The central mitzvah of the forthcoming day of Rosh Hashanah is sounding the Shofar.
This requirement is not totally explicit in the Torah, but is derived by the Sages (Rosh Hashanah 33b) from the Pasuk (Bamidbar 29:1): “And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month… a day of Teruah it shall be to you.” “Teruah” refers to the Shofar, since the Torah states elsewhere (Vayikra 25:9): “And you shall cause the Shofar Teruah to be sounded on the seventh month.”
Beyond the derivation of the mitzvah itself, the Talmudic Sages had to determine how the Shofar blasts must be sounded. We will dedicate the present article to this issue.
Why do we sound so many blasts of the Shofar to fulfill the Torah obligation? How did the different sounds we blast originate? How long should a Teruah be? What are the rules of interruption between the blasts? These questions, among others, are discussed below.
Three Sets of Three Blasts
Although the Torah only mentions the Teruah, which (as will be explained below) is the broken “middle sound” of the Shofar, we actually sound the Teruah between two simple Tekiah sounds.
This practice is derived by the Sages from the Pasuk (Vayikra 25:9): “And you shall cause the shofar teruah to be sounded (ta’aviru shofar teruah) on the seventh month… you shall sound the shofar (ta’aviru shofar) throughout your land.” The word “ta’aviru,” which implies an extended sound (a Tekiah), is mentioned both prior and subsequent to the word Teruah, implying that we must blow a Tekiah (known as a peshutah) both before and after the Teruah.
The pattern is called a Tarat, or a “Tekiah-Teruah-Tekiah.” We find a dispute in the Talmud (Sukkah 53b) over whether the series “Tekiah, Teruah, Tekiah” is one mitzvah (Rabbi Yehudah) or each Tekiah and Teruah is counted as a separate mitzvah (the Sages).
In addition, we repeat each series three times. This halachah, which ensures that the Teruah is sounded three times, is derived from the Torah’s mention of blowing the Shofar three times, each time using the term Teruah.
The Crying Shofar
The translation of the word Teruah, as rendered by the Targum, is yevavah, meaning a cry. Based on this translation the Sages derived that the Teruah is a broken, crying sound (Rosh Hashanah 33b). However, there are various ways in which a crying sound can be expressed.
The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 34a) reports that Rabbi Abahu was uncertain whether a Teruah is an undulating, heavy sobbing that rises and falls (the Shevarim we do today), or a short and staccato wailing of anguish (the Teruah of today), or a combination of both – first sobbing and then wailing (Shevarim-Teruah). To be certain that we fulfill the Torah’s obligation, he mandated blowing three different series of Shofar blasts, each with a different intermediate broken sound.
As explained above, each broken sound is blown three times, and each one is preceded and followed by a Tekiah. This results in a total of thirty Shofar sounds:
- 1. Tekiah, Shevarim-Teruah, Tekiah (TaSHRaT) three times.
- 2. Tekiah, Shevarim, Tekiah (TaSHaT) three times.
- Tekiah, Teruah, Tekiah (TaRaT) three times.
The Rambam rules: “Due to the great passage of time and extended galus, we are no longer sure as to the nature of the Teruah cited in the Torah. We do not know whether it is similar to wailing of weeping women, or the slow, deep sobbing of someone heavily burdened, or whether it is like a sobbing which naturally turns into a wailing. Therefore, we perform all three variations.”
According to the Rambam it appears that there is only one correct way to the blow a Teruah, and the incorrect versions are invalid. However, Rav Hai Gaon (cited in Ran, Rosh Hashanah 10a in pages of the Rif, and in the Rosh 4:10), rules that all the versions of Teruah are valid to fulfill the Torah obligation. Nonetheless, Rav Hai explains that we are careful (following Rabbi Avahu’s enactment) to blow sets of all the different versions, to ensure that different communities should not develop different practices in the matter, whereupon “the Torah should not look like two different Torot” (see Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim 590).
Note that there is ostensibly a fourth option for sounding the broken sound of the Teruah, namely a Teruah followed by a Shevarim. The Gemara explains that this option is not a possibility, because the Torah’s Teruah means to imitate human crying. The way of a human cry to develop from a sob to a wail, and not vice versa, so that this sound cannot be what the Torah intended.
