Shofar Factory Fun in South Jersey

By JAYNE JACOVA FELD – JewishVoicesNJ
Photos: Leibel Kahan

With the screeching of power drills and the occasional shofar blast echoing around him, 13- year-old Isaac Leibowitz stayed laser focused on his task.

The process of sawing off the end of a ram’s horn, a necessary step before removing marrow from the outside covering, takes extreme concentration. Isaac, recently a bar mitzvah, was up for it.

For him and some 200 other men and boys gathered September 18th at The Commons at 1721, formerly known as the Federation Annex on Springdale Road, the first-ever Mega Shofar Factory was a unique opportunity for hands-on fun and male bonding. And in the end, each took home handcrafted kosher horns worthy of sounding on Rosh Hashanah.

Although Isaac has two already—including a beautiful one from Israel—the shofar he was making would hold a special place.

“Now I can actually say I made it myself,” said Isaac, an eighth-grader at Kellman Brown Academy. “I sand-papered and cut it and now I’m going to get a hole put through it.”

Organized by Rabbi Yitzchok Kahan of Chabad Lubavitch of Camden and Burlington Counties, the factory was the largest known gathering of its kind ever organized, according to Rabbi Eli Dovid Strasberg, director of Chabad Lubavitch of Delaware County, PA. Tools were laid out on tables that filled the gym. Boys were given construction hats to wear and table captains donned neon yellow vests.

“There’s been shows (about shofars) this large, but I’ve never done, seen or heard of one this big in which participants are making their own shofars,” said Strasberg, an expert who gave a presentation on the topic and helped participants with the process. The event included a demonstration and instructions for blowing the traditional blasts.

The Shofar Factory was created as a male counter point to Chabad’s popular Mega Challah Bakes, which have become so popular in just a few short years that it is getting harder to find a space large enough for the ever-increasing number of women and girls they attract, said Rabbi Yitzchok Kahan, director of Chabad in Medford and program director of Chabad Lubavitch of Camden and Burlington Counties.

“We have the Challah Bake for women so we thought why not do something for men and boys,” said Kahan. “We didn’t know how it was going to take off, but it kept on growing and growing.”

Similar to the Challah Bake, table captains were asked to recruit participants.

Clad in the signature yellow construction vest, David Leibowitz, Isaac’s dad, was one of them. “I volunteered right away,” said Leibowitz, a Chabad member attending with Isaac and his younger brother Sam, 10.

“My wife was very involved in the Challah Bake and now she bakes challah almost every Friday,” he said. “Not that I’m going to make shofars every week, but I think this is pretty cool.”

He suspects that, like the Challah Bake, next year’s event will be even larger.

“To me, this is just awesome,” Leibowitz said. “It appeals to everybody.”

Rabbi Micah Liben, attending with his eight-year-old son Dov, was both impressed by the activity and the large numbers gathered, which included many KBA families.

“This is a first for us,” Liben said. “It’s great to be doing something so hands on. It makes it a lot more personal and special. They do a good job here.”