Residents blown away by the sound of festival
EFFORTS TO bring shofar blowings to the masses within Covid restrictions were welcomed over Rosh Hashanah.
Mill Hill Synagogue’s Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet walked for 12 miles around his shul’s catchment area on Sunday afternoon, making 19 stops to sound the shofar for community members who could not attend shul this year. Mill Hill’s Rosh Hashanah services accommodated around 400 people — the normal total would be 2,000.
Rabbi Schochet said the experience had been the highlight of his year. It had brought “big smiles” to children’s faces and made some adults tearful. “It energised me at every stop.”
He singled out the reaction at St Joseph’s Gate, an apartment block where a number of older synagogue members live. They were able to listen from their windows.
His initiative received an outpouring of praise on social media. Gill Fraser said the shofar blowing had been “a lovely if slightly surreal moment and definitely added to a feeling of today being Rosh Hashanah”. Robin Setty reflected: “I hadn’t appreciated how much this would mean to me until I heard the first blast, which sent shivers down my spine.” And Ruth Zingol Solomons, who had a child self-isolating, said being able to listen from her garden had been “very meaningful”.
St John’s Wood Synagogue also held socially distanced shofar blowings. Radio host Vanessa Feltz told her listeners about the emotional impact of hearing one performed by Michael Cole.
“Michael Cole brings the shofar to his lips and he starts to blow. And within an infinitesimal fraction of a second, I was sobbing, absolutely sobbing.
“Then I look around and lots of people were sobbing. And my other half, who is Christian... said he could feel the presence of the holy spirit.”
In St Albans, 200 members of the local Masorti congregation scattered across the hill near the city’s cathedral on Saturday evening to hear the shofar sounded by Debbie Harris and Talya Baker, with the calling of the notes by Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet. Shul chair Darren Marks said the experience had been “spectacular”.
In Elstree and Borehamwood, Chabad organised shofar blowings at 25 sites. Rabbi Chaim Hoch reported that “well over a thousand” enjoyed them and there had been “a really good vibe”.
And some two dozen shofar blowings on doorsteps across Finchley and Southgate were arranged through social media by Alyth congregant Ilana Jackman-Overlander.
In Gateshead, the community organised outdoor shofar blowings at 35 locations on Sunday afternoon.