Volume One –
The Call of the High Holy Days
Volume Two –
For the Shofar Blower
Volume Three
– The People of the Ram
www.HearingShofar.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Front Material
Title Page
Table of Contents
About the Author
Endorsements
Notices
Acknowledgements
Forward – by Rabbi
Dr. Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi
Book 1 – The Call of the High Holy
Days
Book One explores shofar in relation to Rosh Hashanah, Yom
Kippur, and Elul – the month of spiritual preparation before the High
Holy Days.
Prelude
PART ONE – The Call of
Shofar
1-1 An Awakening: A
personal account of how shofar awakens spirituality.
1-2 Five Translation
Challenges: Biblical and rabbinic basis for shofar.
PART TWO – The Shofar of Elul
1-3 My Shofar is My
Beloved’s: Teshuvah and preparation for the Days of Awe.
1-4 Meditations for each Day
of Elul: Warm-up exercises for the spirit.
PART THREE – The Shofar of Rosh Hashanah
1-5 Blast, Break, Shatter,
Blast: The blessings, the calls, and the code.
1-6 The Ram’s Midrash: What the Akedah teaches about listening
to shofar.
1-7 The Ewe’s Horn: Shofar
speaks in both masculine and feminine voices.
1-8 Our Father, Our King: Stories
about kings, children and shofarot.
1-9 Remembering Shofar: To
blow, or not to blow, that is the Shabbat question.
PART FOUR – The Shofar of Yom Kippur
1-10 The Dinner
Bell and One Last Blast: An encore and a separation.
1-11 Azazel and
the Goat that is Set Free: Two goats and two paths.
1-12 The Jubilee
and the Prophet’s Words: The call for justice.
1-13 From the
Belly of a Wail: Jonah revisited.
Epilogue – Elul Story
Book 2 – For the Shofar Blower
Book Two provides guidance to
individuals who want to blow shofar for religious and creative rituals. It is
the horn’s essential owner’s manual.
Introduction
2-1 Why Shofar: Overview
of shofar and the High Holy Days
2-2
Kavanah for Sounding
Shofar: Whatever moves you.
2-3
Buying, Making, and Caring for a Shofar: A horn of one’s
own.
2-4
Hearing Shofar: The reason for blowing.
2-5
Preliminary Exercises: First, make funny sounds.
2-6
Getting Sound from a Shofar: Giving lip service to the
horn.
2-7
Sounding the Four Blasts: Uniting heaven and earth.
2-8
Tips for Common Problems: I’m sure you won’t need this, but…
2-9
Staging Shofar: Tooting al
tutti or alone.
2-10
Blowing Shofar for the Sick and Confined: A double mitzvah.
2-11
Secrets of an Awesome Tekiah Gedolah: How to get to Carnegie Hall.
Appendix: Quick Reference
Sheet
Book 3 – The People of the Ram
Book Three delves into the legacy of shofar as it is woven
into the history, mythology, anthropology, and culture of the Jewish people.
3-1
Shepherd Nation: Shofar is a legacy of our ancestor’s
vocation.
3-2
The Still Small Voice: Shofar as a call to silence.
3-3
Sometimes a Shofar is Just a Shofar: Psychological
perspectives.
3-4
The Shaman’s Shofar: Tikkun olam and the healing of our
souls and world.
3-5
Beyond the Days of Awe: Shofar for other holidays and
rituals.
3-6
The Ram’s Horn of Passover: A proposal for a shofar on a
seder table.
3-7
The Silent Shofar: Including the deaf in shofar.
3-8
Iconography and Iconolatry: The visual symbolism of horns
in Judaism.
3-9
More Teachings from the Ram: Grazing among the writings of
the Sages.
3-10
Shalshelet and Shofar: A
trope and the chain of tradition.
3-11
After Jericho, Shevarim: Shofar insight from The Book of Joshua.
3-12
Would a Shofar by Any Other Name Smell So Sweet?: Insights
from etymology.
3-13
Spirituality and “Spirality”: Shofar’s spiral shape as a
map for spiritual growth.
3-14
Blow it as it Grows: Can a side-blown horn be a shofar?
