Editing Shofar (section)

=== Qualifications ===
[[File:Shofar for the Sabbath from the Matson Collection, ca. 1934-39 (LOC).jpg|thumbnail|Yemenite Jew blowing the shofar, late 1930s.]]
The expert who blows (or "blasts" or "sounds") the shofar is termed the {{transliteration|he|ba'al tokeah}} or {{transliteration|he|ba'al tekiah}} (lit. "master of the blast"). Being a {{transliteration|he|ba'al tekiah}} is an honor. Every male Jew is eligible for this sacred office, providing he is acceptable to the congregation. The one who blows the shofar on Rosh Hashanah should be learned in the Torah and shall be God-fearing.

The Shulchan Aruch discusses who is fit to blow the shofar on behalf of a congregation:
* Anyone not obligated to fulfill the mitzvah of sounding the shofar cannot fulfill the commandment for (cover) another whose duty it is to perform the mitzvah.
* Although a woman (who is exempt from this mitzvah because it is time-bound) may not blow the shofar for men (whose duty it is to perform the mitzvah), a woman may intone the shofar for herself and other women.<ref name=SAWomen>Shulchan Aruch 589:6.</ref> The Halakhic authorities debate whether a woman may recite a blessing on commandments that they are not commanded to perform; generally, Ashkenazic women recite a blessing and Sephardic women do not.<ref name=SAWomen />
* Only a freeman (not even a slave who will become free in the next month) can be a Ba'al Tekiah.<ref>Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 589:1–6</ref>