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Tractate
Rosh ha-Shanah, chapter 3,
says: "The shofar for the New Year was
that of a wild goat, straight, ... R.
Judah says: On the New Year a [shofar]
from a male [i.e., a ram] is sounded,
and at the Jubilee, from wild goats."
(mishnahs 3-5). The gemara (Rosh
ha-Shanah 26b) explains the
question at issue. The Sages believed
that "on Rosh ha-Shanah, the
straighter a person's thought is the
better," but R. Judah maintained, "The
more bowed a person is [in his soul],
the better." Although the halakhah
follows R. Judah, Nahmanides ruled
that it only applies from the outset [milekhathila],
but that after the fact [bedi'avad]
even if one sounded the horn of a wild
goat, shaped as straight as possible,
such a shofar blowing is acceptable. |
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