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Show SH.0FAR IN HEBREW RITUAL Wood Instrument Dates Back to thi Very Earliest Youth of the World. Hebrew historians, with a special eye (or ear) to the racial history, are very proud of their shofar. Tiny say it is the oldest form of wood wind instrument in-strument In the world, that' it fas used in the original Mosaic ritual. It is the one musical instrument, says Dr. Cyrus Adler, which has been preserved pre-served unbrokenly in that ritual. There Is even a theory, voiced by Professor Steinthal, that the shofar antedates the people of Israel. He says It probably goes back to prehistoric prehis-toric times.' And another investiga-,'or investiga-,'or points out that it obviously came drst from a foil: solely dependent on ; the c-owiiiT of shi,i-t. This ancient ram's ham instnirannt was perhaps earliest used for the finals fi-nals of alarm which wer so necessarily neces-sarily common in primitive society. T?ie Israelites then adapted it to their re.Ugious services, and with such fitting fit-ting effect that it has persisted uniquely since the beginning. But 'the Talmud indicates that, ea among the Hebrews, the shofar 5 also, .developed into a horn for Pr ing , alarms. Fundamentally th-' alarm.-, would be incidental to '-' Afterward, though, the instrument blown in other seasons of danger or distress. It warned of famine orofi plague 'of locusts or of drought. Am It was employed in the public service serv-ice of excommunic-'hm. The children of Israel had thf' horns which were used for m'a and rituifllstic purposes, but this the only one which has survived. |