When Israel dwelt in its land, six shofar blasts were sounded on Friday to make work cease and announce the onset of Shabbos (Shulchan Aruch, Siman 256). The Rema updates it: today, the chazzan or the shamash announces roughly half an hour to an hour before Shabbos.
This custom is found today in the Shabbos sirens, the announcements at the synagogue, or the reminders before candle-lighting. For your community's custom, ask your Rav.
The Shulchan Aruch (Siman 256) recalls an ancient tradition of Eretz Yisrael: six shofar blasts were sounded on Friday "to separate the people from work" (להבדיל את העם מן המלאכה). According to the Gemara Shabbos 35b, each blast targeted an audience: the fields, the town, then the lighting of the candles, before the final sequence. The Rema updates it: lacking the Temple, the chazzan announces ~½ h to 1 h before Shabbos. For the exact custom — ask your Rav.
How does a whole community enter Shabbos together? Long before clocks and apps, the answer lay in a single sound: the shofar. The Shulchan Aruch devotes a whole siman to it — Siman 256 of Hilchos Shabbos (Orach Chaim) — yet reduced to a single paragraph. Short, but foundational: it touches on the communal dimension of the onset of Shabbos.
What does the Shulchan Aruch say in Siman 256?
The Mechaber (Rabbi Yosef Karo) opens — and closes — the siman with a single rule:
כְּשֶׁהָיוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּיִשּׁוּבָן, הָיוּ תּוֹקְעִין בְּעֶרֶב שַׁבָּת שֵׁשׁ תְּקִיעוֹת, כְּדֵי לְהַבְדִּיל אֶת הָעָם מִן הַמְּלָאכָה.
"When Israel dwelt in its land (before the destruction of the Temple), six shofar blasts were sounded on the eve of Shabbos, in order to make the people cease work."
The shofar here is thus not the instrument of Rosh Hashanah: it is a civic and sacred signal that carries across the whole town. Let us see why, and to whom, it spoke.
The meaning of the signal: "separating the people from work"
1. הבדלה — a boundary between profane and sacred
The term הבדלה (separation) appears here before Shabbos, not after. It is a matter of marking the boundary between profane time (chol) and sacred time (kodesh). The havdalah of Saturday night does the reverse: it leads out of the sacred toward the profane.
2. Why a sound, and not a clock?
A sound signal is universal (everyone hears it, even in the fields), collective (one enters Shabbos together, not each on his own) and solemn (it marks holiness, not a mere marker of time).
The 6 blasts, one by one (Shabbos 35b)
The Gemara Shabbos 35b details the sequence, from the most outward to the most inward — from the fields to the home.
| Blast | For whom? | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Workers in the fields | Cease agricultural work and return to town |
| 2nd | Townspeople (commerce) | Close the shops, finish the transactions |
| 3rd | The homes | Light the Shabbos candles |
| 4-5-6 | All — tekiah · teruah · tekiah | Final sequence: Shabbos has entered |
The 3rd blast — that of the candles — is especially remarkable: it marks the precise moment of lighting, at the halachic origin of the timing of the Shabbos lights.
The Rema's updating: from the blast to the announcement
The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles) adds a decisive gloss: in exile, without the Beis Hamikdash and without public blasts, it is the chazzan or the shamash who announce the approach of Shabbos.
The announcement is made roughly half an hour to an hour before Shabbos, so that each person may prepare (clothes, table, lights). The Rema concludes: "and it is fitting to practice so in every place" (וכן ראוי לנהוג בכל מקום).
Modern application: sirens, announcements, alerts
The logic of Siman 256 is strikingly alive today:
- The Shabbos sirens of certain cities (notably in Jerusalem) take up the exact function of the shofar: a signal audible across the whole town, at a fixed hour before the onset of Shabbos.
- The synagogue announcements — the chazzan or the shamash reminding people that it is time to return and to light — are the most direct form of the Rema's gloss.
- The reminders sent before candle-lighting extend the same intention: to enter Shabbos together, not each in isolation.
What changes is the means; what remains is the purpose: to make work cease in time and to prepare the whole community at the same moment.
This article presents what the source says for the purpose of study. It does not rule on any practical case. For the custom of your community — the moment of the announcement, the siren, the way to prepare — ask your Rav.
Frequently asked questions
Why were six shofar blasts sounded on Friday?
Siman 256 reports that when Israel dwelt in its land, six blasts were sounded to make work cease. According to Shabbos 35b, the 1st targeted the fields, the 2nd the town, the 3rd the lighting of the candles, then a tekiah-teruah-tekiah sequence closed the onset of Shabbos. For the concrete custom, ask your Rav.
What does "separating the people from work" mean?
It is to mark, by an audible signal, the boundary between the profane (chol) and the sacred (kodesh) before Shabbos. Unlike the havdalah of Saturday night that leads out of the sacred, this one leads into the sacred.
What is announced today in place of the shofar?
The Rema glosses that the chazzan or the shamash announces ~½ h to 1 h before Shabbos, and that it is fitting to do so everywhere. It is found in the Shabbos sirens, the synagogue announcements and the reminders before candle-lighting. For the exact custom, ask your Rav.
Study Siman 256 in depth
Four levels, from beginner to talmid chacham — Hebrew text, translation, pilpul and the shitah of the Admur HaZaken.