Shofar blowing topic's main category Category:Rosh Hashanah
The blowing of the shofar (Hebrew: תקיעת שופר, Hebrew pronunciation: [t(e)kiˈ(ʔ)at ʃoˈfaʁ]) is a ritual performed by Jews on Rosh Hashanah. The shofar is a musical horn, typically made of a ram's horn. Jewish law requires that the shofar be blown 30 times on each day of Rosh Hashanah, and by custom it is blown 100 or 101 times on each day.Place in the prayer service
In Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities, it is customary to hear 100 or 101 or 102 sounds in the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah morning, although the minimum requirement is to hear 30 sounds. The sounds are scheduled as follows:30 shofar blasts are sounded to fulfill the mitzvah of shofar blowing, after the Torah reading and before Mussaf. In many communities, these blasts are preceded by reciting Bible verses related to the shofar.  Two blessings are recited before the blasts: one on the Biblical commandment of "hearing the sound of the shofar", and the blessing of Shehecheyanu; on the second day (except when the first day falls on the Sabbath), Sephardic Jews and Western Ashknazic Jews omit Shehecheyanu, but Eastern Ashkenazic Jews recite it. The blasts here consist of the TaShRaT sequence three times, followed by TaShaT three times, then TaRaT three times.
In most Sephardic and many Hasidic communities, 30 shofar blasts are blown in the silent Mussaf prayer, 10 blasts after each of the three central blessings. Each sequence of 10 blasts consists of TaShRaT, TaShaT, TaRaT one time each. In most Ashkenazic communities, these blasts are not performed.
Shofar is blown during the leader's repetition of the Mussaf prayer.  There are several customs for how this is done:
The original custom from the Geonim is to blow one TaShRaT after the first blessing, one TaShaT after the second blessing, and one TaRaT after the third blessing, for a total of 10 blasts during the repetition of Musaf. This custom has been preserved in the Western Ashkenazic rite and many Yemenite Jews.A variation of that opinions is to blow three TaShRaT after the first blessing, three TaShaT after the second blessing, and three TaRaT after the third blessing, for a total of 30 blasts during the repetition of Musaf.  This is the custom today of Spanish and Portuguese Jews.
Another version, suggested by Rabbeinu Tam, is to blow one TaShRaT after each blessing, for a total of 12 blasts during the repetition of Musaf. Until recently, this was the widespread custom in Eastern Ashkenazic communities, but it is preserved today in very few places.
Most Eastern Ashkenazic (except for those that preserve the previous practice above) and Edot Hamizrach communizes today follow the opinion of the Shelah to blow 10 blasts - TaShRaT, TaShaT, TaRaT - after each of the three blessings.
In most communities, as many blasts are needed to get to a total of 100, 101 or 102 are blown after musaf. Thus, in communities where they blow 30 during the silent Amidah and 30 during the repetition, only 10 or 11 are needed to complete the 100 or 101. In communities where shofar is not blown during the silent Mussaf prayer and they blow 30 during the repetition, 40 or 41 blasts are blown.  And in communities following the opinion of the Geonim or Rabbeinu Tam, 60 blasts are blown after musaf; in communities following the Geonim, this makes a total of 100, whereas in communities following the opinion of Rabbeninu Tam, they end up with 102.According to all opinions, the mitzvah is fulfilled by hearing the initial set of 30 blasts. Thus, if a person cannot attend the synagogue prayers, they will commonly arrange for a shofar blower to visit and blow only 30 blasts for them.