MUGI – My Unique Gift Idea

In last Sunday’s New York Times, Corey Kilgannon reported that Levi Meisner’s Shofar Shop which, reported Kilgannon, is actually the corner of the living room of his third-floor apartment on 12th Avenue in Brooklyn, is open for browsing during the Hebrew month of Elul.

Meisner actually holds down a full-time office vocation, but come the pre-Rosh Hashanah autumn he sells on average, 100 shofars. Mostly rabbis, his customers catch on through word of mouth and street fliers. An archaic viral marketing, if you will.

The Shofar, a well known Jewish symbol and Rosh Hashanah gift is a ram’s horn turned musical instrument – holding biblical significance from the Old Testament of Moses – and specifically of application to High Holy Day services.

Meisner’s horns, made under rabbinic supervision, are purchased wholesale from a dealer in Israel. Hologram stickers affirm their kosher certification. According to Talmudic law, Shofars should be softened by heating and partially straightened before a hole is drilled into their tip for the embouchure.

Corey Kilgannon’s wrote:

“On Wednesday, Mr. Meisner selected a huge spiral horn from dozens in a Dole banana box and blew a series of long and short blasts that sounded like an operatic ram stuck in a trap.” Kilganon wrote that Meisner said, “It’s not an impulse purchase…”

Elul is the month which leads into Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This year it begins at sundown on Sept. 8.

Elul, the final month of the Hebrew year is a time for stock taking and introspection. According to Chabad.org it is:

“a time to review one’s deeds and spiritual progress over the past year and prepare for the upcoming Days of Awe of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”

Kabbalistic philosophy likens the month of Elul to the time when “the king is in the field” and, as a contrast to the time when He is in the royal palace,

“everyone who so desires is permitted to meet him, and he receives them all with a cheerful countenance and shows a smiling face to them all.”