민수기 29:1의 Halakhah

We also find written⁸³ Ibn Ezra now proceeds to show that for some matters the year begins with the month of Tishre. Here he seems to be countering the Karites, who did not accept the first of Tishre as Rosh haShana. The Karites argued that there is no Scriptural basis for the first of Tishre being anything other than a day when work is forbidden (Leviticus 23:23–25) and special sacrifices are offered (Numbers 29: 1–5). The Karites began the year for all religious matters with the first of Nisan. with regard to Tabernacles “at the turn of the year” (Exodus 34:22), and also “at the departure of the year” (ibid. 23:16). Now the same day when one year ends a new year begins. We also find that God instructed us in a law of Haqhel, when the entire Torah is read during the holiday of Tabernacles of a Sabbatical year (Deuteronomy 31:10–13). There it is written “in order that they may learn” (ibid. 31:12). It is not likely that this took place after half a year.⁸⁴ Thus, Haqhel certainly took place at the beginning of a Sabbatical year, indicating that a Sabbatical year began around the time of Tabernacles. Do not be perplexed by the word “At an end (miqqez) of seven years” (ibid. 31:10),⁸⁵ The verse concerning Haqhel reads: “At the end of seven years, in the time of the Sabbatical year, on the holiday of Tabernacles,” which seems to indicate that the celebration of Haqhel took place at the conclusion of the Sabbatical year and the beginning of the eighth year. for we similarly find “At an end (miqqez) of seven years you shall send forth, each man his brother” (Jeremiah 34:14).⁸⁶ We know that servants were set free after six years (Exodus 21:2). Thus “miqqez” must here refer to the beginning of the seventh year. Similarly for Haqhel, the word “miqqez” means “beginning” rather than “end.” For each thing has two edges, a front edge and a back edge. The Sabbatical year began with Tishre,⁸⁷ Here Ibn Ezra refutes the Karites who began the Sabbatical year with Nisan. (See Ibn Ezra’s commentary to Leviticus 25:20.) which is the seventh month, since then the half year of planting began. Thus it states regarding the Sabbatical year “do not plant” (Leviticus 25:4), and “You shall plant on the eighth year” (ibid. 25:22).

The commandment of blowing the trumpets in the Temple and in war: To blow trumpets in the Temple each day as every sacrifice is offered, and also at a time of troubles, as it is stated (Number 10:9), "When you come to war, etc." and it is written after it also (Number 10:10), "And on your joyous occasions, and your fixed festivals and new moon days, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt-offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace-offerings, etc." And even though the verse warns about a joyous occasion, a fixed festival and a new moon day, this is not precise. As they would blow with the trumpets over the sacrifice every day in the Temple. And so is it explained in Rosh HaShannah 29a: "Everyone is obligated in the blowing of the shofar - priests, Levites, and Israelites." And the Talmud wonders about this in the Gemara, "Is this not obvious? [For] if they are not obligated, who would be obligated?" And it responds to it, "It was necessary [to say] priests, for it may enter your mind to say, 'Since it is written (Numbers 29:1), "It is a day of blowing, etc.," [you might have said that with regard to one who is obligated to sound only one day, he is obligated to sound the shofar on Rosh HaShanah.] But these priests, since they are [obligated] all year long, as it is written (Numbers 10:10), "you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt-offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace-offerings, etc." [you might say that they are not obligated].'" The Talmud then asks, "Are they similar? There it is a trumpet and here it is a shofar!" Nevertheless, we learned [from this] that throughout the whole year - meaning to say on each and every day - there were trumpets in the Temple. And they said in Tractate Arakhin 13a that we do not reduce to less than twenty-one blasts in the Temple and we do not increase to over forty-eight.

The commandment of shofar (horn) on Rosh Hashanah: That we were commanded to hear the sound of the shofar on the first day of Tishrei, which is Rosh Hashanah - and as we learn in Tractate Rosh Hashanah 2a, "On the first of Tishrei is the beginning of the year (rosh hashanah) for [calculating] years" - as it is stated (Numbers 29:1), "a day of blowing shall it be for you." And even though there is no mention of [how] this blast [should be done], if with a shofar, or with cymbals, or with any other musical instrument; they, may their memory be blessed, learned from [the oral tradition] (Rosh Hashanah 33b) that it is with a shofar, as we found with regard to the jubilee year, about which it states (Leviticus 25:9), "shofar."

