וְתָקְע֖וּ בָּהֵ֑ן וְנֽוֹעֲד֤וּ אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ כָּל־הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה אֶל־פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד׃
Y cuando las tocaren, toda la congregación se juntará á ti á la puerta del tabernáculo del testimonio.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ועשית לך ארון עץ, “and make a wooden ark for yourself!”. Moses reports that he first made the ark (compare verse 3) and only after that did he carve out the Tablets. He followed this sequence in order to have a “home” ready for the Tablets when he would return with them from the mountain. If he had not first made the ark where would he put the Tablets when he arrived among the people with them? Our sages have a tradition that the “ark” mentioned by Moses in verse 5 was the one that he had made immediately after receiving the instructions to carve out the second set of Tablets. In other words, this was not the same Ark which Betzalel was instructed to make for the Tabernacle in Exodus 25,10 (based on Tanchuma Eikev 10).
The ark which Moses made was strictly temporary in order to have a place for the Tablets to be put pending the instructions to build the Tabernacle and to make a permanent home for the Tablets. The wooden ark made by Moses was the ones the people would take with them when they went to war. The Ark made by Betzalel was removed from the Tabernacle (except during the journeys when the Tabernacle itself was dismantled) only at the express command of G’d when the people marched around Jericho with the priests carrying the Holy Ark in front of them (Joshua 6,12). When, several hundreds of years later, the sons of the High Priest Eli took it upon themselves to take the Holy Ark to war with them against the Philistines, the Ark was captured and the sons of Eli died as a punishment for their high handed action. (Samuel I 4,8 describes that although, initially the Philistines were frightened of the Ark, they fought the Israelites and were victorious, capturing the Ark).
The ark (box) made by Moses contained (initially) both the Tablets and the broken pieces of the original Tablets which Moses had smashed. After Betzalel made the Holy Ark for the Tabernacle the contents of Moses’ ark were transferred to it. This is the meaning of Exodus 25,16: “you will place inside the Ark the testimony which I shall give you.” Even though the Talmud in Baba Batra 14 states: “there was nothing inside the Holy Ark except the two Tablets,” this is not to exclude the broken pieces of the first Tablets, as whenever two restrictive clauses are employed consecutively, the meaning is that something additional is meant, in this case the remnants of the first Tablets. This was after the Temple of Solomon had been built. As long as the Tabernacle of Betzalel functioned as the Temple, the Holy Ark contained the second set of Tablets whereas Moses’ ark contained the broken pieces of the first set of Tablets. (Compare Tosafot Eyruvin 63. Tosafot base themselves on the verse quoted by the Talmud in Baba Batra which appears in Kings I 8,9.)
The ark which Moses made was strictly temporary in order to have a place for the Tablets to be put pending the instructions to build the Tabernacle and to make a permanent home for the Tablets. The wooden ark made by Moses was the ones the people would take with them when they went to war. The Ark made by Betzalel was removed from the Tabernacle (except during the journeys when the Tabernacle itself was dismantled) only at the express command of G’d when the people marched around Jericho with the priests carrying the Holy Ark in front of them (Joshua 6,12). When, several hundreds of years later, the sons of the High Priest Eli took it upon themselves to take the Holy Ark to war with them against the Philistines, the Ark was captured and the sons of Eli died as a punishment for their high handed action. (Samuel I 4,8 describes that although, initially the Philistines were frightened of the Ark, they fought the Israelites and were victorious, capturing the Ark).
The ark (box) made by Moses contained (initially) both the Tablets and the broken pieces of the original Tablets which Moses had smashed. After Betzalel made the Holy Ark for the Tabernacle the contents of Moses’ ark were transferred to it. This is the meaning of Exodus 25,16: “you will place inside the Ark the testimony which I shall give you.” Even though the Talmud in Baba Batra 14 states: “there was nothing inside the Holy Ark except the two Tablets,” this is not to exclude the broken pieces of the first Tablets, as whenever two restrictive clauses are employed consecutively, the meaning is that something additional is meant, in this case the remnants of the first Tablets. This was after the Temple of Solomon had been built. As long as the Tabernacle of Betzalel functioned as the Temple, the Holy Ark contained the second set of Tablets whereas Moses’ ark contained the broken pieces of the first set of Tablets. (Compare Tosafot Eyruvin 63. Tosafot base themselves on the verse quoted by the Talmud in Baba Batra which appears in Kings I 8,9.)
