Natural Curve of the Shofar

 

I recently obtained a new shofar thanks to my brother-in-law, Moshe Rosenbaum, who was able to pick it up for me in Israel and send it back to NY with my in-laws. So what is so special about this shofar?

Naturally curved rams horn (Photo mine)

The natural shape of a ram's horn is curved at the narrow end, where the mouthpiece is drilled, making it extremely difficult to drill. You can imagine how difficult it would be to use a straight drill through the curvature of a ram's horn without piercing the sides. Because of this, most shofaros on the market are produced by straightening out the narrow end by the application of heat treatment. However, perhaps straightening out the shofar disqualifies it from being kafuf, and thus is not the ideal shofar with which to fulfill the mitvah on Rosh Hashanah.

The earliest source I know on the topic is from R' Saadya Gaon (circa ~942):

In this quote from Siddur R' Saadya Gaon (pg. 217), he states explicitly לא יהיה אלא קרן של איל ואסור לשנות את צורתו.

More recently, R, Joseph son of R. Meir Teomim (born 1727) writes in Pri Megadim not that it is forbidden to change the shape, but straightening out a ram's horn is less preferable. (Translation mine, the bracketed portions in English added to provide context) 

פרי מגדים - משבצות זהב (או"ח סי' תקפ"ו ס"ק א'): דכפוף לכתחלה בעינן דוקא כפוף, הא של איל רק מצוה ממובחר, וא"כ שאר מינין כפוף ואיל פשוט, אם אירע כן, או כפוף שעשאם פשוט, יותר מצוה וצריך שאר מינין

"Ideally one requires [a] curved [shofar]. However, [using a shofar] from a ram is Mitvah min hamuvchar. And therefore, [if faced with a choice between] a different species but curved, versus a straight ram's horn, if it so happened [i.e. that one found a ram's horn that is naturally straight], or if [the ram's horn] was [naturally] curved and they made it straight, it's a greater mitzvah [with the curved horn] and one would need to choose the other species" 

This is also the opinion of R' Yaakov Ettlinger in his commentary to Maseches Rosh Hashanah:

ערוך לנר מסכת ראש השנה דף כו עמוד ב

בתוס' ד"ה של יעל. וכדאמר ר' אבהו. אין להקשות דתרתי טעמי ל"ל משום דכייף טפי מעלי ומשום זכירת עקידת יצחק. דיש לומר דאי משום זכירת עקדת יצחק הוי אמינא דגם אם עשה השופר של איל פשוט ע"י מים חמין שפיר דמי ואי משום דכייף לחוד גם של חיה או של תיש כפוף הוא לכן צריך תרי טעמי:

It seems to me that according to R' Saadya Gaon, it is in fact prohibited to straighten out the shofar, whereas the Pri Megadim and Aruch L'Ner seem to be of the opinion that it is a preference not to straighten the shofar through heating it, but strictly speaking it is not forbidden.

R' Moshe Sternbuch calls it a hiddur to use such a shofar that has its natural curve and was not straightened out in the process. (Moadim U'Zmanim Vol. 8, Hosafos to Vol.1)

So what is the process used to drill a shofar while retaining the original curve? R' Ari Zivotofsky cites the process that was recounted to him by a student of R' Yosef Kapach (RJJ Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society LIII 'Yemenite Shofar: Ideal for the Mitzvah?'). In Yemen they would "drill" through the curvature of the shofar by using a flexible piece of metal heated red hot. An alternative method is to cut of a portion of the horn to find a mostly straight portion of the shofar and drill from there. The advantage of the method employed in Yemen is there is no need to cut off a large portion of the shofar. I am not sure which process was used to produce mine.

So, while I certainly do not think that it is a requirement to chase down a naturally curved ram's horn to fulfill the mitzvah of shofar on Rosh Hashana, I enjoyed the mystery of tracking one down and am excited to use it in a couple of months from now.

___________________________________________________________________________________

For additional reading, see R' Ari Zivotofsky's article in RJJ Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society LIII 'Yemenite Shofar: Ideal for the Mitzvah? and R' Natan Slifkin's monograph 'Exotic Shofars' available online here, without which I would not have known found the Aruch L'Ner and Siddur Rav Saadya Gaon.