Trumpeting Questions

An exploration of the Chatzozros and their significance

The silver trumpet found in King Tutankhamun’s burial chamber

For years I was intrigued by the Chatzozros mentioned in this week's parsha. 

Moshe was instructed to form two silver trumpets out of a solid piece of silver. These trumpets were used as a signal for when the Bnei Yisrael would move their encampment forward and when Moshe would need to gather the people. 

There are a few things that I am curious to understand. 

1. The Torah goes on to detail when there were long blasts and when there were short blasts. The Tekiya, long blast, was for calling everyone together or to announce the Chodesh or Chagim.  The Teruah, short blast, was for moving the encampment or going out to war. What is the significance of the blasts? Why does going out get signaled with a Teruah and coming together signaled with a Tekiya?

2. Why were these trumpets only used by Moshe and hidden shortly before his death¹?

3. What is the significance of a trumpet? Why not a drum, flute, violin, or any other musical instrument?
   

4. What is the significance and what is the connection to the Menora and the Krashim which were also made from solid pieces of metal?

5. Why didn’t Moshe just blow a Shofar? In fact the Shofar makes the same sounds and seems to be more significant, as it is a reminder of the Akeida.

6. Why at times was only one trumpet blown, while at other times both trumpets were blown? 

7. The Midrash² explains that the way of the kings was to use trumpets, in fact King Tut of Egypt was buried with a trumpet. Why was it important for Moshe the leader of the holy and separate nation to have trumpets like all other kings?

As I struggled to find the answers to these questions, I posted them to my WhatsApp status to crowdsource. The following is a brief summation of the answers and hopefully some inspiration for the first three questions. 

---

The first question was regarding the length of the blasts. To help answer that, I came across an incredible Kedushas Levi³, who explains as follows:

Billam said⁴ 

לֹֽא־הִבִּ֥יט אָ֙וֶן֙ בְּיַעֲקֹ֔ב וְלֹא־רָאָ֥ה עָמָ֖ל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהָיו֙ עִמּ֔וֹ וּתְרוּעַ֥ת מֶ֖לֶךְ בּֽוֹ׃
“no harm is in sight for Yaakov no woe ‎for Yisrael. their G’d Hashem is with them.”

 The Berditchever points out that the true ‎meaning of these words is hard to understand, as the Bnei Yisrael certainly had not been faultless throughout these 40 ‎years in the desert. 

Billam describes Hashem’s attitude when the merits of Yisrael come to His attention and when, G-d forbid, their ‎sins call for His attention. He says that Yisrael’s merits will ‎immediately command Hashem’s attention and He will respond to them without delay, whereas Hashem does not wish to take a look at ‎their sins immediately.

The Berditchever proceeds to use the opportunity to explain the ‎deeper meaning of the respective sounds ‎תקיעה‎ and ‎תרועה‎ which ‎emanate from the shofar. The Tekiya ‎is unbroken, symbolizing unity, continuity, whereas the Teruah ‎signifies dissonance, friction, disharmony.‎

At the time when the Beis HaMikdash stood, this was an era distinguished by the ‎תקיעה‎, the ‎very letters in that word when examined meaning ‎תקע י-ה‎ ‎meaning “Hashem fastens, clasps, unites.”

 During periods of exile, ‎however, this is symbolized by the broken sound ‎תרועה‎; during ‎the period when the Beis HaMikdash stood daily burnt offerings, known ‎as ‎תמידים‎ were offered by the kohanim on behalf of the entire ‎people. This symbolised ‎the inner adhesion of the various shevatim to one another. 

The ‎תרועה‎ ‎sound by its very nature calls attention to the fact that the Jews ‎are dispersed among gentiles, lacking this inner cohesion. As a ‎result of their sins and the subsequent exile, Hashem delays looking at the sins of the Jewish people while they are in exile, as the ‎conditions for them to observe the Torah in full measure do not ‎exist and it is harder for them to accumulate collective merits. ‎‎

This explains that whenever the Jewish people made camp while ‎in the desert, a ‎תקיעה‎ was blown as a reminder that the ‎‎Shechinah, Hashems presence, was at hand. On the other hand, ‎breaking camp was signaled by the blowing of a ‎תרועה‎, the broken ‎sound, as breaking camp was a sign that the people had ‎displeased Hashem, and that this was why they had to pack up once ‎more. 

In response to the question about the trumpets being hidden, my friend Rabbi Naftali Kassorla, a prominent mechanech in Jerusalem shared the following, which I later saw in Otzar Hatorah by Rav Eliyahu Shlesinger, Chief Rabbi of Gilo. 

Rav Shlesinger asks our question; Why were the trumpets not passed down through the generations as the Aron , Menora and other vessels for the Mishkan were? He explains beautifully that every generation needs its own trumpets, its own way of announcung and transmitting the word of Hashem, therefore the trumpets in the times of Moshe were hidden. As trumpets are the traditional way of announcing things, that is why trumpets were chosen more than any other instrument.

Food for thought: What is our trumpet? Is it social media?

