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VERSE: Nu10-03a
RASHIS COVERED: Nu10-03a Nu10-03b Nu10-04a Nu10-04b Nu10-07a
Nu10-05a
================= OVERVIEW OF TYPES OF TRUMPET BLASTS ==========
Most people are familiar with the shofar blast types on the
Jewish New year. They are called TKIAH, TRUAH, TKIAH.
However a deeper understanding of these blast types can be
gained by using modern musical terminology.
*The TKIAH corresponds to a LONG BLAST.
*The TRUAH corresponds to a SERIES OF SHORT BLASTS
For convenience I have referred to such a long series of
short blasts as the STACCATO. Thus I will use the following
terminology
--he BLASTED a trumpet (i.e. a long blast)
--he STACCATOED a trumpet (i.e. a rapid set of short blasts)
Now if the reader will recall the opening bars of Beethovens
fifth, or the opening bars of the American anthem (Oh say
can you see) or the opening bars of the Israeli anthem (Kol
OD Balayvav), the reader will immediately see
--the music begins with a STACCATO RYTHM followed by a
--LONG BLAST
(e.g. OH SAY CAN YOU is staccatoed while SEE is a LONG note)
(e.g. KOL OD BALAY is staccatoed while the VAV of BALAYVAV
is a LONG NOTE).
Similarly the end of the American or Israeli anthem is
a STACCATO followed by a LONG BLAST.
Musical analysis (e.g. Shenkerian analysis) explains that
the short set of staccatoes creates a state of rhythmic
TENSION which is released by the LONG NOTE following it.
Thus the shortest unit of a rhythmic work would be
--a LONG BLAST followed by a
--a STACCATOED blast followed by a
--LONG BLAST
Such rhythmic motifs are common throughout all music
in many diverse cultures.
Following Malbim we find 3 Biblical phrases corresponding
to the 3 types of basic rhythmic motifs
---TO BLAST means to make a long note
---TO STACCATO*1 means to make a series of rapid short notes
---TO BLAST A STACCATO*2 refers to a LONG-SHORT-LONG sequence
The LIST BELOW compactly illustrates the usages. Using
these BIBLICAL USAGES Malbim elegantly explains a very
obscure Sifray/Sifray *3*4
================================================================
VERSE WORD FOR BLOWING TEXT OF VERSE
========= =================== ==================================
1Sam13-03 BLAST*5 Saul BLASTED the SHOFAR
Jos06-16 BLAST*5 The priests BLASTED the SHOFAR
Zach09-14 BLAST*5 God will BLAST the SHOFAR
Nu10-03 BLAST*5 BLAST with the trumpets
Joel02-01 STACCATO*6 STACCATO on my holy mountain
Ps95-01 STACCATO*6 STACATTO to God our Salvation
1Sam04-05 STACCATO a STACCATO Jews STACCATOED a loud STACATTO
Ezra03-13 STACCATO a STACCATO ...STACCATOED a loud STACATTO
Nu10-05 BLAST A STACCATO*7
NOTES
=====
*1 The Biblical phrase TO STACCATO A STACCATO means the
same thing as TO STACCATO.
*2 The Biblical phrase A STACCATO SHOULD BE BLASTED
would mean the same thing (There seems to be a suggestion
in a very obscure Sifray/Sifray that STACCATO A BLAST
vs BLAST a STACCATO might have two meanings...but the
way I suggest it (both phrases mean LONG-SHORT-LONG)
seems reasonable and consistent with music theory.
*3 Rashi of course is based on the Sifray/Sifray. In
fact Rashi explicitly refers to the SIFRAH SIFRAY
*4 Rashi on Nu10-05a points out that the hybrid phrase
BLAST A STACCATO is used which would indicate
--a LONG BLAST followed by a
--a STACCATO BLAST followed by a
--a LONG BLAST
Thus the verse which only says BLAST A STACCATO means
to make 3 note sets: LONG - SHORT - LONG.
