（利23）如何吹角 (Lev 23) How to Blow the Horn

(ChatGPT was applied for translation from Chinese. 中文在后面）

(Feast of Trumpets in 2025 begins at sunset on 9/22, see https://vojisrael.org/feasts/feast-of-trumpets-yom-teruah-rosh-hashanah/)

The first day of the seventh month in the sacred calendar, about half a month before the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (sometimes because of a leap month it can differ by one month), is always near the day when the new moon has just appeared. This is the Feast of Trumpets in the Bible:

Leviticus 23:24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.”

The Feast of Trumpets requires blowing the horn. If one were to write a paper about it, there would be many topics to cover, such as:

What kind of horn (shofar) is suitable? (I bought a ram’s horn)
Where to buy? (I searched “shofar,” then ordered it online, costing several tens of dollars)
How to blow it to sound? What kind of rhythm to blow, and how many times?
Why blow it? What symbolic meaning does it have? Which related Bible verses? (see https://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Elul/Shofar/shofar.html)

Here I will for now write about the most basic question, concerning point 3, how to blow the horn. I want to record some of the difficulties I encountered and how they were solved.

(3a How to make it sound)

The ram’s horn I bought has two openings: one end narrow, the air-blowing inlet; one end wide, the outlet. For a long time, I blew but it would not sound, because air went in one end and out the other, but the horn did not resonate. Later I saw in China a cow horn with a plastic mouthpiece planted in the inlet, blocking most of the space and leaving only a narrow opening. Then I realized my ram’s horn inlet did not have a mouthpiece installed, perhaps this was why it did not sound. I also (saw somewhere online, I don’t remember where) that blowing the horn requires using the corner of the mouth. I thought this might be equivalent to using the lips to block most of the inlet, imitating the nonexistent plastic mouthpiece, and letting a very narrow air stream blow in from the mouth corner. Trying this, indeed this fine air stream caused the horn to resonate, and it could sound.

(3b How to blow teruah)

The Feast of Trumpets blowing of the horn has three rhythms. The one most difficult for me was teruah, which is toot-toot-toot-toot, like a machine gun, many short sounds blown one after another. I did not know how to make the short sounds close enough to each other. Later the solution was, when blowing, to let the tongue learn to release air like a machine gun, tu-tu-tu-tu, then there was some improvement.

(3c How to blow different tones)

The ram’s horn has no buttons. To blow different tones requires letting the airflow strike different places inside the horn. One can use the hand holding the horn to assist in adjusting the relative direction of the airflow blown, letting the airflow vibrate different places inside the horn, producing tones of different frequencies.

Because there was no one to directly teach me, when I was learning I often prayed, and many progresses that seemed like coincidences were actually the help of the Creator.

（利23）如何吹角

（2025年吹角节是从9/22日落开始, 参见https://vojisrael.org/feasts/feast-of-trumpets-yom-teruah-rosh-hashanah/）

圣经历七月初一，大约是中秋节前的半个月（有时因为闰月会差一个月），总是靠近新月刚出现的日子，这是圣经的吹角节：

利未记23:24 “你晓谕以色列人说，七月初一，你们要守为圣安息日，要吹角作纪念，当有圣会。”

吹角节需要吹角，如果要为之写一篇论文，会有很多题目要涉及，比如

1 什么样的号角（shofar）是合适的？（我买的是一个羊角号）

2 在哪里买？（我是搜索shofar，然后网上邮购的，花了约几十美元）

3 怎样吹响？吹什么样的节奏，吹多少次？

4 为什么要吹？有什么象征意义？有关的圣经经文要哪些？(参见https://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Elul/Shofar/shofar.html）

我这里暂时写一个最基本的问题，关于第3条怎样吹号角，我想记录一些我遇到的困难和如何解决的。

（3a 如何吹响）我买的羊角号有两头开口，一头窄，是吹气的入口，一头宽，是出口。我吹很长时间吹不响，因为气从一头进，一头出，号角没有共振。后来我在国内看到一个牛角号，入口植有一个塑料吹嘴，把入口的大部分空间堵住了，只留一个细口，我就想起来我的羊角号的入口没有装上吹嘴，可能是因此吹不响。我又(从网上不记得哪里）看到说吹号角需要用嘴角吹, 就想这可能是等效于用嘴唇堵住大部分入口，模仿那个不存在的塑料吹角，让很细的气流从嘴角吹进去。这样试了，果然这很细的气流使得号角共振，可以吹响了。

（3b如何吹teruah）吹角节吹角有三种节奏，其中对我最难的是teruah，是嘟嘟嘟嘟像机关枪那样多次的短促音一个接一个吹。我的相邻短促音之间不知怎样才能互相间隔得很近。后来的解决办法是吹奏时舌头学习机关枪那样突突突突的吐气，才有所提高。

（3c如何吹不同的音调）羊角号没有按钮，吹不同的音调需要让气流冲击角内不同的位置，可以用手扶羊角协助对吹出的气流作出相对的方向调整，让气流振动角内不同的位置，发出不同频率的音调。

因为没有人直接教我，我在学习时常常祷告，很多看似偶然的领悟，其实都是造物主的帮助。