GEMSBOK SHOFAR as GUIRO and GROGGER
Joyous Purim wisdom, double Adar
5751
As a temple musician– a
passionate performing percussionist and sound healer, I share with you that the
Purim grogger, festive ritual noise maker (used to drown out Haman's name in
Megillat Esther reading), is similar to a GEMSBOK SHOFAR. A Purim rattle is
twirled and spins round the handle, and causes a thin flat piece of wood to
flick over (‘to and fro’) a NOTCHED cog wheel set in a frame, making a noise.
By cutting off, separating several inches of the slightly curved, black, smooth
pointy tip of the long Gemsbok's horn, to create an opening for the Shofar
mouthpiece, it is revealed that this horn tip can be used as an 'offering–' as
a percussion scraper on the set of natural raised ridges of rings encircling
the brown wide end of the raw, rough, splintery Gemsbok horn.
When rubbed in ‘to and fro’
motion with a PUA *, on the thick transverse rings, rasping percussive sounds
are created and ‘heard’ on the horn, as on the grogger. Could it be that the Shofar was a signaling instrument in alerting the Persian Jews that they could
be saved from the king's edict in Shushan during the reign of Queen Esther,
thus making the horn also a culturally authentic grogger? Hearing the Megillah
and Shofar are both mitzvot.
Ethnic scraper percussion
rhythmic instruments are spiritually used in most world cultures for sacred
moments. (Scrapers and Shofars are in LA’s Howard Ethnic Instrument Collection,
Watts Tower Arts Center.) Performing world-beat percussion, I use a frog shaped
wood guiro (Vietnamese or Thai), and also a Gemsbok-like guiro (Latin American)
made from hollow gourd, aka calabazo,
with parallel carved out grooves, along with a fragrant sage branch stick PUA,
a scraper/wand, to make long and short raspy, ratchet (and croaking) sounds.
Biblical Miriyahm HaNeviah,
the Prophetess, a percussionist, Exodus 15:20, was also known as
"Puah"*, Genesis, Shemot 1:15, a mid-wife, who sang soft cooing
sounds as she gently rocked ‘to and fro’ and stroked with her voice and hand--
like a wand, the baby boys she saved from Pharaoh's edict against the Jews.
Gemara Sotah 11a. As Puah with (po'ah) she drowned out the sounds of the murder
edict.
My friend, and ritual teaching
partner, ARIELLASHIRA LEWIS created (with Michael Chusid's guidance) her GEMSBOK
shofar for rituals, by carving the opening, the hollow 'inside' mouth piece.
She is a healer, and a Ba’alat Tekiah/shofar
blower for Simchat Chochmah ceremonies (http://www.simchatchochmah.blogspot.com),
and for women's Rosh Chodesh/New Moon
rituals, as is traditional. With her soulful Ruach/breath and holy kavanah/intention,
AriellaShira beautifully and with awesome rich sustained sound, plays her new
Shofar. AriellaShira created this personal ceremonial tool during her Simchat Chochmah/Joy of Wisdom ceremony,
and shamanic journey. I think her shofar is from a female Gemsbok.
AriellaShira joyously
demonstrated to me, as she stroked her new Gemsbok horn's wide end and long
length of ridges of rings with her PUA/wand--horn tip, that she transformed her
Shofar to be used in holy ritual and ceremony, also into a scraper PERCUSSION
instrument. AriellaShira fashioned the horn’s cut tip into her wand for her
musical playing pleasure. (See photo collage of AriellaShira playing her
Gemsbok Shofar as a wind and percussion instrument.
http://hearingshofar.blogspot.com/
2011-02-21) AriellaShira Lewis, from South Africa where the Gemsbok roam,
informed me that Gemsbok is pronounced with a gutteral 'ch', ‘Ch’emsbok’. The
sacrificial ram, the 'offering' in Torah's Genesis 22:13 Akeidah, may have been
crying out for us to hear, "Use me, don't abuse me. I shall make music for
you."
BlesSings for magical healing sounds,
health, wholeness, shalom and joy,
JOY Krauthammer
Serve G*d With Joy
www.joys-music.blogspot.com
Joy Krauthammer, MBA11
March, 2011
Before I realized that
I, too, can create a Shofar and GEMSBOK horn grogger to use in my spiritual
music, I purchased my foot-long Purim grogger in Jerusalem where I also
purchased my Shofar. Now I joyously look forward to having the "Hearing
Shofar" maven, Michael, guide me in creating my own percussive Shofar.
What excites is that I can
create a PUA/wand from a Gemsbok horn, and play the Shofar as percussion. This
will enhance and amplify my spiritual playing. See my earlier COMMENT on
AriellaShira Lewis regarding this transformational experience.
I love that the PUA is also a
name, PUAH, for Miriyahm HaNeviah. Genesis 1:15. This connection is meaningful
to me– joining woman's voice in Torah to percussion.
I include PUAH teachings
shared from one of my rebbes, Rahmiel Hayyim Drizin:
'Puah' This was Miriam (called
Puah) because she cried and talked and cooed to the newborn infant in the
manner of women who soothe a crying infant. Puah is an expression of crying
out, similar to “Like a travailing woman will I cry " (Isa. 42:14). Rashi
on Sotah 11a explains that she played with the infant to soothe and amuse him.
Rashi to Shemot 1:15, citing Gemara Sotah 11a
‘Pu'ah’ is Miriam; and why was
her name called Puah? Because she cried out (po'ah) to the child and brought it
forth. Another explanation of Pu'ah is that she used to cry out through the
Holy Spirit and say: ‘My mother will bear a son who will be the savior of
Israel’. Sotah 11a
~ ~ ~
During the High Holidays,
1995, Makom Ohr Shalom held services at UCLA. Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (Aleph
and Jewish Renewal movement founder) officiated along with Cantor Monty Turner.
(I am one of their musicians.) Reb Zalman knew that I was trained by my
husband, Marcel Krauthammer, z"l, in blowing Shofar. I felt good that I
could play all the ritual notes. Prior to Rosh Hashanah, Michael Chusid
demonstrated to me another technique for blowing shofar that I continue to
share when teaching others to play.
Reb Zalman, during the Days of
Awe service, called upon me to come to the bima and play my Shofar and "to
represent the women of the world". He was aware that a major international
conference on women had just finished in China. He wanted that powerful feminine energy
to come through the voice of the ram. With great Kavanah/intention, I sounded the Shofar for the congregation.
As a Mitzvah, and in my husband's Zechut/merit,
I continue to play Shofar, even over the telephone, especially for those Jewish
friends who miss my husband playing Shofar for them. May his soul continue to
have an Ilui Neshamah/soul elevation.
Have a joyous Adar and
BlesSings for hearing Shofar,
rhythm, having gratitude, health, Shalom and joy,
JOY Krauthammer
Serve G*d With Joy
Blog
Joy Krauthammer revised her initial post, above. I have
retained both drafts because they each offer different insights that deserve to
be shared. MC
+Joy.jpg)
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