This explanation, based on phraseology -- BLAST STACCATO--
is superior to explanations which base themselves on
word order or extra phrases. The Bible has 3 phrases
for making trumpet sounds and these logically
correspond to the 3 types of basic rhythmic motifs
*5 BLAST (Hebrew TKA) refers to a LONG BLAST
*6 STACCATO (Hebrew ROA) refers to a series of SHORT BLASTS
*7 The (redundant) phrase STACCATO a STACCATO has the same
meaning as STACCATO
But the phrase BLAST A STACCATO seems to refer to
typical rhytmic motifs of
--a LONG BLAST followed by a
--a SERIES OF SHORT STACCATO BLASTS followed by
--a LONG BLAST
As explained above this is the shortest unit of a complete
rhythmic motif.
================================================================
========== ALIGNMENT OF VERSES IN Nu10-01:07 =================
Recall that Nu10-01:07 describes the two trumpets made. Their
purpose was
* to call for public Meanings (or meetings with leaders)
* to initiate a journey to a new spot
There were 3 possible reasons to use the trumpets -- one
could recognize the purpose of a trumpet call by considering
two factors -- HOW MANY trumpets were used; HOW MANY BLASTS.
The rules were as follows: (Rashi end of Nu10-07a)
*To assemble the leaders- Use ONE trumpet ONE BLAST
*To assemble the nation - Use TWO trumpets ONE BLAST
*To initiate a journey -- Use TWO TRUMPETS:Blast,Stacatto,Blast
Rashi infers all of this by ALIGNING the verses in Nu10-01:07
The following table contains
* The verse
* The activity (BLASTING)
* The # OF TRUMPETS used (1 or 2)
* the BLAST TYPE (LONG or STACCATTO)
* WHere the meeting was suppose to take place
* What the RESULT or CONSEQUENCE of this blast would be
(e.g. would there be a meeting or journey etc).
================================================================
VERSE ACT # USED BlastType RESULT-1 RESULT-2 WHERE
======= ===== ====== ========== ======== ======== ==============
Nu10-03 BLAST BOTH*1 Public*1 Meeting By Temple
Nu10-04 BLAST ONE*1 *4 Leader*1 Meeting *2
Nu10-05 BLAST *3 STACATTO*5 Journey Eastern Camps
Nu10-06 BLAST STACATTO Journey Southern Camps
Nu10-06 BLAST STACATTO Journeys *6
NOTES
=====
*1 An alignment of Nu10-03 and Nu10-04 clearly shows that
--if you blow with TWO blasts then you assemble the PUBLIC
--if you blow with ONE blast then you assemble the LEADERS
In passing, a non-obvious point in Rashi is that the use
of the PLURAL in Nu10-03 indicates that BOTH trumpets were
used -- this is in contrast to the explicit statement in
Nu10-04 BUT IF ONE IS BLASTED.
Based on this observation I would amend the text of Rashi
as shown below (There are several variations in Rashi Text
--some Chumashim have 2 Rashis while others have 1 Rashi.)
Here is how I would read it:
---------------------------------------------------------
Nu10-03a: IF YOU BLAST THEM: Rashi: The word THEM is
plural indicating BOTH -- this is in contrast to Nu10-04
which states BUT IF ONE IS BLASTED. [What blowing in BOTH
accomplished is shown in the next Rashi.]
Nu10-03b: THEN THE LEADERS WILL GATHER: Rashi: Thus
blowing BOTH gathers LEADERS
Nu10-04a: BUT IF ONE IS BLASTED: Rashi: A Blast of ONE
trumpet (vs 2) is a call to the entire public as the
verse continues: THEN THE WHOLE CONGREGATION GATHERS
---------------------------------------------------------
*2 One has to be very careful in explaining the reasoning
behind this Rashi. Recall from Volume 10 Number 11,
http://www.RashiYomi.Com/nu10-02d.htm, that Nu10-01:10
uses a HEADING-DETAIL structure.