As far as why specifically trumpets and not another instrument, my friend Yosef Daniel Villareal shared the following fascinating idea: 

The violin is played with the hands, the sound comes from the vibration of the strings. Drums are tapped on either with hands or the drumstick. On a guitar, the box resonates the sound. If the hole is covered there is no sound. However when it comes to wind instruments the sound is coming from the inside of the person.

When Hashem blew the ruach into Adam HaRishon, a piece of Hashem went into Man. Hashem doesn’t have a body and breath like we do, but its a mashal that we can understand that the breath of Hashem went into man. 

The trumpet is a reminder that Moshe was given his position for a reason. There was so much dependent on Moshe and the people had to understand the weight of his position and the repercussions of not following the sound of Moshe. 

Moshe was the quintessential and ultimate Eved Hashem, this had to be without ego or personal feelings. Moshe was a vessel for Hashem. 

Moshe was able to speak to Hashem, when the rest of the Jewish people stood at Sinai their souls momentarily flew out of their bodies. 

Metal needs to be cleansed through fire in order for it to be at its ultimate value.  Moshe went through his own fire too, and was purified. You can’t put fire to a violin nor drums. The trumpet encompasses who Moshe was and what he was doing. He represented the purified vessel which became the conduit for which the Torah was given. 

My brother, Rabbi Sender Haber shared the following thought which is similar to the Berditchever, and echoes Rav Hirsch, below.

In 1929, Rav Moshe Feinstein spoke to his people about the blasts of the Shofar. He explained that in life we often expect a Tekiya. We expect a clear uninterrupted blast of good fortune and ease. We know that we are on the right path and we expect everything to go easy and unchallenged. We are looking for a long run, a winning streak an uninterrupted play. 

Rav Moshe explained that this is not reality. Life is actually a broken up Teruah. We start and stop and start and stop and start and stop again. Like the Teruah, we ourselves are broken up and divided. As a people, we can’t seem to get along and nothing seems to ‘just work’. In the desert, the Teruah was only blown when the people moved from one encampment to the next. It symbolized their broken-up forty-year journey to Eretz Yisroel. 

The only comfort that we have in this reality is the assurance that eventually things will get better. Whether it takes a day, a week, or a lifetime, there will come a time when things will work out and we will be able to enjoy success. One day Hashem will blow a final Tekiya. He will give us direct routing to the land of Israel. All of the dead will come back to life, all of the problems will go away and we will finally be unified as one. 

Rav Hirsch explains as follows:

Blowing a Tekiya into a trumpet is forcing a sound through and creating a sense of obligation, this is the sound of calling together. The Teruah is a fragmentation, a voice of dissolution, of fraying. This is the sound of sending off. 

There are two situations in our lives. One - a situation where there is permanence and stability, security and certainty. And the second - a situation in which there is a jolt and there is shock, doubt and ignorance of the future in the fog.

In the states of permanence and stability, as the convening of Israel and their leaders and in the times of the times, which express the routine situations that provide security and certainty, one simple and continuous blowing sound was heard without pauses and ups and downs, a voice expressing this permanence and stability.

On the other hand, in the changing situations, in which the future is shrouded in mist, and doubt nestles in the heart, from going into the unknown, when going on a journey and easily before going to war, the sound that came from the trumpet was actually the shout - shaky and broken, a shout that expresses doubt about the unexpected future. The unknown.

What is learned from the various trumpet sounds in the changing states is that one must distinguish between the states of blasting in our lives, and the states of shouting in them, and act in practice according to this distinction. That is, in a state of shouting such as in time of war, one must behave according to common sense and moral standards that are appropriate and needed in time of war.

On the other hand, in a state of blasting, such as in routine and certainly in peacetime, we must behave in a manner appropriate to these situations, and God forbid confuse and confuse them, otherwise the creators will turn around and the serious consequences will not be long in coming. "For every time and for every object under the sky… a time of war and a time of peace."

All this until the hard ‘Teruos’ we go through throughout history are over, and the voice of the great 'Tekiya' of our last and complete redemption is heard, as it is said in the mouths of our prophets and prayers - "In that day a great shofar will blow,"

There will be a Tekiya and not a Teruah as that represents Hashem’s pleasure in the deeds of his people

That leaves us with the remaining four questions:

1. What is the significance and what is the connection to the Menora and the Krashim which were also made from solid pieces of metal?

2. Why didn’t Moshe just blow a Shofar? In fact the Shofar makes the same sounds and seems to be more significant, as it is a reminder of the Akeida.

3. Why at times was only one trumpet blown, while at other times both trumpets were blown? 

4. The Midrash explains that the way of the kings was to use trumpets, in fact King Tut of Egypt was buried with a trumpet. Why was it important for Moshe the leader of the holy and separate nation to have trumpets like all other kings?

There is much discussion about this in the Sifrei Kabbalah and Chassidus, and after studying some of them, I am still unable to understand enough to provide answers.

If you have any answers, explanations or comments - please comment below.

1. Bamidbar Rabba 15; Bereishis Rabba 96

2. Bamidbar Rabba 15

3. Parashas Balak

4. Bamidbar  23,21