Or HaChaim
אל ראשי המטות, to the leaders of the tribes, etc. What is so different about this commandment that Moses assembled the chiefs of the tribes to inform them of it and that they in turn were to tell the Israelites? Sifri claims that seeing in Numbers 10,3 in connection with the trumpets the congregation was mentioned before the leaders, and Moses was afraid that this would be misinterpreted to mean that the congregation at large took precedence over the princes, he made sure in 10,4 that the princes were referred to as the heads of the congregation. Moses did something similar here when he addressed the heads of the tribes first. In Nedarim 78 we are told that the reason the heads of the tribes are mentioned here was to hint that vows may be dissolved by a lone judge if he is an expert in the subject. All these comments are strictly allegorical. We need to understand also why the Torah writes המטות לבני ישראל. All Moses had to say was מטות בני ישראל. What is the reason for the extra letter ל? We must assume that the reason for the extra letter is to avoid a misunderstanding. Had the Torah not written לבני ישראל, we might have thought that the legislation was aimed only at the leaders of the people. By writing the extra letter ל, the Torah ensured that we would understand the legislation as applying to the leaders of the people as well as to the nation at large. The absence of the letter ו in front of לבני ישראל is not significant as the Torah has omitted that letter on frequent occasions where we would have expected it such as in Exodus 1,2 ראובן, שמעון, etc.
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Behaalotcha 9-10: [In order to understand this one must remember that the word חצוצרות is related to חצץ which also means crushing stones into pebbles. Ed.] According to this Midrash there is a connection with Psalms 24,7 where Solomon prayed for the gates of the Temple to raise themselves, seeing they were too low to admit the Holy Ark. When the gates demanded to know who was going to enter that they had to change their posture, Solomon said that “the king of glory wants to come in.” This did not satisfy the gates and they demanded again who this king of glory was. Solomon replied that it was ה' עזוז וגבור ה' גבור מלחמה, “the Lord, mighty and valiant, the Lord valiant in battle.” This still did not prove enough to persuade the gates to raise their heads until Solomon added that the king of glory he spoke about was ה' צבאות הוא מלך הכבוד סלה, that it was “the Lord G’d of hosts, He is the king of glory, Selah.” Up until that moment the gates had threatened to crush Solomon. When they heard the latter description of G’d, they opened up immediately. Seeing these gates had shown this honor to G‘d, G’d in turn promised to reward them saying that if and when He allowed His Temple to be destroyed these gates would not fall into the hands of the enemy or into the hands of any other creature.
You should know that when the Babylonians took King Yehoyakim into captivity together with most of the furnishings of the Temple (Daniel 1,2), the gates were hidden. This is the meaning of Lamentations 2,9: “its gates sunk into earth.”
The reason G’d is referred to as the king of כבוד, “glory,” is because He shares some of His glory with His creatures. How do we observe this in practice? We know that G’d is called אלו-הים. We find that G’d accorded the title Elohim to Moses when He told him: “here I have made you Elohim for Pharaoh” (Exodus 7,1). We know that it is G’d’s prerogative to kill and bring to life. Yet we find in Kings I 17,23 when Elijah told the mother: “here your son is alive (again)” that G’d had transferred this power to revive the dead to the prophet Elijah. G’d is known as “king” as we know from Psalms 47,6-8 עלה אלו-הים בתרועה....כי מלך כל הארץ אלו-הים, “G’d ascends as part of the teruah; ....for the king is king over the whole earth.” Moses has also been accorded the title “king,” as we know from Deut. 33,5 ויהי בישורון מלך, “he was king in Yeshurun (the Jewish people). Just as people herald the impending arrival of a king by blowing trumpets so G’d told Moses to make for himself two silver trumpets that were to be blown at the time the Israelites would be assembled (compare verse 3).
The words עשה לך, “make for yourself,” mean that they will be yours exclusively; you will make them and no one else is to use them. Even Moses’ successor and foremost disciple, Joshua, never used the trumpets to blow in but only ram’s horns, such as when he was about to capture the city of Jericho (Compare Joshua 6,3). In fact we have reason to believe that Moses hid these trumpets already during his lifetime as we read in Deut. 31,28: that Moses commanded the Levites to assemble the people to him so he could address them. If the trumpets had ben available at the time, why did he not sound the trumpets to assemble the people? Obviously, they had already been hidden in order to fulfill the statement in Kohelet 8,8 that there is no authority exercised by a ruler on the day he dies. [Deut. 31,28 quotes happenings on the last day of Moses’ life. Ed.]