Interruptions of Shofar Blowing
There appears to be a simpler way to fulfill the Torah obligation of sounding the Shofar. Rabbi Avahu could simply enact that the series Tekiah, Shevarim, Teruah, Tekiah should be blown (TaSHRaT) three times? By so doing a person actually blows all three varieties of broken sound three times – a Shevarim, a Teruah, and both together – and each of them is surrounded by two Tekiot.
The Gemara explains that if the mitzvah is to blow only a Shevarim, blowing a Teruah immediately after the Shevarim constitutes an interruption that invalidates the mitzvah. Similarly, if the mitzvah is to blow only a Teruah, then the Shevarim interrupts between the Tekiah and the Teruah and invalidates the mitzvah. Thus, the only way to fulfill the mitzvah correctly and to ensure that the correct Teruah is sounded, is to blow three series, one with each type of broken sound (Shevarim, Teruah, and Shevarim-Teruah) in the middle.
We learn from this that if one blows an inappropriate sound between the Tekiah and the correct broken sound, the series is invalidated (see, however, the opinion of Rabbeinu Tam, as cited by the Ran 10b). The question of what must be done – must the entire series be sounded again, or must one return to the last Tekiah – involves a dispute among authorities which emerged from a case that occurred in the year 1144 in Mainz.
The Shofar-Blower of Mainz
After blasting two kosher rounds of “TaSHRaT” the Shofar-blower of Mainz made an error: Instead of blowing a three-part Shevarim and then a Teruah, he mistakenly blew two parts of a Shevarim and then began blowing the Teruah. Immediately realizing his error, the Baal Tekiah stopped blowing the Teruah after only one staccato beat. The question was how to continue. In other words, he sounded an inappropriate sound in the middle of the series.
A dispute ensued among the scholarly congregants. Some advocated that all the three TaSHRaT soundings be blown again, believing that any inappropriate sound blown in the middle of the Shofar blowing invalidates the entire series.
Others contended that the sounds already blown need not be repeated, for two reasons. One reason is that only a sound that has halachic status invalidates a series – and not a sound that is neither a Shevarim nor a Teruah. A single beat does not constitute a halachic sound of any sort, and therefore is not considered an interruption. Another reason is that even where the sounds need to be repeated, such as where an unnecessary Teruah was blown in the middle, one need return only to the Tekiah preceding the errant broken sound.
Halachic ruling on this question involves a dispute among Rishonim. The Rosh (Rosh Hashanah 4:11) states that only a sound that is not part of the order of the Tekios constitutes an interruption. If the shofar-blower makes an attempt to blow the right sound but it comes out wrong, this does not form an interruption. Therefore, the shofar-blower in Mayence should have blown the one missing shever and continued with the teruo. Even if he would have completed the teruo he should have blown the missing shever followed by a teruo. The opinion of the Raavan (cited by the Rosh), is that if he would have completed the teruo he would have had to return to the tekiah since the completed teruo would have constituted an interruption.
The Shulchan Aruch (590:7-8) rules like the Rosh, the Mishnah Berurah (27) adds that some are stringent to call back the Shofar-blower to the beginning of the series for any incorrect sounding.
How Long is a Teruah
According to Rashi, a Teruah need be only three sounds. According to the Riva and the Rivam, however, the Teruah must constitute at least nine sounds. Since everyone agrees that a Teruah may have extra sounds, we blow a Teruah nine sounds long, which fulfills the mitzvah according to all opinions.
If a blast of less than nine sounds is sounded, one has fulfilled the mitzvah according to Rashi, provided the Teruah was at least three sounds long. According to Riva and Rivam, the mitzvah is not fulfilled. The Mishnah Berurah (590:12) rules that although one must lechatchilah follow the Riva’s stringent ruling, if the shorter Teruah was sounded it is not necessary to repeat the sound.
If the Shofar-blower does repeat the sound, he must also repeat the Tekiah preceding the repeated Teruah. The reason for this is that according to Rashi, the short Teruah (of more than three sounds) is kosher, so that if the Tekiah is not repeated he will be blowing two consecutive Teru’os.
The Shevarim
A Shevarim must be a minimum of three broken sounds, each called a shever. The shever should preferably be as long as three staccato (Teruah) sounds – three kochos – making the entire Shevarim the length of nine staccato sounds (Mishnah Berurah 590:13).