The HEADER states that Moses is to make 2 trumpets for
the purpose of calling a public assembly and for
journeying.
The DETAILS state how
--public assemblies
--leader assemblies
--a call to journey
are made (how many blasts, trumpets etc).
Now we can state the general RULE
-------------------------------------------------------
Whenever a Biblical chapter has a HEADER (or FOOTER)
then all details in EACH item in the chapter or
generalized to EVERY item UNLESS otherwise specificed
This generalization is based on the Rabbi Ishmael
principle of ANALOGY or GENERALIZATION.
-------------------------------------------------------
Note the subtlety in the above rule. I am not suggesting
a blind generalization of all verses. Rather, I am
suggesting that verses within a chapter unified by a
common heading justifies generalization.
In other words it is the COMMON HEADING that unifies
the chapter and justifies generalization. Let us now
see some examples of how this applies.
EXAMPLE 1: Nu10-03 states that the PLACE of public
meetings should be the temple. Hence by analogy
I infer that the PLACE of leader meetings should also
be by the temple. (Rashi: Nu10-04b)
*3 (REMARK TO READER: Please read footnote #2 first)
EXAMPLE 2: The Bible clearly says to make TWO trumpets
(Nu10-02) and the Bible speaks about BLOWING THEM(Nu10-03)
implying blowing BOTH.
Hence I am justified in generalizing this to all cases
in the chapter (because of the unified header). All cases
involve BLOWING BOTH TRUMPETS UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED.
And in fact the only case where the Bible specifies
otherwise is Nu10-04 which says IF YOU BLOW ON ONLY ONE
TRUMPET THEN THE LEADERS WILL ASSEMBLE.
In summary, BOTH trumpets are always used except when
calling an assembly of leaders
(The above is half the Rashi on Nu10-07a)
*4 (REMARK TO READER: Please read footnotes #2,3 first)
EXAMPLE 3: The Bible tells us to BLAST but does not
tell us WHAT type of blast (Whether a LONG or
STACATTO blast).
Since the Bible specifies in one of the items to
BLAST A STACATTO I would therefore be justified
in generalizing this to all other cases in the
chapter (Because of the unified header) UNLESS
the Bible explicitly stated otherwise.
Hence, says Rashi, we understand the need for the
explicit statement in Nu10-07a WHEN ASSEMBLING
THE NATION DO NOT USE STACATTO. Thus the reason
I dont generalize use of the stacatto to all cases
is because of this verse which explicitly says not to
so generalize.
*5 Based on the table we initially showed in this posting
we see that there are 3 types of rhytmic motifs
---a LONG BLAST (e.g. end of English/Hebrew national anthems)
---a STACATTO (beginning of English/Hebrew national anthems)
---a LONG BLAST followed by STACATTO (or vice versa)
Thus the end of the national anthems is characterized
by a STACATTO followed by a LONG BLAST. By contrast
the beginning of national anthems is characterized by
an initial STACATTO followed by a LONG BLAST.
Please see that LIST for further details
*6 There is significant discussion in the Sifrah/Sifray as to
why the SOUTH, NORTH and GENERAL CAMPS are mentioned.
For example there is controversy whether there were SEPARATE
blasts for each side -- NORTH, EAST, SOUTH, WEST -- or
whether there was ONE BLAST for all camps. Similarly there
is discussion on whether to generalize the sequence in this
chapter -- BLAST, STACATTO, BLAST -- to the two other
blowings (Shofar Blowing on New year, and the Jubilee
blowing).
Rashi avoided making any comments (possibly because it is
difficult to see the text as saying something clear).
Consequently I will also refrain from saying anything
================================================================
RASHI RULE USED: DOUBLE PARSHAS
---------------------------------------------------
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Volume 10 Number 13
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 10 Number 13