What Do Yodeling And Shofar Blowing Have In Common?

Exhibit A: This is yodeling:



Exhibit B: This is shofar blowing:



So what do they have in common?
During the British Mandate, Jews were forbidden to blow the shofar at the Kotel at the end of Yom Kippur--because it might offend "Muslim sensibilities."

And yodeling?
A man has been fined for offending his Muslim neighbors with his yodeling:

An Austrian has been fined for yodelling while mowing his lawn, according to a report.

The Kronen Zeitung newspaper claims Helmut G. was told by a court in Graz, Styria, that his yodelling offended his next-door Muslim neighbours.

The men reportedly accused the 63-year-old of having tried to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin. The daily paper writes the Austrian was fined 800 Euros after judges ruled he could have tried to offend them and ridicule their belief. The Muslims, whose nationalities were not revealed by the report, were right in the middle of a prayer when the Austrian started to yodel.

"It was not my intention to imitate or insult them. I simply started to yodel a few tunes because I was in such a good mood" the man told the newspaper today (Mon).

"He could have tried to offend them and ridicule their belief"--innocent until proven guilty is apparently not a popular concept in Austria, or maybe the judges felt it was smarter to just play it safe and throw the book at Mr. G.

My suggestion: In consideration of his neighbors, Mr. G should forget about yodeling altogether--
and get himself an alpenhorn: kind of like combining yodeling and shofar!
His neighbors will love it.



Technorati Tag: Yodeling and Alpenhorn and Islam and Muezzin.