The rams' horns are ready. Dozens of shofars -- the horns of kosher animals -- were cut, drilled, carved and sanded on Sunday as part of Victoria's first Jewish New Year Fair in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah, which starts tomorrow at sundown.
"The new year of the Jewish calendar traditionally is the day of the creation of Adam and Eve," explains Rabbi Meir Kaplan of Chabad of Vancouver Island. "It goes by the lunar calendar, and that's the new moon around September. In the Jewish calendar, the year is 5771."
The first day of the month is based on the first day the new cycle of the moon appears.
One of the commandments from the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, is to blow a shofar that has been used only for this purpose for more than 3,000 years, Kaplan said.
"The horn has a very special voice. It sounds almost like a cry and this is to awaken the soul, because the idea of the Jewish New Year is for people to take new resolutions and be more aware of the soul and the spiritual aspect of their life. And the blowing of the horn does exactly that."
Jews have been following the lunar calendar for 1,700 years. Twelve lunar months equals 355 days, thus requiring a leap year every two or three years to keep high holidays in the right season. Every 19 years, it matches the Gregorian calendar that has become the internationally accepted civil calendar.
Honey plays a role in Rosh Hashanah, as apples dipped in honey or bread symbolize the wish for "a good and sweet year" that people offer to one another.
"Obviously, we hope from year to year that it will grow and have more impact on the city and bring more understanding of each other and learning -- that's really the idea," Kaplan said.
There is "little similarity between Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest days of the year, and the American midnight drinking bash and daytime football game," notes the online encyclopedia Judaism 101 on the website www.jewfaq.org.
Instead, it's a time for resolutions, introspection, minding one's mistakes and planning for good behaviour in concert with a total of 100 shofar notes sounded each day. The four different types of notes range from staccato to a big blast of at least 10 seconds.
For more info, visit www.ChabadVI.org or call 250-744-2770.
