In our small shull the Baal Tokea who blows Shofar during Elul was missing one morning. Only another attendant new how to blow Shofar, but he was in the middle of saying the Shema. He actually did blow the Shofar then, was that correct?

Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that it is correct, since one may answer when reading the Shema a necessary question to him. However, he should read untill the end of a Parsha. Kovetz Halochos (1: 19) maintains that even in the middle of the Amida one can do so, if he finds hard to concentrate when avoiding blowing the Shofar.