Blowing the trumpets for war

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1. The Trumpets

   Rabbi Yehuda Rock

   The trumpets serve two immediate functions: gathering the nation and announcing the travels of Bnei Yisrael, and two future functions: sounding the call for war, and sounding trumpets in celebration over sacrifices offered on special occasions. What is the relationship between the immediate and future functions?

2. Ramban on Rosh HaShana: What is the Secret of the Terua?

   Rabbi Ezra Bick | 30 minutes

   In the Torah, the holy day we call “Rosh HaShana” is referred to as “Yom Terua” and “Zikhron Terua”- a “Day of Loud Blasts” and a “Remembrance of Loud Blasts.” What does remembrance mean here? Ramban notes that “zikaron” means “to bring something to the fore,” suggesting that this is a day of bringing the Shofar to the fore. Ramban also, however, continues and says that blowing the shofar will facilitate a remembrance before God. The mitzvah of Shofar is compared and contrasted with the mitzvah of constructing silver trumpets. Ramban connects the loud blasts of the “terua” with war, which is connected to judgement. This is a day of judgement, but through the terua enveloped by the tekia (evocative of the short, simple, sound of the breath of the individual), we can accept God’s judgement but symbolically arouse remembrance, thereby tempering the strict judgement with mercy.