When changing patterns of Jewish participation collide with an ancient rabbinic prohibition

A lively discussion recently broke out among some of my rabbinic colleagues. This year, the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat, Saturday, September 12. According to longstanding Jewish practice, the shofar will not be sounded that day, but on Sunday, the second day of the festival.

For many Conservative congregations, that creates a genuine pastoral problem. The first day draws the largest attendance, and many worshippers will not return on Sunday. For them, observing the prohibition may mean not hearing the shofar at all. Some colleagues have therefore asked: Should we reconsider the prohibition?

The mitzvah of hearing the shofar is central to Rosh Hashanah. The Torah calls the festival Yom Teruah, a day of sounding. And the prohibition against blowing on Shabbat is itself rabbinic. Sounding a shofar is not a prohibited labor. The Mishnah records that when Rosh Hashanah fell on Shabbat, the shofar was sounded in the Temple but not throughout the country. After the Temple’s destruction, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai........

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