The Jewish Museum challenged young people to explore an object from our collections as part of the Animated Museum Project. Over the course of a week these teenagers produced short animated films featuring objects from the Jewish Museum and Jewish Military Museum collections.

This film shows us how the Shofar is made and used.

The shofar is a musical instrument used to announce the beginning of the Jewish festivals of Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The sound is made by blowing into the smaller end of the instrument.

A shofar is made from horn, typically a ram’s horn, but other animal horns may be used. A hole is made in the smaller end connecting it with the natural hollow in the main part of the horn. The shofar is then shaped and/or flattened using heat. According to Jewish law, a shofar cannot be painted with colours, but it can be carved with artistic designs.