The sun came out on Sunday for the 5 p.m. Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation Erev Rosh Hashanah Shofar Walk on Sept. 25 at Dawes Park in Evanston.
The one mile walk included more than 300 people honoring the Jewish New Year. Sailboats were seen on the water as the faithful walked as a community to celebrate the Jewish High Holidays and Rosh Hashanah.
The Shofar Walk route started at Arrington Pavilion along Sheridan Road.
The route made a loop from Arrington Pavilion, north to Clark Street Beach, south to Greenwood Street Beach and then back to Dawes Lagoon and Arrington Pavilion.
This year was the second time for the walk, said JRC Rabbi Rachel Weiss of Evanston, who said the event launched last year as a response to the Delta variant that emerged in the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“We couldn’t gather in person and we had to pivot back online,” Weiss recalled. “We thought that people really were craving connection.”
The shofar is a ram’s horn trumpet used in the ancient Jewish community to today.
The shofar is blown in religious ceremonies and as a signal, a call to wake up, and sounded at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur including at other appropriate special occasions.
Weiss said the shofar walk harks back to an ancient tradition of going out in the streets and sounding the shofar.
“They did not have calendars, they did not have alarm clocks, they had the moon, and they would see the moon, sound the shofar and say the holiday’s beginning,” Weiss said. “So we thought, ‘Well, let’s do that.'”
Stations were set along the route where the procession stopped to hear the sounding of the shofar.
“It is a call to wake up, it is an alarm clock,” Weiss said. “It is an open up and get out of the regular. Really, it’s a call to say something different is happening, and to notice and pay attention.”
Among those tasked to blow the shofar was Stanley Cohn of Skokie, who organized the shofar blowers for the occasion. Cohn blew on a shofar purchased by Cohn’s late wife Sara Cohn, who died last October. They were married for 36 years.
“This community has meant more to me this year than I could ever say,” Cohn said. “My wife was the kindest, most amazing woman that I could ever imagine. This community has been amazingly supportive and I like to do whatever I can to help pay back.”
“And if I can wake a few people up with the shofar, even better,” he said.
David Pinzur of Northbrook said of Sara Cohn, “She was wonderful, she was the best.”
Micky Baer of Deerfield fronted the procession and was seen smiling among friends. Parents carried small children on their shoulders as they walked. Family members held hands.
“I love the idea of being together with all the JRC community, outside, with the choir, and the shofar blowers and enjoying Rosh Hashanah together,” Baer said of the shofar walk. “It is an incredible tradition.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.