Shabbat and Shofar: Initiation of Rabbinic Independence

Shabbat and Shofar: Initiation of Rabbinic Independence

Arthur L. Finkle

However, on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year, usually the first new moon in September), the Priests sounded two Shofars and one Trumpet. (See Chofetz Chaim, Mishnah Berurah 586 et seq.) Another differing source indicates that, although normally the trumpet plays the long notes and a Shofar sounds the short notes. On Rosh Hashanah, however, the trumpet takes the short notes; the Shofar, long notes. See Rosh Hashanah 33b. Either way, the Shofar accompanied the special sacrifices on Rosh Hashanah, the holiday designated as "Yom Teruah" ("A day of blowing"; Num. 29:1). The Shofar also proclaimed the Jubilee Year on Yom Kippur (Lev. 25:9–10). The special year freed property to its original owners, forgave debts and gave freedom to slaves, among other things.
Indeed, the Temple service provided Shofar sounds on the Sabbath, itself. There was within the temple an inscription on the lintel of the wall at the top of the Temple that said, "To the house of the blowing of the trumpet (Shofar)". Each Sabbath 2 men with silver trumpets and a man with a Shofar made three trumpet blasts twice during the day. On Rosh haShanah, this was different. The Shofar is the primary trumpet. According to Leviticus 23:24 and Numbers 29, Rosh HaShanah is the day of the blowing of the trumpets. The original name is Yom (Day) Teruah (The staccato sound of the horn, which also means “Shout”). According to the Mishnah (Rosh HaShanah 16a, 3:3), the trumpet used for this purpose is the ram's horn, not trumpets made of metal as in Numbers 10. On Rosh HaShanah, a Shofar delivers the first blast, a silver trumpet the second, and then the Shofar the third.

http://www.Shofars.org/theShofararticle.htm. Accessed March 1, 2010.

Subsequent Rabbinic Prohibition of Sounding Shofar on the Sabbath

However, the Midshnah makes clear that , prior to the destruction of the Temple, the Shofar was sounded on Rosh Hashsnah from in the Temple. Rosh HaShanah Mishnah 4:1; 4:2

After the destruction of the Temple, Yochanan ben Zakkai substituted the Shofar to be played first in Jerusalem; then he enlarged to the area to Jerusalem and its environs; then in Jamnia (where the Rabbi’s were situated immediately after the Temple’s destruction. Thereafter the Rabbi’s enlarged the areas to cover those area on Judea that had Jewish courts, which bespoke a population at oeast 120 people. RH 4:1 and notes from Yad Avraham.

• As time passed, the further away from the rituals of the Temple practice and the predominance of the Rabbi’s, the practice came to be that the Shofar was not sounded on the Shabbat. It was later codified in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 588:5, Taz, Mishna Brurah 13; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 143:1 ; Ran to Tractate Rosh Hashana ch. 4; and Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 135:14

Indeed, we look to the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch 588:4) and we see:

When the festival of Rosh HaShanah fall on Shabbos, the Shofar is not sounded. Sounding the Shofar is not a forbidden labor; it is forbidden [because ] it is considered mundane activity which can lead to a mundane assembly which is forbidden on the Sabbath.


