Shana Tova 5782!

Lior created this lovely image for our virtual card to celebrate the Jewish New Year of 5782. And I made bilingual versions in acknowledgement of my recent push to bring more Italian language into my mouth and mind.

Put in my Place by Wikipedia

Catching up on my Only Connect episodes, I was quite chuffed the other day when VCM responded to an answer being "The Star of David on the Israeli flag" by calling it a "Mogen Dovid" in a lovely Ashkenazi accent.

Cut to just now, watching a quarter-final wall, and 'shofar' is included as a Brass instrument. My dudgeon immediately raised to a very high point, I was all ready to e-mail the show (possibly to offer to be VCM's rabbinic consultant for all future eps) and point out that a ram's horn is not made of brass. However, a small voice in a corner of my mind suggested that maybe I should check before foolishly rushing in.

From the Wiki entry on "Brass instrument":

"A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called 'labrosones' or 'labrophones' from Latin and Greek elements meaning 'lip' and 'sound'.

The view of most scholars (see organology) is that the term "brass instrument" should be defined by the way the sound is made, as above, and not by whether the instrument is actually made of brass. Thus one finds brass instruments made of wood, like the alphorn, the cornett, the serpent and the didgeridoo, while some woodwind instruments are made of brass, like the saxophone."

Schooled. My apologies to VCM & Only Connect for doubting you.

Shana Tova 5781

Am kind of excited that we get to begin a new year tomorrow. Any chance to reboot, to recalibrate, to restart is most welcome!

To all who celebrate Rosh Hashanah, may we wish you a safe, healthy and happy new year.