Art of the Blast: Shofar Blowing Customs in Medieval Manuscripts

In this episode, we’re diving into fascinating early 16th-century woodcut images and priceless medieval machzor manuscripts to see how they portray the mitzvah of blowing the shofar. We’ll explore the unique details in these images that reveal interesting minhagim of the time, though some might leave us with more questions than answers. Let’s uncover the stories these images tell about our tradition.

Links:

Book on Jewish Confession (Nuremberg 1508)

https://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/freimann/content/thumbview/6515799

Der Juden Spiegel (Cologne 1508)

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1911061m/f39.double

Luzzato Machzor

https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-luzzatto-high-holiday-mahzor-1

Machzor – Bavarian State Library

https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb00034975?page=82

Kaufmann Machzor - Hungarian Academy of Sciences

http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/en/ms388/ms388-012v.htm

Machzor – Cambridge University Library

https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-00662/127

Machzor – Austrian National Library

https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/manuscripts/hebrew-manuscripts/viewerpage?vid=MANUSCRIPTS#d=[[PNX_MANUSCRIPTS990001692630205171-1,FL21854414]]

Art of the Blast: Shofar Blowing Customs in Medieval Manuscripts