brooklyn Daily Eagle files. The shofar, a horn trumpet blown to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, has been seen and heard more than once on the library's plaza. And we have, it turns out, an embarras de richesse of shofar photographs; in fact if proof were ever needed that the art of blowing the shofar has deep roots in Brooklyn, it is right here in the Eagle files. Here is a small selection of them.
THE 5,706TH YEAR BEGINS--As the sun set yesterday Jews throughout the world began to celebrate the two-day holiday of Rosh ha-Shanah, the New Year. It will be the 5,706th year of Jewish history. At the Brooklyn Hebrew Home and Hospital for the Aged, 813 Howard Ave., five worshippers pose with the Shofar, the traditional ram's horn which symbolizes the start of the holy season. Left to right are Selig Zaretsky, Aaron Lederman, Moshe Korn, Harry Rubin and Charles Cohen. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sept 8, 1945
I am glad to see the admission that the gentlemen above are "posing" with the shofar, because I am not at all sure that any of the embouchures pictured here could actually generate a sound. We will have to give Rabbi Feuerman, visiting the Air Force Base in Texas, the benefit of the doubt as his mouth is obscured by the shofar itself. Perhaps not the photographer's finest hour, that one.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Shown ushering in Jewish New Year 5713 at sunset last night is Charles Finkelstein, 89, of Warschauer Haym Solomon Home for the Aged, which is erecting a new building at Bay 34th St and Cropsey Ave. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sept 20, 1952
1952-5713--Traditional high holiday services ushered in the New Year at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital. Shown, left to right, in the hospital's Kalmon Solomon Chapel are nurse Floretta Appel and Samuel Katz, a patient in wheel chair; Charles Wolf, another patient; Rabbi Harry Bronstein, chanting the services, and Rabbi Leon Essex, blowing the shofar, a ram's horn. Brooklyn Daily Eagle Sept 20, 1952.
USHERING IN A NEW YEAR--Chaplain Howard H. Feuerman of the Mesivta Chaim Berlin Rabbinical Academy, 350 Stone Ave., blows the shofar to signal the start of Jewish New Year 5714 during services at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Chaplain Harry Silverstein also officiated at sundown services yesterday. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sept 10, 1953
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
Post a Comment
While BPL encourages an open forum, posts and comments are moderated by library staff. BPL reserves the right, within its sole discretion, not to post and to remove submissions or comments that are unlawful or violate this policy. While comments will not be edited by BPL personnel, a comment may be deleted if it violates our comment policy.
eNews Signup
Get the latest updates from BPL and be the first to know about new programs, author talks, exciting events and opportunities to support your local library.