We find a verse in Chronicles II 29,26 discussing matters which took place in the Temple during the time of King Chiskiyahu. ”The Levites stood equipped with the musical instruments of King David and the Priests were (blowing) the trumpets.” In verse 28 of the same chapter we read והשיר משורר והחצוצרות מחצצרים, “and the song was sung and the trumpets were blown, etc.” This was in contrast to David personally who favoured playing the harp as we know from Psalms 57,9 “awake, O my soul (my glory), awake, O harp and lyre, I will wake the dawn.” We are told that he had a harp hanging over his bed and that as soon as midnight arrived and the North wind began to blow the harp would start playing on its own. As soon as this occurred David would rise from his bed and together with all the other students they would study Torah and chase the sleep from their eyes until dawn.
According to the Tanchuma the reason the verse in Psalms speaks about “waking dawn” in connection with his soul awakening was to demonstrate that David’s personal כבוד was nothing compared to G’d’s כבוד, glory. David “woke” dawn not just for himself but he wanted to shake up people from their slumber.
A more kabbalistic approach: the two trumpets symbolized the tekiah and teruah, i.e. the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice. When G’d said to Moses “these shall be for you an instrument to call the congregation to journey,” this is equivalent to His saying to Moses: “they shall be for you as either tekiah or teruah.” If so, this is clear proof that the journeys and campings of the Israelites were subject to the two attributes mentioned, i.e. that the words על פי ה' יחנו ועל פי ה' יסעו את משמרת ה' שמרו which are written adjoining the paragraph instructing Moses to make the trumpets are conceptually closely connected, and that the words על פי ה' refer to both attributes, as the case may be.
If we consider that Moses was entrusted with these two trumpets and what they symbolised you can appreciate his elevated status, i.e. that he could call upon either the attribute of Justice or the attribute of Mercy at will, so to speak. This proves his status as king.
The reason the trumpets had to be made only of silver, and that no other metal was acceptable as a substitute (as opposed to the Menorah), is discussed in Menachot 28. The Talmud says that the silver used for their construction was a silver bar. Whereas smaller pieces of silver scrap were acceptable as the raw material, other metals were not. The reason there had to be two such trumpets was in order for Moses to be able to address and be addressed by the attribute of Mercy on a “face to face” basis,” as sort of a vision within a vision, there had to be two. The construction is described in the Torah as מקשה, “hammered, beaten work,” This is the mystical dimension of what is written in verse 3 ונועדו אליך כל העדה, “the tekiah element when blowing both trumpets” is the signal to assemble the entire congregation to be exposed to the communication from the attribute of Mercy which addressed the Israelites out of the fire. This is what Moses had in mind when he told the people in Deut. 4,15: “on the day the Lord spoke to you at Chorev out of the fire.” When the tekiah was blown out of only one of the trumpets this was the signal for the princes who were unique people to be assembled around Moses. Moses who was unique, would hear the voice of G’d who was unique. He was the only one who could understand the voice of the attribute of Mercy speaking to him. The teruah sound would be blown to signal that the people were to get ready to journey, part of their campaign to conquer the Holy Land. The fact that the attribute of Justice (symbolized by the teruah sound) was called upon is a compliment to the stature of the Jewish people. Seeing that no other prophet had attained the stature of Moses to be addressed both by the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice on a “face to face” basis by means of the trumpets, these trumpets had to be “hidden,“ so that no one else would use them. The very words והיו לך, “they shall be yours,” which G’d said to Moses concerning these trumpets mean that only Moses would have access to these two attributes of Hashem in such a manner. Seeing these trumpets were so sacred they had to be hidden prior to Moses’ death.
