William Heyen-l

Kurt M. Regarding the Shofar

 

On the tenth day, with the sun about to set,

the shofar is blown once more. This shofar tone

is called the big shofar tone that’s to be held

real long so it carries over into days to follow….

 

This was October, 1944, at Terezin.

Cantor Levy from Berlin started to blow the shofar tone.

As he blew, he found the most beautiful long-held tone.

It was so beautiful until it seemed … off-key….

 

At that moment, at the height of our expectations,

at the height of hope that our prayers could be answered,

the train whistle started. We were stunned.

It was the train whistle that ruined the shofar’s tone.