There are actually opinions that each shever could be shorter than three staccato sounds, making the entire Shevarim about the length of six staccato sounds (Tosafos, Rosh Hashanah 32b; see Shulchan Aruch 590:3 – depending on the above dispute concerning between Rashi and the Riva), and some communities blow some of the Shevarim according to this opinion.
Some authorities contend that each short shever sound should change pitch in the middle, the reason being that it should be distinguished from a Tekiah in form and not only in duration. Some refer to these as “tu-u-tu”, “UU-tu” or “tu-UU” shevarim sounds. Many Ashkenaz communities follow this custom. Others, however, contend that the shever sound should be without change in pitch, and should sound exactly like a short Tekiah. Each community should follow the ruling of its established custom.
The Tekiah
How long must the Tekiah be? According to most Rishonim the Tekiah must be as long as the broken sound that it accompanies.
For instance, if the Shevarim-Teruah can be blown in approximately four and a half seconds, the Tekiah before and after the Shevarim-Teruah should also be that long (see Mateh Efrayim; Mishnah Berurah 590:14, 15). Since the length of both the Shevarim and the Teruah are disputed, as mentioned above, the length of the Tekiah is also disputed.
According to the Riva and Rivam, the combined length of a Shevarim-Teruah is about eighteen kochos (or a little longer to accommodate the length of the pause in the middle). According to Rashithe Teruah need be only three kochos, and the Shevarim only six-to-nine kochos, so that the Tekiah accompanying the Shevarim-Teruah need be only nine-to-twelve kochos long.
Based on the above, Poskim conclude that the Tekiah for TaSHRaT should preferably be a little more than eighteen kochos long, whereas the Tekiah for TaSHaT and TaRaT need be only nine kochos long.
Pausing Between Shevarim and Teruah
The question of pausing between the Sheavrim and the Teruah raises another dispute among early authorities, as cited by the Ran (Rosh Hashanah 34a) and Tur (Orach Chaim 590). Again, the question is how the broken crying sound is interpreted.
According to the Ramban and Rosh, the Shevarim-Teruah should be blown in one breath. Rabbeinu Tam disagrees, maintaining that someone would not change from a sob to a wail without stopping for a breath in between. Therefore, he maintains that one should pause between the Shevarim and the Teruah. This is the opinion of most Rishonim (see Mishnah Berurah 590:18).
The Shulchan Aruch (590:4) cites both opinions and concludes: “One who is G-d fearing should fulfill both opinions by blowing them in one breath in the tekios demiyushav (the sounding of the Shofar before the Mussaf prayer) and in two breaths in the tekios demeumad (during Mussaf).” The Rema adds: “And the custom is to blow all of them in two breaths, and the custom should not be altered.” Note that that according to those who maintain that they should be blown in one breath, taking a breath invalidates the blowing (see Mishnah Berurah 590:16 and Shaar HaTziyun; according to the Chazon Ish, Orach Chayim 136:1, there should be no interruption whatsoever between the Shevarim and the Teruah).
Most congregations today follow the Shulchan Aruch‘s recommendation that the Shevarim-Teruah of the first soundings (before Mussaf) be blown without a pause, whereas those blown during Mussaf should be done with a pause between the Shevarim and the Teruah.
The Call of Repentance
Rosh Hashanah is not a sad day. On the contrary, it is a festival day. Why, if so, do we sound a Teruah, the sound of a human sob or wail?
The answer is alluded to in the famous words of the Rambam (Teshuvah 3:4): “Although blowing the shofar on Rosh Ha-shana is a divine decree, it contains a hidden message, namely: ‘Slumberers, awake from your sleep… inspect your actions and repent’… For this reason it is the custom of the House of Israel to increase the amount and level of charity and good deeds and involvement in mitzvot from Rosh Ha-shana until Yom Kippur, beyond that of the rest of the year. And it is customary to arise at night during these ten days to pray in synagogues… until daybreak.”
The call of the Shofar is a call for us to mend our ways, to repent and return to Hashem. We cry in anguish as we recall our misdeeds. Upon hearing the Shofar we are awakened to rectify our ways. Thus we are inscribed in the Book of Life, the book of the righteous.
Wishing all readers a kesivah vechasimah tovah.