2. We take out two Torah scrolls. In the first one, we read five portions from "God attended Sarah" [Genesis 21:1] until "After these things" [Genesis 22:1]. If it is Shabbat, we read seven portions [from this selection]. The maftir reads from the second scroll from Pinchas, "In the seventh month..." [Numbers 29:1] and for the haftarah, "There was a man from Ramatayim" [1 Samuel 1:1] until "He will bring triumph to His annointed one" [1 Samuel 2:10]. Rem"a: Some places have the custom of calling up the shofar blower for one of the five aliyot to the Torah (Kol Bo).

It is a positive mitzvah of the Torah to blow shofar on Rosh Hashanah using a shofar, as it says (Numbers 29:1), "it shall be a day of teru'ah for you." And each teruah should have a tekiah before it and a tekiah after it And the reason for this is explained in Section 609. And behold we blow twice: once after Torah reading, and the second during Mussaf along with the blessings. And this is not a violation of "bal tosif" for that prohibition is only when one adds to the essential mitzvah for example if someone blows with two shofarot at the same time - similar to how someone would violate that prohibition by adding a fifth species to the lulav. But someone who takes a lulav and puts it down, even one hundred times, does not in this way violate the prohibition of "bal tosif." Similarly with a shofar: if one blows and then blows again - this is not bal tosif (see Tosafot, Rosh Hashannah 16b "Ve'Toki'im).

