Breaking News: First Videos From Yesterday's Worldwide Shofar Flashmob

Shofar blowers around the world gathered yesterday for a planned global blow-in (or is it blow-out?).

Organized by Art Kibbutz NYC, the event was designed as a worldwide art performance that takes the Jewish tradition of sounding the Shofar daily during the Hebrew month of Elul (which precedes the Jewish High Holidays) and gives it a 21st century, postmodern twist.

A large group of artists and creative volunteers assembled on Sunday, September 18th in New York City, Jerusalem, Budapest, Kiev, Tbilisi, Belarus, Tulsa, St. Louis, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Oakland. The plan was for all participants to blow the Shofar together at designated public spaces around the world for two minutes as a call for teshuvah (spiritual return). This is the first-ever FlashMob utilizing a Shofar. Each participating location was to be synchronized with other FlashMob locations, globally.

This spiritual public art event will be documented and incorporated into a Rosh Hashana electronic greeting card, orchestrated by a composer. At press time, world-class musicians and artists are starting to join the project, so check the website for new developments daily.

We suspect that flashmob purists won't accept these gatherings as true flashmobs because they don't share the fundamental characteristic of a flash mob -- seemingly random individuals suddenly coming together, performing their number, and then just as suddenly disappearing into the crowd.  But hey, let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

We can't wait until the 15 or more videos are edited and combined into a single video greeting, so we're giving you a sneak preview of two of the Shofar blowing sessions, outside of Wrigley Field in Chicago, and at Alamo Square in San Francisco.  Enjoy!