Did you know that when the British were in charge of Palestine it was illegal to blow a shofar or bring a Torah scroll to the Western Wall? If you did it, you would be arrested. But every year, some brave young kids would sneak shofars to the Western Wall, and blow them at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, risking their freedom in the process.
Check out this video about the illegal shofar blowing in the years before Israel became a state, and watch the group of teenagers–now old men–return to the Kotel together, and blow the shofar again. It’s long, but it actually gave me goosebumps. Worth watching.
Kotel
Pronounced: KOH-tell, Origin: Hebrew, Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest site.
shofar
Pronounced: sho-FAR or SHO-far, Origin: Hebrew, a ram’s horn that is sounded during the month of Elul, on Rosh Hashanah, and on Yom Kippur. It is mentioned numerous times in the Bible, in reference to its ceremonial use in the Temple and to its function as a signal-horn of war.
Torah
Pronunced: TORE-uh, Origin: Hebrew, the Five Books of Moses.
