But What Kind Of Ram?

We know that the best way to fulfill the mitzvah of shofar is with the horn of a ram. This is because one of the reasons for the shofar is to remind us of Avraham's binding of Yitzchak, and the ram that he offered in its place. But has anyone ever stopped to think about what kind of ram it was?

It occurred to me that it wouldn't have been an ordinary domestic sheep, since Avraham was out in the wilderness. Furthermore, as my friend Rabbi David Bar-Cohn pointed out, Avraham would presumably not have stolen someone's sheep! Thus, it would have been a wild variety of sheep - possibly the aoudad, but more likely the mouflon.

Mouflon shofars are not normally available; the one that is on display at The Biblical Museum of Natural History may be the only one in the world. It is spectacularly beautiful! There are no longer any wild mouflon in the Middle East;  contemplating Avraham's ram reminds us that many wild animals which used to live in the Land of Israel no longer do so.

A mouflon caught by its horns in a thicket. See this link.I've added this tidbit to my monograph Exotic Shofars: Halachic Considerations, which has also been updated with new photos, and is freely available for download at this link.