A journey round the horn by a ]Zgd^X ÒmZg
you could lend me a shofar for this evening.”
Before you could say teshuvah, tefillah, tzedakah, they had sent him on his way shofar-less.
There were no Jews he could consult. They were all praying so there was no option but to take the initiative and make his own shofar. He returned to Jewgle. Surely there would be a site telling him how to make a shofar. Thankfully, there were dozens of them. But time was passing. Things were getting serious but now at least he knew what needed to be done. He found the number of a taxidermist in Wimbledon, not the nearest place but though he still had no shofar he did at least have a chauffeur. He was despatched and returned in double-quick time with a whole ram’s head with both horns, mounted on an ornamental plinth.
As luck, or divine providence, would have it, William’s brother-in-law is an antique dealer who retains the services of a skilled man able to detach one of the horns from the plinth and carefully extract the cartilage to make it hollow. All they needed now was to make it playable. So off to Howarth in Chiltern Street in London’s West End, notable suppliers of wind instruments, to acquire a trumpet mouthpiece. Now, the ram’s horn was an instrument to bring down the walls of Jericho. And, gosh, all achieved before late afternoon.
It would be blissful to report that, when William delivered the instrument, he was greeted with delight and congratulation. “Here’s a shofar, “he declared proudly. “That isn’t a shofar,” said the rabbi, meaning, while it might be okay for When The Saints Go Marching In,
When The Jews Go Marching minus Out.
By now, evening was approaching fast. Someone in the minyan suggested another shul that might be more helpful. William rushed off there and returned with their spare shofar. His day’s effort had been heroic. He had been tested and he had responded but, in the end, help had to come from elsewhere. As Abraham said to Isaac at the Akedah: “God will provide.” And He did.
The rabbi had ¼XÿW RW
his shofar