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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] the Feast of Trumpets
  • Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:14:17 +0200

Shoshana, please do not put words in my mouth. If you had bothered to check, you would see that in fact, when Ezra gathered the people to teach them the Torah "on the first of the seventh month", there is no mention of teru'ah, either by blowing the shofar or in any other way. I certainly do not think that the practice of mitzvot is open to personal interpretation - that's what we have the Oral Torah and Hazal for. But on this list we are supposed to be discussing the biblical text and its meaning - I brought the Samaritan interpretation just to show that the word "teru'ah" can be understood in different ways.

As far as Ezra, look at the way in which Ezra, in Nehemiah 8:15, INTERPRETS Leviticus 23:40, "On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days", as "Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths", then adding "as it is written". Hazal understood the "four species" as four specific trees or bushes, which are to be "taken" - held up and waved, as we do today. But Ezra understands them as referring to the materials from which the Sukkot ("booths") are to be built.

Yigal Levin


----- Original Message ----- From: "Shoshanna Walker" <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 1:43 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] the Feast of Trumpets


Actually, Yigal, the two places where this mitzva is mentioned, are
like hundreds of other mitzvot mentioned in the Torah, where the
exact details of how to observe them, were not given in the written
Torah, but in the Oral Torah, and then taught down, from generation
to generation, by our leaders, in an unbroken chain of Mesorah. Ezra
was just one of the transmitters of Torah. It's absurd to believe,
that the 3 times that the positive commandment of terua are mentioned
in the Torah, are meant for each individual to decide for himself
what it means, like clapping hands - something that important to be
mentioned three times, for sure was not meant for chance observance -
despite what even some Jews would like to believe.

Shoshanna


Actually, Shoshanna, a "teru'ah" is literally a shout, "leharia'", to shout
or exclaim. The two places in which the day is mentioned, Lev. 23:23-25 and
Num. 29:1-6 do not mention either the shofar or any other type of trumpet.
Just when this was understood by Jews as referring to the blowing of the
shofar is not clear - it's not mentioned in the Tanakh anywhere. In fact,
the day itself is not mentioned until Ezra, who used it to gather the people
and teach them Torah - no shofar there either. The fact that one of the
sounds made by the shofar is called a "teru'ah" is a back-interpretation.

By the way, the Samaritans to this day mark the day by clapping their hands,
which is how they have come to interpret "teru'ah". I'm not saying that this
is a more correct interpretation, just that there are more than one possible
interpretation.

Yigal Levin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shoshanna Walker" <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 4:05 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] b-hebrew Digest, Vol 45,Issue 32 the Feast of
Trumpets


Not trumpets - shofar - ram's horn.

It is not called the feast of trumpets, it is called Yom Teruah -
Teruah being the name of one of the sounds that the sofar makes.

Shoshanna



Everyone

Todday is Feast of Trumpets, Happy Feast of Trumpets
Any one have any insight on this day?
Eva Ritsema


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