Whether they are Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist or Reform, whether they gather on a California beach or in a New York City synagogue, Jews share at least one common element at their Rosh ...

Merrick Fagan is a bass player and bartender, not a rabbi, but during the High Holy Days, he is entrusted with a sacred, God-ordained task. At Rosh Hashanah morning services, he blows a hollowed-out ...

In front of Ahavas Chesed Synagogue in west Mobile, there is a 16-foot-long sculpture of a shofar — the ram’s horn blown in Biblical times like to herald the new moon or a jubilee year, among other ...

The Torah urges us to return to God. One prominent term describes God’s hope that we, the Jewish People, will “lishmo’a b’kolo” (hearken to His voice; Deuteronomy 30:20). The word kol (voice) ...

Mark Lipof blows a shofar during the lead-up to Yom Kippur at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Mass., in 2010. Michael Fein/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images It’s the Jewish High ...

Of all the commandments in the Torah, the blowing of the shofar on the Jewish New Year is one of the most important. The ancient sound — signaling the beginning of the days of repentance — is heard on ...

The shofar blasts and then pierces. It goes inside, cleanses. There is but one mitzvah - a commandment of Jewish law - for the Jewish New Year: Hear the sound of the shofar. Rosh Hashanah was in ...

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and the opening of its High Holidays, heralds a time for reflection and renewal. But it ushers the season in with the most jolting introduction it can get: The ...

"And the voice of the shofar sounded long and waxed louder and louder; Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice." — Exodus 19:19 God speaks to us in many ways but rarely does anyone these days ...

(THE CONVERSATION) It’s the Jewish High Holiday season, and Jews the world over are preparing to visit their local synagogues – for community, for prayer, and to hear the arresting, soulful sounds of ...