Shofar Blowing during Elul: Minhag, Sources, and Halacha

Hi, in shul today the person who blew the shofar did so in a way that I’m sure one would normally not be yotze with such a tekiah. Nevertheless, the Rav didn’t ask him to repeat the tekiah. Why is that so? Shouldn’t it be like on Rosh Hashanah, where the Rav stands with a watch and is very particular with each sound of the shofar, that it should be done exactly according to halacha?

Thank you for your question.

The minhag to blow the shofar during Chodesh Elul is an Ashkenazi minhag. Many Sefardim don’t do so, since it is not a minhag brought by the Mechaber, only by the Rema, as follows:

שולחן ערוך אורח חיים הלכות ראש השנה סימן תקפא סעיף א
נוהגים לקום באשמורת לומר סליחות ותחנונים מראש חדש אלול ואילך עד יום הכפורים.
הגה: ומנהג בני אשכנז אינו כן, אלא מראש חדש ואילך מתחילין לתקוע אחר התפלה שחרית.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, Laws of Rosh Hashanah 581:1:
“The custom is to rise at dawn to recite Selichos and supplications from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur.
 Rema: The custom of Ashkenazim is not so; rather, from Rosh Chodesh onward they begin to blow the shofar after the morning prayer.”

It is important to know that the halachos regarding blowing the shofar during Elul are more lenient than on Rosh Hashanah. Even though the tekiah may not be good enough for Rosh Hashanah to be yotze, nevertheless during Elul it is acceptable, as long as one can recognize it as a tekiah, shevarim, teruah, and tekiah.

Even the actual shofar used during Elul, some are lenient and don’t necessarily use a shofar that would be kosher for Rosh Hashanah.

The source of this halacha is from the Ritva (Rosh Hashanah 26b), who writes that when the blowing of the shofar is only because of a minhag, then one doesn’t recite a bracha before it, and the rules that generally apply to teki’as shofar on Rosh Hashanah do not apply here. This is the quote:

אפילו הכי כיון דתקיעתא אינם בחיוב גמור אלא בכנופיא ולהעלות תפלה בתקיעות, ואין סדר תקיעות ולא פסולי שופר מעכבין בהן.

If someone didn’t hear the tekios after Shacharis,  sometimes there isn’t a shofar in shul, or a person left the minyan before hearing the shofar, so the question is: does one need to find another minyan later in order to be yotze, or not?

HaGaon Rav Amrom Fried Shelitah says as follows: only a tzibbur that wasn’t able to blow the shofar after Shacharis should do so after Mincha, as long as it is the same tzibbur. However, if it was only a yachid who didn’t get to hear the blowing of the shofar, then he is not obligated to hear it later.

Why don’t we recite a bracha before blowing the shofar during Chodesh Elul?

First let’s see the source of why we blow the shofar:

טור אורח חיים הלכות ראש השנה סימן תקפא
תניא בפרקי ר"א: בר"ח אלול אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה עלה אלי ההרה — שאז עלה לקבל לוחות אחרונות — והעבירו שופר במחנה. משה עלה להר שלא יטעו עוד אחר ע"ז. והקב"ה נתעלה באותו שופר שנאמר (תהלים מז) עלה אלהים בתרועה... לכן התקינו חז"ל שיהו תוקעין בר"ח אלול בכל שנה ושנה וכל החדש כדי להזהיר ישראל שיעשו תשובה, שנאמר (עמוס ג) אם יתקע שופר בעיר וגו'.

Tur, Orach Chaim, Laws of Rosh Hashanah 581:
It is taught in Pirkei d’Rebbi Eliezer: On Rosh Chodesh Elul, Hashem said to Moshe, “Come up to Me on the mountain” — that was when he went up to receive the second Luchot. They sounded the shofar in the camp when Moshe ascended, so that they would not again be led astray after idolatry. And Hashem was exalted through that shofar, as it says (Tehillim 47), “G-d ascends with a blast of the shofar...” Therefore, the Sages instituted that one should blow the shofar on Rosh Chodesh Elul every year, and throughout the month, in order to warn Israel to repent, as it says (Amos 3), “Shall a shofar be sounded in the city and the people will not tremble?”

According to this, The Imrei Emes (p. 55) writes that since this mitzvah is in preparation for Rosh Hashanah, to awaken one to do teshuvah, that is why the that we don’t recite a bracha before teki’as shofar during Elul. Even though it is a rabbinical enactment, since it is only in order to prepare one to do teshuvah, and therefore it is not considered a mitzvah in its own right.

Why isn’t there an issue of ba’al tosif?

Some ask, why isn’t there an issue of ba’al tosif? On Rosh Hashanah we are careful not to add to the 101 blasts, and on Sukkos, we don’t sleep in the sukkah after Yom Tov, since there would be an issue of ba’al tosif. Shouldn’t it be the same with regard to the tekios of Elul?

The answer is that ba’al tosif is only when one adds after performing the mitzvah. That is one of the reasons we don’t blow the shofar during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah (see Divrei Yisrael, vol. 1, p. 159), even though it would be appropriate to arouse the tzibbur to do teshuvah and that is what they did on that first year that Moshe ascended Har Sinai to receive the Torah, they blew the shofar every day for forty consecutive days; nevertheless, since it is after Rosh Hashanah, there would be an issue of ba’al tosif. However, during Elul, since it is before Rosh Hashanah, there is no concern of ba’al tosif.

Another interesting remez to blowing shofar during Elul

We find in Beis Yosef (O.C. 422), where he writes about reciting Hallel on Rosh Chodesh:

בית יוסף אורח חיים סימן תכב
כתב בשבלי הלקט (סי' קעב) בשם הגאונים: מנין שאומרים הלל בראש חדש? מצינו שרמז דוד בתהלים (קנ) הללויה הללו אל בקדשו, י"ב פעמים “הללו,” כנגד י"ב חדשים. ולפיכך אנו כופלים “כל הנשמה” על שנה מעוברת שיש לה י"ג חדשים ועל חדש שיש בו שני ימים.

Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim 422:
It is written in Shibbolei HaLeket (siman 172) in the name of the Geonim: the source for reciting Hallel on Rosh Chodesh is hinted at by David in Tehillim (150)  “Hallelu-kah, praise G-d in His sanctuary”  which Hallelu appears twelve times, corresponding to the twelve months. Therefore, we repeat the verse “Kol HaNeshama” when there is a leap year with thirteen months, and also for a month that has two days.

According to this, the fifth “hallelu-kah,” which corresponds to Elul, is “Hallelu b’teka shofar” is a hint that we blow the shofar on Chodesh Elul.

Wishing you a Kesivah VeChatimah Tovah.

1.      Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 581:1

2.      Ritva, Rosh Hashanah 26b

3.      Tur, Orach Chaim 581

4.      Imrei Emes, p. 55

5.      Divrei Yisrael, vol. 1, p. 159

6.      Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim 422