Security Incident at Munich Airport Defused by Blowing of Ram’s Horn

Airport officials in Munich, Germany, got a lesson in shofar blowing after pulling aside an Israeli rabbi they suspected of illegally transporting forbidden animal trophies.

According to a report in The Jewish Chronicle, Rabbi Mordechai Halperin of Lod was on his way to visit his Nuremberg-based daughter, Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Esther Chitrik, Monday night when he was stopped for carrying his ram’s horn, a ritual item traditionally blown on Rosh Hashanah and the 30 days preceding the Jewish New Year.

Officials “told him to open his bag and loads of security guards came around,” said Gigi Mechlowitz, a fellow Jewish passenger from Manchester, England. “The rabbi asked me how to say shofar in German.”

After investigating the luggage, the guards asked the rabbi to blow into the horn to prove that it was safe.

“He didn’t just give a quick toot,” but instead played a series of traditional blasts, said Mechlowitz. “About 20 to 30 people, mainly airport staff and a few passengers, looked up in awe.”