Psalm 89:15 says, “How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!” In the Hebrew Bible, this verse reads, “Ashrei ha’am yodei teruah Adonai!” The word teruah is the Hebrew word translated as “joyful sound.” One translation renders it a “joyful call to worship,” and another as “the loud shout of joy.” These all miss the mark because they do not draw attention to the origin of the sound—it is the sound of the shofar!
The first appearance of the shofar in the Bible is at the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. After G-d told the Israelites to prepare themselves for two days to be ready for the third, they approached the mountain of the L-rd. On the third day, the people trembled, terrified. They feared for their lives because of the “thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound” (Exodus 19:16).
