Blowing Shofar 1. There is a minhag to blow the shofar every morning beginning on the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul [1st of Elul] until Erev Rosh Hashanah [not included] ( ג “סק ב “ומ א “תקפ א “רמ.( 2. Which sounds? Most places only blow tekiah – shevarim – truah – tekiah. Some blow tekiah– shevarim – truah – tekiah; tekiah – shevarim – tekiah; tekiah – truah – tekiah on Rosh Chodesh Elul as the minhag .(תשובות והנהגות ח “ג סי ‘ קל “ג ) .Chodesh Rosh for mainly instituted was 3. Make-up. A minyan that did not blow shofar after Shacharis, some say they should blow after to only is Minhag the of purpose the since], שו “ת אגרות משה או “ח ח “ד סי ‘ כ “א אות ה’] Mincha inspire Teshuva. Others say; since it is only a Minhag, there is no reason to make-up. [ הלכות .[הגריש “א ומשנה 4. Alone. One davening alone he is not required to blow the shofar [ ח “מ ‘ סי ב “חי א “צי.( 5. Interrupting. If the only one in the minyan who can blow shofar is in between the paragraphs of Shema or its Brochos, he may blow the shofar. It is comparable to greeting an honorable person between paragraphs, which is allowed. A fortiori if he is in the middle of Pesukei Dezimrah [ ו “כ ‘ סי ג “ח .[מהר “ם מ בריסק 6. Mid-Shemoneh Esrei. During Shemoneh Esrei one may stop and listen to the Shofar, [ ג ” קפ ‘ סי .[משנת יוסף ח “ט סי ‘ ס “ז , שבט הקהתי ח “ג 7. Standing. There is no need to stand during the Shofar ( שם הקהתי שבט ת “שו.( 8. If there is a bris in shul, the bris should be performed before the shofar ( ד “תקפ ‘ סי י “להחוו חיים .(מקור 9. Over a loudspeaker. Since it is only a Minhag, one may hear the shofar over a loudspeaker or telephone. Thus, hearing from a recording is not valid, since he is not hearing it in real time. 10. The same rule of precedence applies as for Rosh Hashanah. The person who blew the previous .[מ “ב סקי “א ] precedence has years Tehillim 11. There is also a Minhag to say ten Kapitel of Tehilim after davening on weekdays followed by Kaddish, from Rosh Chodesh Elul and till Sukkos. 12. It is not required that 10 people say the Tehilim in order to say Kaddish after, it is sufficient if just one said them in the presence of the Minyan [ א “נ ‘ סי ח “ח י “מנח[ “Ledovid Hashem Ori” 13. It is customary to say Kapitel 27every day after davening, morning and evening [ ב “סק ב “מ .[Some say it after Mincha while others after Maariv. Each person should follow his custom. 14. Some say that one who said “ledovid” after Minchoh, and then davens Ma’ariv in a minyan which says it after Ma’ariv should say it again with the minyan (3 הערה הלכה ארחות ה “ר שלמה הליכות ;( others say he does not need to say it again ( הלכות משנה ובעל א “הגריש.( Borrowing Without Permission 15. One may use someone’s Shofar without requesting permission if the owner is not present. The rationale is that people want Mitzvos to be performed with their property ( ט “סק ב “מ .(He may even .[שו “ת אג “מ או “ח ח “ב סי ‘ ק “ו ] children or women for blow to it use 16. If the Shofar got damaged, one is not liable for the damage as a borrower is not responsible for [הלכות קטנות ח “א סי ‘ ע “ט ] usage normal during occurring damages 17. One may not borrow a Shofar without permission just to practice, since this is not a Mitzvah [( ח “סי מ “ק כלל א “ח .[One may borrow a Shofar without permission to fulfill the Minhag to blow shofar in Elul, since it is a Mitzvah.
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