– Q. Dear Rabbi. We are still traveling with our family and friends camping by the lake on our summer vacation trip. Be’H we plan to be back at the middle of next week. Since we Bechesed Hashem actually have a daily minyan and B’H we have davened every day with a minyan.

Next week we will still be in our camp for Shacharis on Wednesday, Sep. 4. We were planing to be second day Rosh Chodesh already back in town, and therefore didn’t carry a shofar with us. We have a number of questions.

Q. 1) How essential is the blowing of the shofar on the second day Rosh Chodesh Elul? Do we have to travel and borrow a shofar from a neighboring camp?

A. Horav Yaakov Hirschman Shlit’a opinion is that since the blowing of the shofar during Elul is only a minhag and tradition, we do not have to exert ourselves to comply with it. However, other Rabbonim disagreed.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a