The Rabbi Sholom Dovber ("Rebbe Rashab" -1860-1920) clears this up when he staters athat the ban of sounding is Rabbinic; not Biblical. But the ban is due to Rabbah’s Decree. In another Chasidic interpretation is that the Sabbath takes on a spiritual glory and does not need another spiritual glory to carry the day. But, on other days, the Shofar sounds provide this spiritual glory; which otherwise is lost after the Sabbath.
After the Temple was destroyed, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai established that they would blow in every place in which there is a Rabbinic court." (Rosh Hashanah 4:1)
The first statement of the Mishnah is puzzling. If blowing Shofar is melakhah (the category of work forbidden on the Sabbath), then why is it not forbidden inside the Temple? And if blowing Shofar is not melakhah, why would it be forbidden outside of the Temple? Clearly, any solution to this problem will need some other kind of understanding of blowing Shofar.
Nevertheless, the Gemara (the commentary/interpretation of the Mishnah by the sages of the 3rd-6th centuries CE) continues:
"From where in the Torah does this law come? Said R. Levi bar Lachma said R. Hama bar Haninah: One verse says "a day of complete rest commemorated with the blowing of the Shofar"(Leviticus 23:24), and one verse says "it will be for you a day of blowing the Shofar"(Numbers 29:1). There is no problem. The [first] one is when the festival occurs on Shabbat. The [second] one is when the festival occurs on a weekday" (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 29b).
The Gemara asks a typical question: What is the biblical basis for the law that one does not blow the Shofar on Shabbat outside of the Temple? R. Hama bar Haninah is quoted, providing a clever reading of the Torah. Since the rabbis assume that the Torah is perfect, and perfection implies that no words are wasted, the two verses quoted above from Leviticus and Numbers, which appear to say the same thing, cannot, indeed, be saying the same thing. According to Hama bar Haninah, the verse from Leviticus which uses the language שבתון זכרון תרועה--shabbaton zikhron teru’ah (a day of complete rest commemorated with the blowing of the Shofar)--should be understood as “on the Shabbat, a remembrance of the blowing,” or as Rashi explains, “and not a real blowing; rather, they recite verses about the blowing of Shofar.” This is a very clever reading of the verse from Leviticus.
Basically, R. Hama bar Haninah’s approach is that, based on a midrash on the Torah, blowing Shofar is permitted on weekdays, but forbidden on the Sabbath. But, as the Gemara asks next:
“Said Rava: If it [i.e. the prohibition to blow Shofar on shabbat] is based on the Torah, how did we blow Shofar in the Temple?…”
Of course we knew this. At our first look at the Mishnah, we knew that any approach that argued that blowing Shofar was strictly forbidden on the Sabbath would not explain the Mishnah; if Shofar-blowing is forbidden on the Sabbath, how were they permitted to blow Shofar in the Temple. As clever as R. Hama bar Hanina’s reading is, it is inadequate to the task of explaining the Mishnah. So why did the Gemara even include his midrash if it was so plainly and obviously incorrect?
The answer to this question reveals one of the underlying truths of rabbinic Judaism. More important than the conclusion is the process. The message of the Gemara is not that a correct understanding is irrelevant, or that there aren’t correct (and incorrect) understandings; to the contrary, careful thinking and evidence-based argument are crucial. But they are not as important as allowing diverse views to be expressed. When we examine and discuss the logic of the Mishnah, we make sure that diverse opinions, divergent opinions, and even clearly false opinions are given voice. To shut off the creativity of a Hama bar Haninah in this case might indicate that all that matters is the final word. To indulge that creativity, even when it is clearly wrong, sets the opposite precedent, and encourages creative thinkers to take intellectual risks for the sake of Torah. If the conversation of Torah she’b’al peh--"Oral Law"--is to proceed, we must foster and encourage our risk-takers.
Rava does end up revealing how the Mishnah makes sense. Rava quotes his teacher Rabbah, who argues that the prohibition against blowing Shofar outside of the Temple was a rabbinic prohibition (and not a biblical prohibition, as Hama bar Haninah argued), which simply did not apply to the Temple.
The Talmud now turns to the second part of the Mishnah: “After the Temple was destroyed, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai established that they would blow in every place in which there is a Rabbinic court.” The Mishnah’s language “established” is bland and undramatic. The Talmud fills in the details:
Rabbah’s Decree includes three classic cases where Rabbah rules that a particular
mitzvah must be postponed or cancelled due to the concern that the mitzvah implement might be inadvertently carried on Shabbos.

• Taking a lulav on the first day of Sukkos,
• Blowing Shofar on the first day of Rosh Hashana (Rosh Hashana 29a)
• Reading of Megillas Esther (Megilla 4b).

In each case, the Gemara mentions that Rabbah made his ruling not only
in the case being discussed, but in the other two cases, as well.
The opinion found in the Jerusalem Talmud and the subsequent Sifra is that blowing a Shofar on Shabbat is a Biblical prohibition which received a special dispensation to be blown in the Temple on Shabbat (Rosh HaShannah 4:1) On the other hand, in the Babylonian Talmud blowing a Shofar is interpreted as only a rabbinic prohibition and outside of the Temple it was prohibited lest one carry it more than four amot in the public domain (Rosh HaShannah 29b).

