What’s so special about Mr. Bengio’s shofros? Why are baalei tokeia scrupulous about purchasing only Mr. Bengio’s workmanship?
A handwritten note affixed to the front window of a nondescript house on Kyverdale Road in North London humbly informs visitors that talleisim ataros and shofros are sold on the premises. But the home’s simplicity and the note’s unpretentiousness belie the famous shofar-making factory housed within.
Past the door the undiscerning customer would still never guess that VIP clients the world over prize the creations produced here. But indeed rabbanim and gedolim of every stripe own of these shofars considered among the most mehudar in the world crafted by Mr. Yehuda Bengio.
Prices for a Bengio shofar start at £90 ($119). The most expensive shofar he’s ever produced came from a Jacob’s Ram a breed of sheep some believe existed at the time of the Patriarchs. That shofar cost £300 ($396). Either way his children admit that their father undercharges running his business more as a calling.
“I don’t take money from choshuve clients ” Mr. Bengio says. “Their brachos are worth much more.” Among those who have received his gifts — and bestowed their brachos — are the Tosher Rebbe ztz”l (Mr. Bengio’s son served as his gabbai) Rav Dovid Pinto and the rebbes of Pupa Satmar Klausenburg and Bobov.
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