3-15
Shofar, So Good: Teachings too good to ignore.
Appendices:
3-16
Scriptural References to Shofar
3-17
Bibliography
About the Author
Michael T. Chusid
blows his shofar in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California where he
is ba’al tekiah – shofar master blaster – at Makom Ohr Shalom Synagogue. His paternal
grandfather, Ben Chusid, immigrated to the United States from Breslov, Ukraine
and revealed that Michael is a tenth generation descendent from Rabbi Nachman
of Breslov, a revered teacher of Jewish spirituality and great-grandson of the Ba’al
Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidic Judaism.
The Rebbe’s final teaching was on the shofar.
The author notes that this book, his first foray into spiritual teaching, is on
the same topic and prays the he be worthy of the yichus – family heritage.
Michael is a father, stepfather, and husband. He is also an
architect, a Fellow of the Construction
Specifications Institute, and a Certified Construction Specifier. His
company, Chusid Associates (www.chusid.com)
provides marketing and architectural consultations to building product
manufacturers, and he blogs at www.BuildingProductMarketing.com.
He has taught shofar at the American Jewish University and
Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, California, conducts workshops for
synagogue, community and private groups, and participates in a Shofar Corp that sounds shofar for the the sick and
confined.
Information on his classes and other information on the
shofar can be found at www.HearingShofar.com
and www.blog.HearingShofar.com.
Endorsements
“Michael Chusid is the mouthpiece of the shofar.”
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
“Chusid…has taught hundreds of people since he discovered…that
sharing the sacred horn’s joys and mysteries was his calling… Although he
emphasizes that blowing the shofar is a religious practice, not a performance,
Chusid has the skill, the control, and the soul of an artist.”
Los Angeles Times
“Chusid…the Master Blaster has a gentle, authoritative air.”
The Jewish Journal
“Michael Chusid…perceives the many dimensions
of the shofar like one perceives the many facets of a
diamond. This is the most comprehensive work on the shofar I have
ever seen and I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever been touched by
the sound of the shofar.”
Rabbi Stan Levy, President, Academy for Jewish Religion,
California
“Thank you for your beautiful work in bringing the call of
the shofar out to the world. On this day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, I send you
special blessings for your practice. May the whole world be awakened!”
Rabbi Shefa Gold, C-DEEP - Center for Devotional, Energy,
& Ecstatic Practice
“I am deeply impressed by the extensive research you have
done, revealing the obvious passion you have for your subject. You've done an
amazing job of presenting marvelous teachings and beautiful stories connected
with the sweet and mysterious experience of hearing shofar, and you offer clear
instructions on the way to brings one's heart into the sounding of the ram's
horn. It gives the reader deep insights into aspects of Judaism that are not
well known. I highly recommend this book, it opens up a whole new dimension of
reality.”
Rabbi David A Cooper, author of God is a Verb
Acknowledgements
“He who is able to
write a book and does not write it is as one who has lost a child.”
“A man should know
even in study when he has attained sufficiency. He should not attempt to study
too much lest he become confused; he cannot learn all there is to be known.”
This book would not have been possible without the
encouragement and support of my teachers. I especially recognize Reb Zalman Schacter-Shalomi who inspired the
renewal of Judaism within me as well as within an entire generation, Rabbi Debra Orenstein, spiritual leader
of Makom Ohr Shalom, who very gently led
me deeper into my studies, and Rabbi
Moshe Halfon who has wrestled with me both in Torah and in life. I am grateful, too, for the love of my
sister, Hanna Chusid, who was my first and most influential Torah study partner.
Makom Ohr Shalom
– a Los Angeles, California congregation that “celebrates the Jewish
traditions of meditation and spirituality” gave me a makom (place) where I could mature from a “green horn” to
a “master blaster.” The community also rose to the challenge of organizing a
community-wide “Shofar Corps” to blow shofar for
the ill and confined. The American Jewish
University, Bel Air, California, gave me the chance to teach shofar classes
where I could refine my understanding of shofar by getting feedback from
students. And I am blessed with many friends and associates who shared their
wisdom and enthusiasm to support this project.
