Question: I will be away for a couple of days
in Elul without a minyan. Do I need to blow the shofar for
myself?
Answer: The Tur (OC 581) gives a couple of reasons for the minhag to
blow the shofar throughout the month of Elul. According to the Pirkei Derebbi
Eliezer (46), the shofar was blown in the camp when Moshe went up Har Sinai on
Rosh Chodesh Elul to get the second set of luchos. Chazal
instituted that we blow the shofar in commemoration of this on Rosh Chodesh.
The Tur adds that the minhag is to blow throughout Elul to stimulate us
to do teshuva (See Rambam, Teshuva 3:4) as well as to confuse Satan.
R’ Ephraim Greenblatt (Rivevos Ephraim 1:394; 8:523:4)
quotes R’ Avraham Yitzchak Kook (Mitzvas Ra’ayah 581:1) as giving another
reason. Just as the halacha is that one must start learning the halachos
of Yom Tov thirty days in advance (Pesachim 6a), so too, we need to begin
practise blowing the shofar thirty
days before Rosh Hashana.
Depending on the reason for blowing, R’ Greenblatt writes
that there is a debate as to whether one davening alone should make the
effort to hear the shofar himself, though he concludes that it is
unnecessary.
R’ Eliezer Waldenberg (Tzitz Eliezer 12:48) writes similarly
that the various pesukim that talk of the shofar being blown
refer it to being blown in the camp and in the city. Hence, one davening
alone does not need to blow the shofar.
In conclusion, there is no reason to blow the shofar
during Elul when not with a minyan.