Dear Lazywebs,

[ewt]

Is there a Jewish equivalent of church bells or the Islamic call to prayer?

A friend doing some inter-faith liturgical planning wants to know. I don't remember anything like that, but might well have missed it on account of a) arriving at synagogue slightly after most services started and b) not really understanding Hebrew.

Comments

[lethargic_man]

Yes. At the start of שַׁחֲרִית and מַעֲרִיב, after the "spiritual warm-up" of פְּסוּקֵי דְזִמְרָא in the former case and וְהוּא רַחוּם in the latter, there is a call to prayer: The chazzan says בָּרְכוּ אֶת־ה׳ הַמְּבוֹרָךְ, the congregation replies
בָּרוּךְ ה׳ הַמְּבוֹרָךְ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד, and the chazzan repeats בָּרוּךְ ה׳ הַמְּבוֹרָךְ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד.

[megamole.livejournal.com]

The blowing of the shofar (ram or goat's horn - you and I could both get a tune out of it!), but that only happens at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shofar

[megamole.livejournal.com]

The expert who blows (or "blasts" or "sounds") the shofar is termed the Tokea (lit. "Blaster") or Ba'al Tekia (lit. "Master of the Blast").

. o O (Does that mean Sir Vivian Richards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viv_Richards) is qualified)?

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

In the use with which I am familiar, the shofar was a call to repentance rather than a call to gather together for prayer. Still, that it was used to announce Shabbat is useful; thanks.

I have blown a shofar, though not in a liturgical setting.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

(disclaimer: I have oversimplified hugely)

[ruthi.livejournal.com]

Disclaimer: non-religious Israel-raised Jew: my knowledge is limited by these things.

I do not know of a call to prayer.

On the other hand, the announcing of Shabbat happens in some places in .il still - in some towns it is announced with a siren (one tone siren, the sirens raising and falling are for real sirens. )
In .il also in times of one-minute silence there's a siren. (twice a year: holocaust day and memorial day)

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Cross-posted from DW, for the edification of ewtikins's LJ readers:

At the start of שַׁחֲרִית and מַעֲרִיב, after the "spiritual warm-up" of פְּסוּקֵי דְזִמְרָא in the former case and וְהוּא רַחוּם in the latter, there is a call to prayer: The chazzan says בָּרְכוּ אֶת־ה׳ הַמְּבוֹרָךְ, the congregation replies בָּרוּךְ ה׳ הַמְּבוֹרָךְ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד, and the chazzan repeats בָּרוּךְ ה׳ הַמְּבוֹרָךְ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

What Lethargic Man said: the Barchu prayer marks the start of the "okay, now were actually SERIOUS" part of the prayer service, from the "warm up" part.

The way I explain it to my Hebrew school students: you have a warm-up section, for two reasons. One is that prayer is important, and you really need to do some "stretching" and getting ready, and getting into the right mindset.

The other is that we're Jews, and we're always late for things, so you do some warm up stuff at the beginning so that everyone's there for the actual important stuff. Which, again, is marked by the Barchu prayer.

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

Not relevant to your post, sorry, but are you by any chance artsyhonker on Twitter?