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| Horns in a basket |
On our second day in the Galilee we visited the Roman ruins at Bet She'an and then went to a shofar factory east of the Kenneret and up in the hills. Kol Shofar, the brainchild of owner Shimon Keinan, is a shofar manufacturing facility in Givat Yoav, Golan Heights. Shimon gave us the low down on how he makes shofars, where he gets the horns, how they are drilled out, shaped and polished, what is the glatt kosher shofar (ram's horn) and on and on. (According to Maimonides a ram's horn is the only valid shofar. Others say any horn but a cow's horn will do.) Some say curved horns are preferable to straight ones. (As with many things, if you ask 5 Jews for an opinion you get 6 or 7 answers.) We saw antelope, orxy and other animal horns at the factory. Going back to Abraham finding the ram caught in the thicket by its horns, when he was about to sacrifice Isaac, I can be convinced that a ram's horn is the way to go. (Actually, in the end the musician in me wins out and the horn with the best sound gets the nod :) ) But it was pretty cool to see Shimon make us a shofar right on the spot, all with tools of his own design. His English was spotty at best but Gabriella did a great job of interpreting. We walked out of there with 3 shofarot, one kudu (long and twisty) and two ram's horn.
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| Horn Wrestling |
The Levin-Santalones ended their visit with a night tour of Jerusalem (conducted by the Roths of course), to see the Chanukiah in some of the religious neighborhoods - Nachalat Tsiyon and Me'a She' Arim. It was a lot of fun to see everyone out lighting their candles, singing songs and generally having a good time. It was also great to see Chanukiah everywhere, in every window, outside virtually every door. We even got an impromptu exposition on the holiday from one resident outside of his home. A far cry from the Richmond District during Chanukah...
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| Chanukiah Display |
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| Hanging Out in Me'a She'arim |
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