The sounds of the shofar are very peculiar and harsh, quite unlike the notes of any modern instrument. In spite, however, of the wild and almost discordant harshness of the instrument, and the abrupt and even startling character of the Shebârim and Terooah, the sound of the shofar has a strangely solemn effect, carrying back the mind of the hearer to the time when the priests bore their rams'-horn trumpets before the ark, and blew the same sacred blasts under the shadow of Sinai.
Dr. Beigel has made a most singular discovery concerning the tones of the shofar. If the reader will blow them on a flute in the exact order in which they stand, he will find that he is playing a portion of the nightingale's song. This remarkable fact has been communicated to the Chief Rabbi and other Rabbim, who are unanimous in expressing their satisfaction at it. We cannot, of course, venture to say whether the sacred tones were in the first instance copied from the notes of a singing bird, but it is not unlikely that, whether consciously or not, the mind of the ancient composer might have been influenced by tones which he had often heard, and which could be reproduced in the limited compass of the ram's horn trumpet.
The old Rabbinical writers have a curious saying about the ram: "The ram in life has one tone, in death seven." This they explain in the following way. When the animal is living the only sound which it can produce is the bleat, but when it is dead it is made into musical instruments.
1. Of the horns are made trumpets.
2. Of the leg-bones are made flutes.
3. Of the large intestines are made lute-strings.
4. Of the small intestines are made harp-strings.
5. Of the skin is made the drum-head.
6. Of the wool are made the pomegranates which hang between the golden bells of the High Priest's garment.
This latter sentence explains a passage in Exodus xxviii. 33, which is not very easy of comprehension. When describing the ephod of the High Priest, the sacred writer proceeds to say, "And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof, and bells of gold between them round about." Both the material and the use of the blue and purple and scarlet pomegranates are here left uncertain, but this old Rabbinical saying explains both. They were made of the dyed wool of the sheep, and their use was to prevent the bells from clashing harshly together, and to keep up a sort of gentle chime as the High Priest went about his sacred duties.