Judaica in Art – The Design of the Rosh Hashanah Shofar

On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, we sound the shofar as testament to Divine kingship over all creation. It’s kind of like blowing trumpets at the coronation of a king. The basic requirement of the shofar is that: ‘…the horns of all kosher animals are kosher for shofars, except for the horn of an ox, which is technically not called a “shofar” but a “keren,” and antlers, which are not considered shofars (shofar means “hollow” and antlers are solid).’ (from: Shofar, the Horn Blown on Rosh Hashanah) However, we find that the design of this simple Judaica object varies depending on the type of animal it came from. In fact, the shofar can have different shapes even when coming from the same type of animal.

Different Shapes of the Shofar

The Shofar’s Basic Shapes

The design of the shofar is fairly simple, consisting mostly of straight lines and curves. Here is a variation of my Shofar for Rosh Hashanah watercolor using basic shapes like the circle and ellipse:

The varied designs of the shofar makes it an interesting and enjoyable Judaica object to paint or draw.

rosh hashanah paintings

Judaica in Art – the Design of the Menorah