Most of all, I express gratitude for Sandra Goodman, my
wife. “Who can count her worth!” Her patience and generosity of spirit made it
possible for me to spend the many evenings and weekends given over to
researching and writing this book. When I blow shofar on Rosh Hashanah, her
smile radiating out of the congregation is all the proof I ask that my shofar
blasts have been accepted upon high.
Michael T. Chusid
Selichot 5769 – 12 September 2009
Forward by Rabbi Dr. Zalman M.
Schachter-Shalomi
Dear Friends,
Shofar is an ancient
yet ever-renewing way to surf our own intra-nets; hearing its blasts can rewire
our internal programs to return to a healthier and more natural alignment with
the Divine. Our opportunity is not only to blow shofar, but also to know shofar.
I have heard Michael
Chusid blow shofar on the High Holy Days for over a decade. Each year, his
blasts become more soulful and heart felt. And his awesome tekiah gedolah, the long blast of the shofar, Oy! How his shofar blasts open the Gates of Heaven
so our cries and prayers can reach God!
Through his commitment
to shofar, his profound teachings about its spiritual meanings, and his
enthusiasm for helping others awaken and hear the voice of shofar, Michael has
earned his title as Ba’al Tekiah – Master Blaster of the shofar.
Michael’s book and
classes on shofar fill an important place in the contemporary search for
spiritual meaning. Michael respectfully transmits the traditions, laws and
legends of shofar. Then he goes beyond to explain how shofar remains an
important technology for connecting us with the Divine in this modern age. He
explores shofar through the lenses of meditation, psychology, anthropology,
acoustics, the yoga of breathing, creative ritual, and the choreography of the
High Holy Days services, to help us hear and understand shofar’s hidden code and
secret meanings.
There is a
misconception that the shofar is difficult to blow. Michael’s step-by-step
instructions, however, make it simple to awaken the voice of the shofar and he
has taught hundreds of people, from age six to eighty-six, to sound the horn.
In addition to practical tips for making and using the shofar, he keeps our
focus on kavanah, the
spiritual intention to hear shofar as a call for teshuvah, tefillah, and tzadakah
– repentance, prayer, and justice – the three paths by which we temper
the severity of the harsh decree when we stand before the Judge on the High
Holy Days.
To get the most
spiritual renewal from the Days of Awe, we must first do our homework. We are
given Elul, the Hebrew month before Rosh Hashanah, to take stock of ourselves,
make amends, and forgive others and ourselves. Michael offers a set of powerful
meditations, one for each day of Elul, that will help you hear the nuances of
the shofar’s wake-up call. May they inspire you towards repentance so the
Judgment upon you will be for good.
Perhaps, above all
this, Michael’s sharing of his personal experience of shofar serves as an
example of the very process of teshuvah – the spiritual shift – from feeling like an outsider to
tradition and spirit, to coming home to one’s self and God-intimacy. By
embracing shofar, he has rediscovered a practice that provides a clear, open
channel to the Eternal.
Michael Chusid is a
descendent of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the great Hasidic master. Like his
forefather, Michael weaves together midrash, story telling, and passion to dance to a holy
tune. Reb Nachman teaches that sincere dedication to fulfilling even one Torah mitzvah opens the gate to fulfillment of all mitzvot. By following his heart into the depth,
richness and subtleties of the mitzvah of l’smoah shofar
– hearing shofar – Michael is well on his way to exemplifying this
teaching.
May all who read,
peruse, or study these pages be equally blessed to connect with the primal
sound of shofar, and may its sound clear the way for you to find your own
unique calling and mitzvah
practice – the one that opens the gates to your own knowledge of
God-intimacy.
May we all be
inscribed into the Book of Life for a year of Blessings,
Reb Zalman
Rabbi Dr. Zalman M.
Schachter-Shalomi is Professor Emeritus and Past Holder of the World Wisdom
Chair at Naropa University (www.naropa.edu), Rabbinic Chair of ALEPH Alliance for
Jewish Renewal (www.aleph.org), and Founder of the Spiritual Eldering
Institute. Additional information about Reb Zalman can be found at The Reb
Zalman Legacy Project, (www.rzlp.org).
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