BROOKLYN, NY — With hand saws, drills and lots of adult supervision, kids at the Jewish Children's Museum prepared to toot in a new year by making their very own shofars.
“This is fun,” Shloimie Werner, 10, said recently as he sawed and sawed, trying to cut off the tip of a ram's horn to make his shofar.
Usher in a New Year with a Shofar-Making class at the Jewish Children’s Museum
BROOKLYN, NY — With hand saws, drills and lots of adult supervision, kids at the Jewish Children’s Museum prepared to toot in a new year by making their very own shofars.
“This is fun,” Shloimie Werner, 10, said recently as he sawed and sawed, trying to cut off the tip of a ram’s horn to make his shofar.
Traditionally, the horn is blown at the start of the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown Wednesday, Sept. 12.
Shloimie and his three younger brothers came from Cedarhurst, L.I., to hear the Crown Heights museum’s program director, Rabbi Aron Rabin, give a history of shofars and instructions on making them.
The boys’ mother, Debbie Werner, said, “The shofar is always there for the new year. We take it for granted. I wanted them to see where it came from and how it was made.”
After about 15 minutes of determined sawing to remove the tip of the ram’s horn, Shloimie announced, “I need some help.”
It didn’t take Rabin long to finish the job and hand the horn over to museum staffer Peretz Lazaroff, who polished the new shofar and gave it a toot. Then it was Shloimie’s turn. The boy took a deep breath and blew hard. Nothing happened.
“It didn’t work,” Shloimie said with dismay.
“Practice,” Lazaroff advised. “Practice.”
(For more information about the museum, call (718) 907-8864. The Jewish Children’s Museum is at 792 Eastern Parkway.)
