Why Christian Nationalists Are Into “Jumbo-Sized” Shofars – By Molly Olmstead (Slate) / Sept 23,2022
It has to do with the biblical tale of the siege of Jericho.
If you pay attention to the religious symbolism evoked by MAGA crowds during rallies, protests, and campaign events during—and since—the Jan. 6 insurrection, you’ll notice a few common themes: Donald Trump is a messianic figure, Jesus Christ is a Trump supporter, and the Bible inspires violence in the name of fighting agents of Satan.
But you can also find symbolic items that, in a realm of American politics that can veer dangerously near (and often, directly into) white supremacy and antisemitism, may seem strangely non-Christian. For example, the shofar.
The shofar, a ritualistic musical horn most often made from a ram’s horn, has been used in Jewish ceremonies and festivals for centuries. Today, they are blown during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. They are instruments that belong in a synagogue—not household items meant for personal use.
But starting in the 1960s and ’70s, Pentecostal Christians and other charismatic Christian groups began to use shofars to punctuate worship services and pro-Israel rallies, inspired in part by the Zionist movement and the charismatic Jesus movement. That appropriation may have irked many Jews, but at the time, the instrument was at least used to call on angels and plead for divine healing and inspire the gift of tongues, and not for anything more political. In the past couple of years, that has changed.
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