Tuesday, October 4, 2011

  Largest shofar ensemble: Associated Hebrew Schools sets world record (Video)

 TORONTO, Canada -- 1,406 excited students, staff, family members and friends of Associated Hebrew Schools gathered in the parking lot of its Kamin campus blew shofars they had made themselves from rams' horns - setting the new world record for the Largest shofar ensemble, according to World Record Academy (www.worldrecordacademy.com).

  Photo: 1,406 excited students, staff, family members and friends of Associated Hebrew Schools gathered in the parking lot of its Kamin campus to make a mighty noise as they set a new world record for the largest number of shofars blown at one time. ( enlarge photo )

  The previous Guinness world record for the largest shofar ensemble involved 796 participants at an event organized by the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation at Phillip's Beach in Swampscott, Massachusetts, United States.

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the largest tambourine ensemble, achieved by 9,902 participants in an event organised by Taipei County Government in Taipei, Taiwan.

  Students from grades 1 to 8 blew shofars they had made themselves from rams' horns to beat the 2006 Guinness World Record of 796 shofars blown in a shofar ensemble.

  "Breaking the record was kind of the hook and the excitement but it was an opportunity for us to teach about the meaning of shofar and get our minds in the right place for the coming holiday of Rosh Hashanah," Eric Golombek, principal, Posluns Campus, told the Jewish Tribune.

  Students spent weeks preparing for the record-setting event. They learned how to make and blow a shofar and studied its religious significance.

  "The significance of the shofar is that it begins the year," said Rabbi Mark Smiley, Associated 's director of education.

  "We're waking ourselves up to do good and try to improve the world…. When we're doing the blast today, we're doing it on behalf of all the children of the community, both here in Toronto and throughout the world."