On Mon, 6 Jun 2005, Steve Freides wrote: > Actually played a shofar? The big thing about them is that, at least until > they've gotten pretty old and well-used, they absolutely stink. The room, > if not well ventilated, literally smells like, well, a dead animal (snip)
I was about to recommend boiling the shofar to kill bacteria and remove as much offending substance as possible. I have done this with stinky conches - works great, but do the boiling outside and down-wind if you can. pheeewwww. But I googled Steve's 'tekiah gedolah' and among other things found out that "steaming or boiling of the shofar is not permitted." In any case, there is a ton of shofar information available at the press of a key. Here is more, from http://groups.msn.com/TragerTrumpetTalk/theshofar.msnw (note the minimum allowed length) ==================================== According to the Mishna, two different forms of shofar were used in the Temple: one made of ibex horn.Its bell was ornamented with gold, and it was sounded at New Year and during the Yovel Days. Another type of shofar made of ram's horn, with silver ornamentation, was sounded on fast days. We learn from the Mishna and the Talmud that in the Hellenistic period no improvements or modifications that might affect the tone were permitted: no gold-plating of its interior, no plugging of holes, no alteration of its length (the minimum permissible length of a ritually approved horn is 3 handbreadths); the shofar tone was to be preserved unaltered. ==================================== { David Goldberg: [EMAIL PROTECTED] } { Math Dept, Washtenaw Community College } { Ann Arbor Michigan } _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
