CLEVELAND — Students may be more accustomed to hearing bells during school hours, but at Gross Schechter Day School, a Jewish school in Pepper Pike, they’ve been hearing the sound of a horn recently.

Specifically, a shofar — a horn typically made out of a ram’s horn.

What You Need To Know

  • Rosh Hashanah is the New Year in the Hebrew calendar

  • In addition to being a celebrating, the holy day is a time of self-improvement and forgiveness

  • A shofar, or ram's horn, is blown as a call to repentance

The horn is blown for a month leading up to the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, and throughout the holiday.

“It’s a call to repentance. At this time of year we’re really focused on the beginning of the year. We’re focused on self-improvement and repentance as we approach God and approach our fellow people to ask for forgiveness,” said Binyamin Kleinman, a middle school Judaism teacher.

The holy day is celebrated according to the Hebrew calendar so it’s not always on the same day of the year.

Rosh Hashanah begins Wednesday evening and ends Friday at sundown.

Students at the school had the opportunity to make their very own shofars.

“It felt nice to be able to make it because…we’ve learned about it our whole lives,” said 11-year-old Moriyah Roland.

The new year is followed by 10 days of repentance ending in a day of atonement known as Yom Kippur.

Kleinman said the sound of the horn isn’t just a call to prayer.

“It’s an opportunity and chance to do something meaningful,” Kleinman said.