Shofarot

Last of the three middle blessings of the Amidah prayer at the Additional Service of Rosh Ha-Shanah (New Year). This section stresses the use of the Shofar (ram's horn) throughout. (The kabbalistic rabbis laid great stress on the importance of blowing the ram's horn on Rosh ha-Shanah, seeing the action as having the power of transforming God's strict justice to mercy.) After an introductory section which describes the use of the ram's horn at the giving of the Torah at Sinai, ten verses of the Bible are recited which deal with the blowing of the ram's horn, three each from the Pentateuch, the Hagiographa and the Prophets, with the tenth verse again taken from the Pentateuch. The section concludes with a blessing addressing God as "He Who hears with mercy the sound of the blowing of the shofar by His people Israel." The completion of the section is marked by the blowing of ten blasts on the ram's horn (except on the Sabbath).

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