Shofar-making booth a big attraction for adults, kids

Two years ago, between the relentless heat and the nonstop activity at his To Life! booth, Rabbi Yisroel Hecht actually blacked out for a bit before fluttering back to full force. It was a long day for the chief shofar-maker and blower at the popular site, but he wasn't complaining.

Recalling the experience, Hecht — rabbi at Chabad of Sunnyvale — laughs about it now. It's just one of the hazards of a job he loves.

Overall, he's pleased as punch that the booth has been a smash-hit from the start. "The first year, we ran out of shofars by 3 p.m.," he says.

Since then, he makes sure to bring more than that first order of 75. This time he'll bring about 300 "raw shofars," as he calls them. And still, he advises people to come early to be sure they won't be disappointed.

Though Chabad's shofar-making booth is geared for kids, "I would say that 50 percent of the people that try it are adults," he says, " and I can't tell you who has more fun doing it."

Fellow Chabad Rabbi Yosef Levin concurs that the event is a crowd-pleaser. "There were lots and lots of people" last year, he says. "It was busy all day."

The process basically transforms the rams' horns, supplied by a friend of Hecht's in south Florida, into functional forms ready to be blown by hearty-lunged enthusiasts of just about any age.

Wearing sturdy safety gloves, each participant gets to saw off the tip of the ram's horn, sand and shellac it (Hecht does the drilling of the hole and fashions the mouthpiece). The entire process takes 15 to 20 minutes, Hecht says. There is a small fee to cover costs of supplies.

Once the shofar is completed, Hecht gives a primer on how to blow the horn, reviewing the various calls to worship used during the High Holy Days.

"They come away with a bona fide shofar that they can use," says Levin.

Adds Hecht: "One of the most important mitzvot all year round is the mitzvot of the shofar."

Hecht has honed his shofar skills by giving a series of workshops at Bay Area day schools and Jewish Community Centers; the "Living Legacy" project, co-sponsored by all the Chabads in the Bay Area, also includes baking matzah, creating olive oil from a press, and a "Torah factory."

"We want to give the exclamation point to Judaism," says Hecht, and hands-on activities such as these can do that.

"It's a great thing," agrees Levin. "It brings the mitzvot to life for the kids."