Ram’s horn shofar is a musical instrument made from the horn of the ram. A ram’s horn shofar is used for creating the shofar sound in Jewish religious ceremonies. The sound of ram’s horn shofar heralds the Jewish New year and Day of Repentance. The shofar sound of the ram’s horn shofar serves as a reminder to the Jewish people that God is King.
But a ram’s horn shofar is also notorious for smelling badly. This is because of the residue of flesh and sinews in the ram’s horn shofar crevices. This also results in poor shofar sound quality. Hence cleaning of the ram’s horn shofar is extremely important to remove unwanted odors. This is all the more important in case of a new ram’s horn shofar.
Cleaning of a ram’s horn shofar is not a difficult task once you know the ingredients and method involved. The ingredients that you need to clean a ram’s horn shofar or a Yemenite shofar are a coat hangar, rags, hydrogen peroxide, fish tank gravel, ear plug, nerf ball, oxi clean, hot water and oil containing myrrh.
Cleaning with hydrogen peroxide is the easiest way of cleaning the Yemenite shofar. In this method of cleaning the Yemenite shofar, you block the mouthpiece with cotton or ear plug and pour hydrogen peroxide from the other end till the Yemenite shofar is half full. The peroxide will form bubbles as it cleans the Yemenite shofar. Swirl the Yemenite shofar so that the peroxide acts on the entire surface of the Yemenite shofar. Repeat this method till no bubbles are visible.
The Yemenite shofar can then be dried with a soft rag or a chamois cloth available at musical stores. You can replace hydrogen peroxide with a mixture of water and oxi clean. Another way of cleaning the Yemenite shofar is to plug the mouthpiece with an ear plug.
Fill gravel in the Yemenite shofar leaving enough space to shake it. Then plug the other end of the Yemenite shofar with a soft nerf ball.
Shake it for around fifteen minutes. Then remove the nerf ball and gravel, fill halfway with alcohol and shake for a minute. Remove the plugs and leave it to dry. Apply some oil containing myrrh after the shofar is cleaned and dried. Nowadays shofar odor neutralizing sprays are readily available in the market and can also be used for removing shofar odor.
The shofar sound has a great significance in Jewish customs. The shofar sound also finds a mention in the Bible. Especially during Rosh Hoshannah and Yom Kippur the shofar sound is considered auspicious. To get the best shofar sound it is important that while choosing the shofar, minute cracks are observed because these cracks not only spoil the shofar sound but also provide a place for sinews and flesh to stick causing foul odor.
The best way to get a good shofar sound is to check for any cracks and clean the shofar. A clean shofar would not only produce a good shofar sound but also smell good.
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