Israeli Shofar Stamp Set

This article features the Israeli shofar stamp set from 2010. The shofar is an ancient natural trumpet made from an animal horn, used for Jewish religious events. The instrument is simply a hollow horn, with no buttons or valves to create alternate pitches. All of the various sounds and calls played with a shofar must be done by a player controlling their embouchure. The player varies the pitch, length, and articulation to create different calls, each of which carries its own symbolic meaning. There are three basic types of call the tekiah consting of a single long note, the shevarim, which is three short calls, and the teruah, which is night short fast notes.

A horn from any animal of the bovidae farmily can become a shofar, except domestic cattle. The ram, however, is the preferred animal horn. In practice, there are two typical types of shofar. First, is the Ashkenazi shofar, which is made from a ram’s with a single broad curve. The second type is the Sephardi which comes from the horn of a kudu antelope from eastern or southern Africa. Kudu horns are longer than ram’s horns and are twisted.

The shofar is particularly important in the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the holy day marking the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Every weekday morning in the month leading up to the holiday the shofar is blown. During the Rosh Hashanah celebration up to one hundred blasts on the shofar might be sounded during morning worship. Then, ten days later, on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, a single shofar played at the end of the service denotes the end of the ceremonial fast.

Biblical History

There are numerous references to the shofar in the Hebrew Bible. The first is in Exodus when the sound of a shofar comes from a cloud on Mount Sinai and frightens the Israelites. In the Bible, the shofar announced important occasions from the new moon to the start of the Jubilee year. In addition to the shofar, the Bible also names a straight trumpet. The two instruments appear together often. For instance, at the Temple in Jerusalem on Rosh Hashanah, a shofar player stood between two trumpet players for the ceremony. On fast days, it was the reverse, with a trumpeter in the middle and two shofars on either side.

In addition, the shofar sounded to start a war and to accompany processions. For example, the shofar sounded when the Jewish army surrounded the walled city of Jericho.

The Israeli Shofar Stamp Set

In 2010, Israel created a set of three stamps to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, or the New Year. The stamps became available on August 25th, a couple of weeks before the holiday began on September 8. The stamps are by the designer Aharon Shevo and primarily feature a single shofar player on each stamp, with other symbols and designs in the background. Below each stamp, as is common with Israeli stamps, is a smaller tab. These se-tenant stamps in this series feature the animals from which the horns come as well as notations for some of the shofar calls. Learn more about this series and other Festival stamps from Israel here.

Shofar and Abraham and Isaac

The first stamp features the Ashkenazi type shofar from a ram’s horn. It features a player’s profile with the shofar held facing to the left. The value of the stamp is 1.70 Israeli new shekels. Above and behind the main shofar player are further drawings. I interpret this as the story of Abraham and Isaac. Famously, G-d told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but at the last moment after seeing Abraham’s faith stopped the act. Then, Abraham sees a ram caught in a thicket by its horns and instead offers the ram as a sacrifice. I think the designer is showing the final moments of that story, with Abraham hugging Isaac on the altar, and a ram caught on the right.

Shofar and Rosh Hashanah at the Temple

In the second stamp of the series, a Sephardic shofar is depicted. Once again, we see the player in profile and the horn held up to the left. Behind him, we see the scene from the Bible describing the ceremonial musicians at the Temple on Rosh Hashanah. There is a shofar player standing in between two musicians who each hold a straight trumpet. Stairs rise behind the players leading to the Temple itself. The stamp has the value of 4.20 new shekels.

The Shofar in Modern Practice

The final stamp in the set once again features an Ashkenazi shofar made from a ram’s horn. The value of this stamp is 6.10 new shekels and the player again is depicted in profile with the instrument rising to the left. Behind the player, it appears is a modern congregation with figures in various forms of dress, including one figure who seems to be wearing a tie. Behind, to the left, are panes that may represent stained-glass windows on the inside of a synagogue. To the right, I believe, is a closed ark that holds the torah scrolls of a congregation.

If you are curious about the shofar, here is an interesting video about the various sounds and their meaning.