The school bell rings. The noonday siren sounds. The church bells call the faithful to worship. In the fifties, the wail of the sirens urged American citizenry to take cover from a potential imminent atomic attack; children took position beneath their desks and those at home headed to the bomb shelter in the basement.

The book of the prophet Joel urges the trumpeter to sound the shofar, translated "trumpet," (v. 1) to warn that "... the day of the Lord is coming, it is near...." The "shofar" was usually a ram's horn but it could be the horn of any clean animal except that of a cow. It was used in the feast prescribed in Numbers 29:1, the feast of New Year's Day, "Rosh Hashanah." The shofar, sounding mornings and evenings except on the sabbath, called the faithful to prayerful preparation …