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  • Rebi Abahu's Takanah

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    Rebi Abahu established the custom of blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashana in three combinations of notes (tekiah shevarim-teruah tekiah, tekiah teruah tekiah, and tekiah shevarim tekiah). There are several explanations for why this custom was necessary. One is that the correct way to blow the teruah note was forgotten due to exile, so all possibilities are blown to ensure the mitzvah is fulfilled. Another is that different communities developed separate customs for the teruah, which Rebi Abahu combined to promote unity. A third is that blowing the shofar in many ways serves to confuse Satan and help obtain

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    Rebi Abahu established the custom of blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashana in three combinations of notes (tekiah shevarim-teruah tekiah, tekiah teruah tekiah, and tekiah shevarim tekiah). There are several explanations for why this custom was necessary. One is that the correct way to blow the teruah note was forgotten due to exile, so all possibilities are blown to ensure the mitzvah is fulfilled. Another is that different communities developed separate customs for the teruah, which Rebi Abahu combined to promote unity. A third is that blowing the shofar in many ways serves to confuse Satan and help obtain

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    80 views1 page

    Rebi Abahu's Takanah

    Uploaded by

    outdash2
    Rebi Abahu established the custom of blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashana in three combinations of notes (tekiah shevarim-teruah tekiah, tekiah teruah tekiah, and tekiah shevarim tekiah). There are several explanations for why this custom was necessary. One is that the correct way to blow the teruah note was forgotten due to exile, so all possibilities are blown to ensure the mitzvah is fulfilled. Another is that different communities developed separate customs for the teruah, which Rebi Abahu combined to promote unity. A third is that blowing the shofar in many ways serves to confuse Satan and help obtain

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Rebi Abahu’s Takanah

    On Rosh Hashana we blow the shofar in three different combinations. We


    blow groupings of tekiah shevarim-teruah tekiah, groupings of tekiah teruah tekiah,
    and groupings of tekiah shevarim tekiah. We find disputes within mishnaot and
    braitot as to how to blow the shofar, and the gemara (34a) says that this practice to
    blow all of these possibilities was first instituted by Rebi Abahu in Caesarea. Why
    did Rebi Abahu establish this custom? Why was it necessary?

    The Rambam (Shofar 3:2) writes as follows: “Regarding the teruah which is
    stated in the Torah, we are in doubt do to the length of the years and magnitude of
    the exile and we don’t know what it is. Is it [similar to] long cries… or to short
    sobbing… or to both of them? Therefore we do all of them.” From the Rambam it is
    clear that there is only one correct way to blow the shofar; however, we forgot
    which sound is the correct one. Therefore, we find in mishnaot and braitot different
    opinions as how to blow the shofar. In order to make sure we fulfill the mitzvah,
    Rebi Abahu established that we should blow the shofar in accordance with all of the
    different opinions.

    In many ways, the Rambam seems to be the simple understanding of the


    gemara, but there is another explanation found in many of the rishonim. They quote
    Rav Hai Gaon and Rav Sherira Gaon who explain that in fact any of these three
    different ways to blow the shofar would equally fulfill the mitzvah. They are all
    correct. According to the Torah, the middle sound of the shofar can be any broken
    sound, and for that they all qualify. However, over time, different communities
    developed different customs as how to blow this sound. These are the different
    opinions found in the mishnaot and braitot. They are not arguing which is the only
    way to do the mitzvah, but are rather simply recording different customs. According
    to this explanation, Rebi Abahu felt that it wasn’t proper to have all of these
    different customs amongst Klal Yisrael. In order to promote unity, he combined all of
    the different customs into one custom that everyone would observe.

    A third explanation is found in Gilyonei HaShas by Rav Yosef Engel. He also


    quotes from rishonim who seem to say that our present day custom isn’t necessary
    on halachic grounds. He notes that we find elsewhere that the gemara explains that
    we blow the shofar multiple times and in different ways (tekiot d’meyushav
    u’me’umad) “in order to confuse the Satan.” Rav Engel explains the rishonim he
    quotes that Rebi Abahu established that we should blow the shofar in these three
    permutations also “in order to confuse the Satan.” By blowing the shofar in so many
    possible ways, we show how important the mitzvah is to us. In this way, we hope to
    quiet the Satan who criticizes our performance of the mitzvoth and leave Rosh
    Hashana with a good judgment for the upcoming year.

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