London— British Prime Minister Boris Johnson attempted, and failed, to blow a shofar while on a visit to northern England.
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During a visit on Friday to meet voters in Doncaster, Yorkshire, the newly minted prime minister was approached by a woman who invited him to “blow the holy shofar.” She explained that the instrument, which she said is “like a trumpet,” is from Israel.
Johnson expressed concern about whether he is allowed to blow the holy instrument, used by Jews on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and during the month leading up to the high holy days, and the woman responded that “God has authorized you.”
The exchange was posted in a video online by Britain’s Channel 5 News.
Johnson was not able to get a sound out of the instrument, but managed to utter the age-old pun “Shofar so good,” before handing it back to the woman.
Johnson previously tried to blow the shofar in 2011, when the mayor of London, during a ground-breaking ceremony for London’s new Jewish Community Center building in Finchley, North London, which took place the day before Yom Kippur. He managed to get a sound out of it that time, after a short tutorial by then-chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
(JTA)
If you are able to blow one shofar, that does not mean you will be able to blow another shofar. Every shofar is different.
BoJo is a total joke, llike his mop top mentor Trump. Except in the UK even members of his own Conservative Tory party have dumped him, unlike the boot licking Republicans in the US who will follow the Dear Leader into the Bunker.
One year, during Neilah, when it came time to blow the Shofar, the person had a lot of difficulty. He tried and tried, and finally did it. The Congregation should not have done so, but applauded at that point.
Another time, we had someone who had played the trumpet in college. He was a master Shofar blower. At the Neilah service, for the Tekiah Gedolah, he blew the Shofar for over 40 seconds! It was a record, as I don’t recall anyone else doing that.