Do not wonder why they were made of silver (and not of gold). The manner in which they were hammered out of one piece made it impossible to construct them of any metal other than silver. The cherubs on the kapporet of the Holy Ark were also constructed in a similar manner, (out of gold). In the case of the cherubs the attribute of Justice was subordinate to the attribute of Mercy contained within it. Hence a soft metal, gold, was used. By the same token seeing that in the case of the trumpets the situation was the reverse, i.e. that the attribute of Mercy was subordinate to the attribute of Justice which was part of it, a hard metal, silver, had to be used to symbolize that concept. Joshua was not allowed to use the trumpets and he used the shofar instead to symbolize the attribute of Justice which was poised against his enemies, the inhabitants of Jericho. David also was not allowed to use the trumpets and used the harp instead which corresponded to his principal attribute, virtue. The author draws a comparison between the word כנור and the lake called ים כנרת, (sea of Galilee). The blue applied to the tzitzit is drawn from a fish in that lake, this is why his attribute is known as כנור דוד. (Rabbi Chavell found a source in the Zohar Beshalach 48 for this.) There are kabbalistic writings explaining why תכלת represents these attributes of Justice. [Remak (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero) quotes a saying that any color one sees in one’s dream is acceptable except techelet, as this represents the attribute of Justice in its full power. Pardess Rimonim discusses the colours and their mystical significance in a chapter called שער הגוונים. Ed.]. What we learn from the above is that every great historical personality was given the tools appropriate to his spiritual level to use in communicating with G’d or on behalf of G’d.
You should know that when the Babylonians took King Yehoyakim into captivity together with most of the furnishings of the Temple (Daniel 1,2), the gates were hidden. This is the meaning of Lamentations 2,9: “its gates sunk into earth.”
The reason G’d is referred to as the king of כבוד, “glory,” is because He shares some of His glory with His creatures. How do we observe this in practice? We know that G’d is called אלו-הים. We find that G’d accorded the title Elohim to Moses when He told him: “here I have made you Elohim for Pharaoh” (Exodus 7,1). We know that it is G’d’s prerogative to kill and bring to life. Yet we find in Kings I 17,23 when Elijah told the mother: “here your son is alive (again)” that G’d had transferred this power to revive the dead to the prophet Elijah. G’d is known as “king” as we know from Psalms 47,6-8 עלה אלו-הים בתרועה....כי מלך כל הארץ אלו-הים, “G’d ascends as part of the teruah; ....for the king is king over the whole earth.” Moses has also been accorded the title “king,” as we know from Deut. 33,5 ויהי בישורון מלך, “he was king in Yeshurun (the Jewish people). Just as people herald the impending arrival of a king by blowing trumpets so G’d told Moses to make for himself two silver trumpets that were to be blown at the time the Israelites would be assembled (compare verse 3).
The words עשה לך, “make for yourself,” mean that they will be yours exclusively; you will make them and no one else is to use them. Even Moses’ successor and foremost disciple, Joshua, never used the trumpets to blow in but only ram’s horns, such as when he was about to capture the city of Jericho (Compare Joshua 6,3). In fact we have reason to believe that Moses hid these trumpets already during his lifetime as we read in Deut. 31,28: that Moses commanded the Levites to assemble the people to him so he could address them. If the trumpets had ben available at the time, why did he not sound the trumpets to assemble the people? Obviously, they had already been hidden in order to fulfill the statement in Kohelet 8,8 that there is no authority exercised by a ruler on the day he dies. [Deut. 31,28 quotes happenings on the last day of Moses’ life. Ed.]
We find a verse in Chronicles II 29,26 discussing matters which took place in the Temple during the time of King Chiskiyahu. ”The Levites stood equipped with the musical instruments of King David and the Priests were (blowing) the trumpets.” In verse 28 of the same chapter we read והשיר משורר והחצוצרות מחצצרים, “and the song was sung and the trumpets were blown, etc.” This was in contrast to David personally who favoured playing the harp as we know from Psalms 57,9 “awake, O my soul (my glory), awake, O harp and lyre, I will wake the dawn.” We are told that he had a harp hanging over his bed and that as soon as midnight arrived and the North wind began to blow the harp would start playing on its own. As soon as this occurred David would rise from his bed and together with all the other students they would study Torah and chase the sleep from their eyes until dawn.
According to the Tanchuma the reason the verse in Psalms speaks about “waking dawn” in connection with his soul awakening was to demonstrate that David’s personal כבוד was nothing compared to G’d’s כבוד, glory. David “woke” dawn not just for himself but he wanted to shake up people from their slumber.
A more kabbalistic approach: the two trumpets symbolized the tekiah and teruah, i.e. the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice. When G’d said to Moses “these shall be for you an instrument to call the congregation to journey,” this is equivalent to His saying to Moses: “they shall be for you as either tekiah or teruah.” If so, this is clear proof that the journeys and campings of the Israelites were subject to the two attributes mentioned, i.e. that the words על פי ה' יחנו ועל פי ה' יסעו את משמרת ה' שמרו which are written adjoining the paragraph instructing Moses to make the trumpets are conceptually closely connected, and that the words על פי ה' refer to both attributes, as the case may be.
