Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Students may have heard the long, high-pitched sound of a shofar on Wednesday sounding the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
“Our goal this year on campus is to blow everyone away,” Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel said.
KU students crafted their own shofars, a Jewish horn traditionally made from a ram’s horn, during Chabad’s Shofar Factory on Wescoe Beach Tuesday in preparation for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which lasts from Wednesday evening until Friday.
Students celebrate the Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The holiday lasts from Wednesday to Friday.
Daniel Held, a junior from Seattle, was one of the first to create his own shofar. To create his horn, Held inserted a metal wire into his ram horn to see how hollow the horn was. Then, he sawed the end of the horn to create a small hole. Next, he attempted to drill into the horn to make the hole bigger, but his failing power tool made the task a difficult one.
“You’re supposed to put a lot of pressure on it to widen the hole,” Held said. “Unlike what happened with mine.”
Tiechtel said the specific size or sound of the Shofar is not nearly as important as what blowing into the Shofar represents.
“Many times when you have something deep in your heart that you want to express, you can’t always find the right words to say it, so you just let out a cry,” Tiechtel said. “That’s what it represents — when you stand before God and the New Year.”
Tiechtel said making and blowing the Shofars is only one of the traditions of Rosh Hashanah. Sweet foods, such as honey or apples, are eaten during the festivities as well.
“We eat them, because we want to ask God for a sweet New Year,” Tiechtel said.
Thursday afternoon students will perform another long-standing tradition, Tashlich, where they will go to the lake and symbolically throw their sins from the past year into the water of Potter Lake.
“Some people throw in bread, some throw in their friends,” Tiechtel said with a laugh.
Tiechtel said one of his goals during Rosh Hashanah is to make students who cannot be at home during the holiday feel as comfortable as possible.
Meghan Stein, a sophomore from Irvine, Calif., said having friends she can celebrate the New Year with at the University makes her feel more at home.
“Since I’m halfway across the country from where I usually am, I’m really lucky to be around people that love me,” Stein said.
Students interested in participating in Rosh Hashanah events this week can check out the services schedule at www.JewishKU.com.
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