Torah Community Connections

Week 41 - Wednesday - 6 September 2000

ROSH HASHANAH: CHAPTER 3: MISHNAH 4

On fast days, of males, bent and their mouthpieces coated with silver, and two trumpets in the middle. The shofar sounds a short note and the trumpets a long note, for the obligation of the day is with trumpets.

Kehati

It is taught in Tractate Ta'anit: "Rosh Hodesh of Kislev arrived and the rains did not fall, the Court decrees three fasts for the community (on Monday, Thursday, and Monday)…if these passed and were not answered, the Court decrees three other fasts for the community…If these passed and were not answered, the Court decrees an additional seven, totaling thirteen fasts for the community. These (the last seven fasts) surpass the first ones, for in these they sound the shofarot during the prayer" (1:5-6). It is also taught, "They sound the shofar for any public distress - may such never occur" (Taan. 3:8), i.e., they fast and blow the shofarot. After the preceding mishnah taught that on Rosh Hashanah they blow a shofar of a wild goat, this mishnah teaches that on fast days they blow the shofar of a ram, which is bent, symbolizing that a person must bend his head and hear before his Creator, so that He may be merciful to him.

On public fast days - on which they blow (see above), they blow with shofarot of males - rams, which are bent - for reasons explained above and their mouthpieces coated with silver - unlike the shofar of Rosh Hashanah, which was coated with gold in honor of the holy day, the shofarot, which they blow on fast days, at a time of public distress, are silver-coated, and the trumpets used to gather the people are of silver, as it is written, "Make you two trumpets of silver…and they shall be to you for calling the congregation" (Num. 10:2) (Gemara), and two trumpets in the middle - this also refers to the practice in the Temple, where on fast days two people blew the trumpets, and one man stood on their right and one on their left, and blew the shofarot.

The shofar sounds a short note and the trumpets a long note - the people blowing the trumpets finished sounding them after the shofar blowers for the obligation of the day is with trumpets - as it is written, "And when you go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets" (Num. 10:9) - hence that there is an obligation to sound the alarm with trumpets for any distress that befalls the community (Sifrei; Rambam, Hil. Ta'aniyot 1:1).

ROSH HASHANAH: CHAPTER 3: MISHNAH 5

The Yovel is like Rosh Hashanah regarding the blowing and the blessings. Rabbi Yehudah says, On Rosh Hashanah they blow on those of males, and on the Yovel on those of wild goats.

Kehati

It is written in the Torah: "And you shall number seven Sabbaths of years to you, seven times seven years, and the days of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty and nine years. Then shall you sound the shofar in the seventh month on the tenth day, on the Day of Atonement shall you sound the shofar throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a yovel to you; and you shall return every man to his possession, and you shall return every man to his family" (Lev. 25:8-10). Hence we learn that there is an obligation to blow the shofar on Yom Kippur of the Yovel year, to proclaim the release of the servants and the return of the fields to their owners. This mishnah teaches that on Yom Kippur of the Yovel the same practice as that of Rosh Hashanah is followed.

Yom Kippur of the Yovel year is like Rosh Hashanah of every year regarding the blowing - on both they blow on them with a straight ram's shofar. This law is learned from the passage, "Then shall you sound the shofar in the seventh month": the Torah teaches that all the blowings of the seventh month shall be alike; Bartenura interprets "for the blowing" to mean, for the number of the sounds, and the blessings - on Yom Kippur of the Yovel year they also recite the Malkhiyot, Zikhronot, and shofarot blessings in the Musaf prayer, and they blow for these blessings on Rosh Hashanah (see below, 4:5-6).

Rabbi Yehudah says, On Rosh Hashanah they blow on those - of males - on ram's horns which are bent; his reason, already explained, is that the shofar alludes to the fact that a person's head and heart should be bent humbly during his prayer, and on Yom Kippur of the Yovel year, since the shofar sound is a sign of freedom, they blow on those - on horns, of wild goats - which are straight. However, all agree that on fast days they blow on the shofar of a ram, which is bent. The Jerusalem Talmud states: "They enacted bent for bent, and straight for straight," i.e., they blow on a bent shofar when people's hearts are bent, and with a straight shofar when people's hearts are erect and cheerful (Hameiri). The Jerusalem Talmud states further: "They enacted the commonly found for the recurrent, and the rare for the rare," i.e., the Sages enacted that on Rosh Hashanah, which occurs in every year, the shofar of the ram, which is common, be sounded, while regarding Yom Kippur of the Yovel year, which is infrequent, they enacted that the shofar of the wild goat, which is not common, be sounded. As already mentioned, Rambam rules that a bent ram's shofar is sounded (see 3:3, above) both on Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur of the Yovel year.

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