If we consider that Moses was entrusted with these two trumpets and what they symbolised you can appreciate his elevated status, i.e. that he could call upon either the attribute of Justice or the attribute of Mercy at will, so to speak. This proves his status as king.
The reason the trumpets had to be made only of silver, and that no other metal was acceptable as a substitute (as opposed to the Menorah), is discussed in Menachot 28. The Talmud says that the silver used for their construction was a silver bar. Whereas smaller pieces of silver scrap were acceptable as the raw material, other metals were not. The reason there had to be two such trumpets was in order for Moses to be able to address and be addressed by the attribute of Mercy on a “face to face” basis,” as sort of a vision within a vision, there had to be two. The construction is described in the Torah as מקשה, “hammered, beaten work,” This is the mystical dimension of what is written in verse 3 ונועדו אליך כל העדה, “the tekiah element when blowing both trumpets” is the signal to assemble the entire congregation to be exposed to the communication from the attribute of Mercy which addressed the Israelites out of the fire. This is what Moses had in mind when he told the people in Deut. 4,15: “on the day the Lord spoke to you at Chorev out of the fire.” When the tekiah was blown out of only one of the trumpets this was the signal for the princes who were unique people to be assembled around Moses. Moses who was unique, would hear the voice of G’d who was unique. He was the only one who could understand the voice of the attribute of Mercy speaking to him. The teruah sound would be blown to signal that the people were to get ready to journey, part of their campaign to conquer the Holy Land. The fact that the attribute of Justice (symbolized by the teruah sound) was called upon is a compliment to the stature of the Jewish people. Seeing that no other prophet had attained the stature of Moses to be addressed both by the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice on a “face to face” basis by means of the trumpets, these trumpets had to be “hidden,“ so that no one else would use them. The very words והיו לך, “they shall be yours,” which G’d said to Moses concerning these trumpets mean that only Moses would have access to these two attributes of Hashem in such a manner. Seeing these trumpets were so sacred they had to be hidden prior to Moses’ death.
Do not wonder why they were made of silver (and not of gold). The manner in which they were hammered out of one piece made it impossible to construct them of any metal other than silver. The cherubs on the kapporet of the Holy Ark were also constructed in a similar manner, (out of gold). In the case of the cherubs the attribute of Justice was subordinate to the attribute of Mercy contained within it. Hence a soft metal, gold, was used. By the same token seeing that in the case of the trumpets the situation was the reverse, i.e. that the attribute of Mercy was subordinate to the attribute of Justice which was part of it, a hard metal, silver, had to be used to symbolize that concept. Joshua was not allowed to use the trumpets and he used the shofar instead to symbolize the attribute of Justice which was poised against his enemies, the inhabitants of Jericho. David also was not allowed to use the trumpets and used the harp instead which corresponded to his principal attribute, virtue. The author draws a comparison between the word כנור and the lake called ים כנרת, (sea of Galilee). The blue applied to the tzitzit is drawn from a fish in that lake, this is why his attribute is known as כנור דוד. (Rabbi Chavell found a source in the Zohar Beshalach 48 for this.) There are kabbalistic writings explaining why תכלת represents these attributes of Justice. [Remak (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero) quotes a saying that any color one sees in one’s dream is acceptable except techelet, as this represents the attribute of Justice in its full power. Pardess Rimonim discusses the colours and their mystical significance in a chapter called שער הגוונים. Ed.]. What we learn from the above is that every great historical personality was given the tools appropriate to his spiritual level to use in communicating with G’d or on behalf of G’d.
Rav Hirsch
Disponible solo para miembros PremiumRashi
הקהילו אלי ASSEMBLE UNTO ME [ALL THE ELDERS OF YOUR TRIBE] — They did not, however, blow the trumpets that day to call the congregation together (as is prescribed in Numbers 10:3), because it states (Numbers 10:2) “Make for thee [two trumpets of silver]” (which Rashi explains to mean that no one should use them except himself), and he had not empowered Joshua to use them. Indeed they were hidden away even during his (Moses) lifetime — on the day of his death, thus fulfilling the words of the text, (Ecclesiastes 8:8) “There is no authority on the day of death” (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Vayechi 2 on ויחי and Midrash Tanchuma, Beha'alotcha 10 on בהעלתך).