At the end of the prayers of forgiveness²¹⁷Prayers of forgiveness, seliḥot, סליחות; see footnote 14. we say seven times, “He is the God,” (and one time the “שמע ישראל”), and three times the, “Blessed be His glorious kingdom forever and ever,”²¹⁸See the end of the footnote on the Ne'ilah Service, number 191. This is how the Ne'ilah Service ends. (see above section 61,²¹⁹In the Shulḥan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, chapter 61, there are twenty-six paragraphs which contain the laws concerned with how one is to pronounce it and what is to be one's personal conviction when reciting the Shema prayer. (מנהגים).²²⁰Minhagim, מנהגים; see footnote 13.) and we blow the shofar, (תקיעה, שברים, תרועה, תקיעה).²²¹The shofar, שופר, is a ram's horn which has been prepared to use as a musical instrument. The word is mentioned sixty-nine times in the Bible as well as numerous times in talmudic and post-talmudic literature.
The shofar was used to proclaim significant events in Judaism. It proclaimed the Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25:9-11) every fiftieth year proclaiming freedom throughout the land. Its most noted use is on Rosh HaShanah which is also called yom teru'ah, "a day of blowing", (Numbers 29:1). It was also used to declare war (Judges 3:27) and to induce fear (Amos 3:6).
In Temple times the shofar was not exclusively a ram's horn. Any curved animal's horn from a sheep, goat, mountain goat, antelope, or a gazelle was possible. The use of the ram's horn became popular because of its association with the Akedah, the sacrifice of Isaac read on Rosh HaShanah when the shofar is sounded. A ram was substituted for Isaac in the biblical account (Genesis 22) which is read on the second day of Rosh HaShanah. The shofar may have carved designs on it as long as the mouthpiece is natural. It may not be painted. It may not have a hole.
The Bible only refers to two trumpet sounds, teki'ah and teru'ah (Numbers 10: 5-8) the Mishna (RH. 4:9) describes teki'ah as one long blast and teru'ah as three wavering crying blasts. It prescribes three sets of shofar sounds since the word teru'ah is mentioned three times in the Bible, (Leviticus 23:24, 25:9, and Numbers 29:1). In talmudic times there was a disagreement about what exactly the sounds of the shofar should be and Rabbi Ahbahu decided the issue by compromise. The shofar was to be sounded three times which included different notes of shevarim, which are broken sounds and teru'ah, nine staccato notes. The sounding is one set of teki'ah, shevarim - teru'ah, teki'ah, and two sets of the following: teki'ah, shevarim, teki'ah, and teki'ah, teru'ah, teki'ah. The teki'ah begins as a low note swelling to a higher one. The teru'ah is a series of staccato blasts and the shevarim alternates higher and lower notes. The concluding note of each of the two series is a teki'ah gedolah, a great, long blast, which derives its origin from Exodus 19:13, "When the ram's horn soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount."
The shofar used to be sounded on the second day of the month of Elul marking the beginning of the penitential season. Today it is sounded daily except for the last day of the month of Elul at the Morning Service until Rosh Ha-Shanah is over and it is sounded at the end of the Ne'ilah Service at the conclusion of Yom Kippur.
On Rosh HaShanah, Psalm 47 is recited seven times before the shofar is sounded. This is a reminder of the walls of Jericho being circled seven times before they fell to the sound of the shofar.
The shofar may only be sounded during the day. It is not sounded when Rosh HaShanah falls on the Sabbath, lest one violate the laws of the Sabbath by carrying the shofar into the synagogue. When the Temple was in existence the shofar was blown there on the Sabbath.
Throughout Jewish history the shofar was blown to announce a death, on fasts, at excommunications (see footnote 29), and at funerals. On Friday afternoons it was sounded six times to announce various work stopping times and the times to light the candles and usher in the Sabbath. Today it is used to inaugurate a new president in Israel.
According to the Sephardi rite the shofar is sounded at the end of the Ne'ilah Service as follows: teki'ah, one rising blast; shevarim, three blasts alternating high and low; teru'ah, seven staccato blasts; and teki'ah, one rising note.
Albert L. Lewis, E. J., v. 14, pp. 1442-47.
The following comment is given by Magen Avraham, (see footnote 33.): 623:4 - "And they blow (the shofar)": Even though they still have not "separated" (said Havdalah, see footnote 226) in the prayer (and it is still not actually night), nevertheless since (the blowing of the shofar is a matter of) wisdom (art and know-how) and not work, and the rabbis were not too strict about it, (did not prohibit it at this occasion), since the day has already passed (Tur, טור, see footnote 23). And even though he wrote that one should complete it (the shofar blowing) close to sunset, this should complete it (the shofar blowing) close to sunset, this means that the stars still have not come out (indicating nightfall), nevertheless this is twilight, and see the end of chapter 299, (in the Shulḥan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim).
Hagah: There are those who say that we only blow the shofar once (תקיעה),²²²The Ashkenazi rite states that at the end of the Ne'ilah Service only one long shofar blast is sounded, teki'ah gedolah, תקיעה גדולה. (מרדכ והגהות מיימוני סוף הלכות ואגור י״כ),²²³Mordekhai and Hagahot Maimuniyyot, the end of the Laws of Yom Kippur, and Agur, מרדכי והגהות מיימוניי סוף הלכות י״כ ואגור.
For Mordekhai, מרדכי; see footnote 24.
For Hagahot Maimuniyyot, הגהות מיימוני; see footnote 27.
Agur, אגור, is a halakhic work that deals basically with the subject matter found in Tur Oraḥ Ḥayyim and Yoreh De'ah, (see footnote 23). It was written by Jacob b. Judah Landau, a fifteenth century German talmudist. He was educated in Germany by his famous father Judah who died in 1464. Judah was a favorite pupil of Jacob Moellin (see footnote 8) and a relative of Jacob Weil (see footnote 27) who was the head of a large yeshivah and a well respected posek, an halakhic decision maker.
Jacob emigrated at some time in his life to Italy along with the great wave of Jewish emigration from Germany and in Pavia in 1460 he met Joseph Colon from whom he drew many rulings and quotes. While in Pavia he wrote Ḥazon a work introduced by the words "How could it be?" In 1487 Jacob went to Naples. He worked there as a proofreader for the new Hebrew Press established there, which published his work, Ha-Agur along with Ḥazon.
Ha-Agur is an anthology and a summation of German-Jewish scholarship on the laws contained in Oraḥ Ḥayyim and Yoreh De'ah down to Jacob's own time. He based himself on the Tur of Jacob b. Asher (see footnote 23). Jacob wanted to assemble all the data on a particular halakhah, (but omitted the arguments), lay down the halakhah, and then include any new rulings by people such as Israel Isserlein (see footnote 96), Jacob Weil (see footnote 27), Joseph Colon, and particularly his father Judah. The work is organized similar to the Tur and is distinguished by the interweaving of varied material from many different works. Landau, who was well versed in Kabbalah interlaced those theories together with the halakhic material as an aid to arriving at decisions. The work reveals a great deal of the teachings of the German scholars in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Israel Moses Ta-Shma, E. J., v. 10, p. 1393. and thus we do it in these lands, we sound the shofar after we say the Kaddish²²⁴Kaddish, קדיש; see footnote 177. after the Closing Service, but in a few places the custom is to blow the shofar before the Kaddish.