Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

6 Shofar Shockers: You Won’t Believe Number 5!

Image by thinkstock

It’s almost Rosh Hashanah, and we’re rounding up all the wacky, quirky, delicious (yes, delicious) things you might not know about shofars.

1. They might break your bank.

This one goes for $1,678. Pricey, but definitely easy on the eyes. It’s got some intricate, colorful designs of candlesticks, challah, the moon and animals.

Image by Amazon

2. You can make them out of chocolate.

Nom, nom.

Image by etsy

3. They’re commonly called ram horns, but they’re not all made out of rams.

Shofar makers use horns from several species of antelope; they especially favor the Kudu antelope.

Image by Wikipedia

4. You can play more than one at a time.

Image by Naomi Zeveloff

Beverage executive Robert Weinger was so moved the first time that he blew on a shofar, he moved to Israel, settled in the West Bank, and now peddles and plays the horn full-time.

5. They’re not just a Jewish thing.

Shofars are hugely popular among Christian evangelicals.

Image by The Shofar Man

6. They’re an actual musical instrument. The Queen of Pop is a fan of the sound.

Madonna included a shofar in her song “Isaac.”

Thea Glassman is a Multimedia Fellow at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @theakglassman.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.