Jewish High Holy Days - Year 5760

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On September 6, 1999, the St. Louis Post-Dispatchpublished an article about a teenage girl, Sarah Reiter of Olivette,Missouri, who blows the shofar to begin Rosh Hashanah at TempleIsrael in Creve Coeur, MO. The shofar is a Jewish ceremonialinstrument fashioned from the horn of an animal, usually a ram, butsometimes a sheep, goat, mountain goat, antelope, or gazelle. AtOrthodox and Conservative synagogues, the job of blowing the shofaris given to an honored male, but the Reform synagogue of TempleIsrael has a tradition of involving young people to blow the shofar.Rabbi Mark Shook, senior rabbi of Temple Israel, stated that lettingyoung people blow the shofar is "...a way of connecting; it createsgood vibes in the congregation."