Indeed, the Sages are empowered to "overrule" a Torah precept (if their instruction involves restraint from action, not a proactive violation of a biblical command).See See Talmud Yevamot 89b-90b. This authority is subject to many limitations. For example, the Sages can only use this power in order to preserve another Torah statute (as in our case, the Torah prohibition against carrying in the public domain on Shabbat.
Our obligation to follow such directives is implicit in the verse,8 "And you shall do according to the word they tell you, from the place that G d will choose, and you shall observe to do according to all they instruct you." Although, It should be noted that the Jerusalem Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 4:1) maintains that the original biblical command to sound the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah only applied to when Rosh Hashanah falls on a weekday

In a further emendation, the Alter Rebbe’s accents the prohibition of the mundane activity to buttress the argument that one should not carry rather than the other way around.

Halakhah (Jewish Law) rules that the Shofar may not be sounded on the Sabbath due to the potential that the Ba'al T'kiyah (Shofar Sounder) may inadvertently carry it, which is in a class of forbidden Sabbath work. (R.H. 29b)

One can not blow the Shofar on Shabbat because of temptation to carry more than four cubits in a public domain [thus, breaking the prohibition of carrying on the Sabbath.] Mishnah Berurah, 588:5


The historical explanation is that in ancient Israel, the Shofar was sounded in the Temple on the Sabbath as were other sacrifices and musical instruments.

Real Origin of the Shofar’s Significance: The Rabbi’s Rule

Real Origin of the Shofar’s Significance: The Rabbi’s Rule

Arthur L. Finkle

Although the Mishnah cites the origin for the sounding of the Shofar based in the Hebrew Scripture, the actuality is that the Mishnah and Talmud regularized and legitimatized the Shofar’s predominance at both Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur after the destruction of the Second Temple.

Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 3:3 cites that the Shofar is played on Yom Teruah (Day of Blasting or Rosh HaShanah) because it was sounded at the special sacrifice at Rosh HaShanah. Additionally, it was sounded on Yom Kippur to announce to Jubilee Year (every 50 years, Jews could reclaim their sold lands; Jewish slaves were freed; debts forgiven; etc.). Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 3:3 says in part:

The Shofar [blown in the Temple] at the New Year was [made from the horn] of the wild goat, straight, with its mouthpiece overlaid with gold. And at the sides [of them that blew the Shofar] were two (that blew upon) trumpets. The Shofar blew a long note and the trumpets a short note, since the duty of the day fell on the Shofar.

The Mishnah thus emphasizes that in Rosh HaShanah symbolized the Shofar; the trumpets, the other special days.

However, Hoenig does not trace a specific sacrifice relating to the sound of the Shofar at the Temple ritual for Rosh HaShanah.

Zeitlin traces the history of prayer as essential for history of religion because it traces the evolution of humankind’s relationship to God.

He indicates that, biblical horns blasts indicate a plague or another calamity. In many cases such blasts called an assembly, blew the Shofar and fasted, (Joel 2.15-16.)

Indeed, we learn that the Holiness Code that set apart a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts (Lev 24) as Zikhron tru’ah (commemoration by blasting) Also found in Num 29:1. The sounding of horns had various functions in Ancient Israel, as well as elsewhere in the Middle East. Usually, it was a method of assembling the people before moving on to a new location or of mustering troops for battle. Cultic uses as well. Here it is hint that there is a pilgrimage day at full moon (Sukot) (JPS Torah Commentary, Leviticus, p 160.)


The later prophets, however, preached the universality of God. They ceased calling the Temple, the house of God. Indeed, the universality bespeaks omnipotence and omnipresence. Isaiah declares: "Thus, said God, the heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; where is the house that ye may build unto Me? Where is the place that may be My resting place?" (Isa. 66.1).

In the Book of Psalms repentance is connected with prayer. In the Books of Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah confession was already a part of prayer. (Ps. 32.5; 41.5; 51.3-7).

The Hebrew Scriptures note that the first day of the seventh month shall be one of remembrance by sounding the blast of the horn (teruah). Though the practice of blowing trumpets is generally associated with the offering of sacrifices, as recorded in Numbers 10: 10: "And in your day of gladness and in your appointed seasons and in your new moons, ye shall sound with the trumpets (hatzotzerot) over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God,"

The Scriptures are support that “the blast of the horn" (tekiat shofar) is singled out on the first day of the seventh month (Rosh HaShanah) as an exceptional rite. Nevertheless, there are numerous verses that cite hatzotzerot (trumpets) associated the sacrificial cult, performed by Hezekiah, hatzotzerotin deed play a significant role. 4 Yet the Bible generally associates "blasts of sound" with Shofar, announcing assembly, travel or war. (Num. 10:1 ff.; 1 Chron. 15: 24.

