"For the shofar of Rosh Hashana, whose purpose it is to rouse the purely Divine in man, no artificially constructed piece of work may be sounded. It must be an instrument in its natural form[naturally hollow], with life given to it by the breath of man, speaking to the spirit of man. For you cannot attain to God by artificial means or by artifice. And no sound which charms the senses, but which does not appeal to man's better self, can raise you to God-- indeed, you might surrender yourself again to your low, base way of living. The pure, unaffected sound of the natural shofar should stir you heart and mind and attune them to the significance and call of its tones.
All naturally hollow horns of clean animals are valid for the shofar of Rosh Hashana except for the horn of the bull, which is linked with the memory, sad for our nation, of the sin of the Golden Calf and which in fact is not called the shofar. One should take, if possible, the bent horn of a ram-- bent, in conformity with the contrite mood of the day evoked by the teruah; of a ram, because it preserves the noble memory of Abraham's sacrifice, the prototype in history of subservience of the self to God." -- Mazhor for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Rabbinical Assembly, New York
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