This is a 1971 photograph of a man blowing the shofar during the month of Elul at the Kotel (Western Wall). The man blowing the shofar has a long, white beard and is wearing a tallit, edged with a silver atarah, pulled up to cover his head. Standing next to the shofar blower is a grey-haired man with a long beard and wearing a cap and a young man in a suit and tie and a velvet kippah. In the background men from a variety of traditions, including some Hassidim, can be seen praying at the Kotel. The stones of the Kotel are visible in the background.
The shofar is blown on weekday mornings during the month of Elul and then on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Would You Like to Know More?
Shofar – The shofar is a ritual horn blown throughout the month of Elul, on Rosh Hashanah, and at the end of Yom Kippur. According to tradition, the shofar is blown in order to awaken the heart to repentance on the High Holidays. In biblical times, the shofar was blown at Mount Sinai when the Torah was given to Moses, at times of war, to announce holidays and the Jubilee year, and in ceremonies at the Temple. In modern times the shofar is blown on special occasions such as the inauguration of the president of the State of Israel and on Yom Ha’atzmaut. A shofar is made from a horn, typically a ram’s horn, but other animal horns may also be used. According to Jewish law, a shofar cannot be painted with colours but can be carved with artistic designs.
Elul – Elul is the month before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Elul begins the period of repentance and introspection that leads up to the Yamim Noraim (High Holidays) of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The month of Elul is a traditionally a time to reflect on interpersonal relationships and one’s relationship with God. Beginning on the second day of Elul and ending a day before Rosh Hashanah, the shofar is blown every weekday morning at the end of Shacharit, the morning service. Special prayers of forgiveness called Selichot are also recited during the month of Elul. One common interpretation of the name of the month is that it is an acronym of the words, Ani l’dodi v’dodi li (I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine), which is a quote from the Song of Songs (6:3) and is interpreted as describing the relationship between God and the Jewish people.
The Western Wall - The Western Wall, known colloquially as the Kotel (Hebrew for wall), has been a location for prayer for many hundreds of years. The first record of the site as a place of prayer is from the sixteenth century when Jews were given access to the location having previously prayed at the Mount of Olives as the closest site to the Temple Mount. The Kotel has been a place of worship for the Jewish people throughout history with Jewish pilgrims inscribing words on the stones from the Middle Ages until the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1517, the Turkish Ottomans seized Jerusalem from the Mamluks, who had held it since 1250. Approximately fifty years later, Jews received formal permission to pray at the site, and it seems that the Turkish authorities even built a place of prayer for the Jewish worshippers. The Turks were succeeded by the British, and during the British Mandate, restrictions were placed on prayers at the Western Wall. During the subsequent post-1948 Jordanian rule over the Old City of Jerusalem, Jews were not given access to the Kotel. From June 7, 1967, following the Israeli victory in the Six Day War, Jews were once again free to pray at the Kotel. It is perhaps more accurate to say that 1967 signified the first time that the Western Wall was under Jewish control for almost 2000 years.