Apparently hatzotzerot were the usual Temple musical instruments whereas Shofar was only for special occasions. Cf. "Musical Instruments," Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, p. 472.

ORIGINS OF THE ROSH HASHANAH LITURGY

The delineation of Shofar for Rosh Hashanah and hatzotzerot for customary sacrifice became an early biblical norm. Hatzotzerot (trumpets) were used at every new moon at the sacrificial service; Shofar was an added distinction of the new moon of the seventh month, based upon the biblical nomenclature, Yom teruah, "a day of sounding the horn" or "trumpet day."

Indeed, Philo (a 1st century Jewish/Hellenistic historian/philosopher mentions that there was a double sacrifice on Rosh HaShanah (The Special Laws I, I80 (Vol. VII, Loeb Classical Library). However, Josephus, former Israeli general who became allied with the conquering Roman authorities, does not mention the blowing of the Shofar for the seventh month. ((Ant. 3. Io. 2 [239]))

At this point, we introduce some ambiguity of language. Though Hebrew usage distinguishes between Shofar and hatzotzerot, the Greek word is the translation for both instruments. Accordingly, when Philo uses the expression "trumpet day," it is definite that he refers here not to hatzotzerot but to Shofar, (Zeitlin).

Philo's reasons for the blowing of Shofar on "trumpet day," therefore, are: a) a reminder of the Sinaitic revelation. b) an instrument of war. c) a thanks-offering to God, the peace-maker and peace-keeper.

On that occasion too the Levites sang Psalm 8I which contains the passage "Blow the Shofar on the new moon, etc." (Jerusalem Talmud R.H. 59c; R.H. 30b).

After the destruction of the Temple, Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai proclaimed the Shofar be sounded in Jabneh (where his school was located) on Rosh Hashanah, even if Rosh HaShanah occurred on the Sabbath, continuing the practice of the Temple. His subsequent takkonot (proclamations) in this emergency of losing the Temple and replacing it with the synagogue. Expanded the situs to any place in Israel where there was an official Bet Din ( Zeitlin, "The Takkanot of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai," JQR (Oct. 1964), p. 290.)

The practice of sounding the notes of the traditional Shofar sounds finds some support in bible for tekiah and teruah. However, there is no order given as to the order or pitch, timbre, or intensity. The manner of observance of Yom Teruah (day of blasting) or Zikron Teruah (memorial of sound) is not specified. Such is set forth only in the Mishnah Rosh Hashanah where a third note was instituted by Rabbi Abbahu of Caesarea (circa 300 C.E.) was accepted as the correct mode to be followed. RH 34a

In Jabneh and in Usha, the predominant cities for the Jewish communities after the destruction of the Temple, the now dominant Rabbi’s issued takkonot to ease the transition of society to a diasporac condition. Among the ritual changes were the designating benedictions accompanying this ancient rite of Shofar sounding, known as Malkuyot (Kingship), Zikronot (Remembrance) and Shoforot (horn blasting).

Since Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri and Rabbi Akiba discuss its place in the liturgy, hence it must have been inaugurated about I20 CE after the Amidah (standing prayer integrtal to Jewish worship) was instituted. Interestingly Rabbi Akiba's practice was followed in Judea; Galilean Jewry followed Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri's mode. (Jerusalem Talmud R.H. 59; Saul Lieberman,(1898-1983), Tosefta Moed R.H. [midrashic literature coterminous with the Talmud), p. 316).

Indeed, an examination Psalm 81 reveals that basically it contains the elements of Malkuyot, Shofrot and Zikronot, though not so named or even stressed. (Hoenig)

References

Arthur L. Finkle.. Easy Guide to Shofar Sounding, LA: Torah Aura, 2002.

Sidney B. Hoenig, Origins of the Rosh Hashanah Liturgy, The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 57, The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Volume of the Jewish Quarterly Review (1967), pp. 312-331, University of Pennsylvania Press http://www.jstor.org/stable/1453499

JPS Torah Commentary – Leviticus, Commentary Baruch A. Levine, Philadelphia: JPS, 1989

David Wulstan, The Sounding of the Shofar Author(s): Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 26 (May, 1973), pp. 29-46,Galpin Society. http://www.jstor.org/stable/841111

Solomon Zeitlin, An Historical Study of the First Canonization of the Hebrew Liturgy,The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jan., 1946), pp. 211-229, University of Pennsylvania Press