חצוצרות
The Silver Trumpets
Two hammered silver trumpets, sounded over offerings and at the pauses of the Levites' song.
Text, diagram and reconstruction
עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שְׁתֵּי חֲצוֹצְרֹת כֶּסֶף מִקְשָׁה תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם וְהָיוּ לְךָ לְמִקְרָא הָעֵדָה וּלְמַסַּע אֶת־הַמַּחֲנוֹת׃
’Make thee two trumpets of silver; of beaten work shalt thou make them; and they shall be unto thee for the calling of the congregation, and for causing the camps to set forward.
Dimensions and materials
- Blasts per day
- Never fewer than 21 and never more than 48Mishnah / Talmud: Recorded in the Mishnah or Talmud, the rabbinic texts that preserve Temple practice and law.
Silver, of beaten work.
Function
Calling the people, marking festivals and new moons over the offerings, and punctuating the song.
Daily and annual use
Twenty-one blasts on an ordinary day: three at the opening of the gates, nine with each Tamid. At each pause in the Levites' psalm the people bowed.
Nine more with the additional offerings; six more on Shabbat eve, to stop work and to mark the holy from the ordinary.
Interpretations
A 'remembrance before your God' (Numbers 10:10).
Torah text
Historical questions
- What the trumpets sounded like is unknown. The site's audio is a contemporary interpretation.
In the Third Temple
Reconstruction: A choice this site made to draw or model something the sources do not fully specify.The site shows them in the Levites' page; exact form is reconstruction.
All sources for this object