One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
שׁוֹפָר וְסֻכָּה וְלוּלָב
Shofar, Sukkah and Lulav 3
Sefer Zemanim · The nine blasts, the cry we forgot, and crowning the King without words
9
Blasts required by the Torah
30
Blasts in the full custom, to cover the doubt
3
Possible teru'ah sounds, all sounded
10
Verses in each of the three blessings
INine blasts, one mitzvah
- Nine at the core. The Torah mentions teru'ah three times for Rosh Hashanah and the Yovel, and every teru'ah must be preceded and followed by a plain teki'ah, giving nine: teki'ah, teru'ah, teki'ah, three times over. (3:1)
- The teru'ah is the essence. The teru'ah is the sound the Torah specifically requires; the teki'ot that bracket it are the supporting frame that lets the cry be heard. (3:1)
- One mitzvah, even across nine hours. If a person hears one blast in one hour and another an hour later, even spread over the whole day, they join into one and he fulfills his obligation, provided he hears them in the proper order. (3:5)
- Everything at once is nothing. If nine men blow nine blasts simultaneously, he has not fulfilled his obligation for even a single blast, for there is no order; and the mitzvah and its blessing are to hear the shofar, not to blow it. (3:6, 3:10)
RememberThe blasts are one mitzvah bound by their order, not their timing. (3:5)
IIThe sound we forgot
- We lost the teru'ah. Over the passage of years and the many exiles, doubt arose about the teru'ah the Torah means, to the point that we no longer know what it is. (3:2)
- Weeping or sighing. Is it the wailing of one who sobs, or the long sighing of one crushed by grief, or the sigh followed by the sob together? We fulfill every possibility. (3:2)
- So we sound all three. The order became teki'ah, shevarim (the sighing), teru'ah (the sobbing), teki'ah; then teki'ah, shevarim, teki'ah; then teki'ah, teru'ah, teki'ah. (3:3)
- Thirty blasts in all. Sounding each pattern three times yields thirty blasts, blown in order to remove every doubt. (3:3)
RememberThe most important sound of the year is one we cannot define, so we cry every version of it. (3:2)
IIICrowning the King
- Three great blessings. The musaf adds Malchuyot (kingship), Zichronot (remembrance), and Shofarot, and the three are each dependent on one another. (3:7-8)
- Ten verses each. Each blessing carries ten verses, three from the Torah, three from Psalms, and three from the Prophets, concluding with a verse from the Torah. (3:8)
- Only verses of favor. One does not recite verses of retribution, nor of merely individual remembrance, but only verses of the people's good and of God's sovereignty. (3:9)
- To confuse the accuser. The shofar is woven into the prayers to confuse the accuser; and where one town has a blower but no one for the blessings, blowing takes priority, since it is the Torah obligation. (3:7, 3:13)
RememberThe King is crowned not with our finest words but with a wordless cry. (3:7)