Parashas Behaalosecha: The Non-Symbolic Trumpets

Parashas Behaalosecha: The Non-Symbolic Trumpets

This week's parashah features the unusually multifaceted mitzvah of the chatotzros (trumpets). This mitzvah has a number of functions. Here are the pesukim, with my own paragraph divisions between the categories of functions: 

Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: "Make for yourself two silver trumpets - make them hammered out, and they shall be yours for the summoning of the assembly, and to cause the camp to journey. When they sound a tekiah (long blast) with [both of] them, the entire assembly shall assemble to you, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. If they sound a tekiah with one, the leaders shall assemble to you; to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. When you sound teruah (short blasts), the camps resting to the east shall journey. When you sound teruah a second time, the camps resting to the south shall journey; teruah shall they sound for their journeys. When you gather together the congregation, you shall sound a tekiah but not a teruah. 

The sons of Aharon, the Kohanim, shall sound the trumpets, and it shall be for you an eternal decree for your generations. When you go to wage war in your Land against an enemy who oppresses you, you shall sound short blasts of the trumpets, and you shall be remembered before Hashem, your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. 

On a day of your gladness, and on your festivals, and on your new moons, you shall sound the trumpets over your burnt-offerings, and over your feast peace-offerings; and they shall be a remembrance for you before your God; I am Hashem, your God.

The trumpets served four functions: (1) summoning the assembly and the leaders, (2) signaling the camps to move, (3) causing us to be remembered before Hashem at a time when we are oppressed or afflicted, and (4) accompanying the korbanos (offerings) on joyous holidays. The first two functions were only relevant when Bnei Yisrael were encamped in the Midbar (Wilderness). The second two functions apply for all generations, as long as the Mikdash (Temple) still stands. 

Two basic questions arise from these facts: 

1. Why are trumpets the instrument of choice? What is their significance? Moreover, why not use the Torah's other mitzvah instrument: the shofar? After all, the same types of blasts are sounded: tekiah, teruah, tekiah. Not only that, but in the Mikdash, a shofar accompanied the two trumpets during these blasts, so it's not as though the shofar is irrelevant here. 
2. What is the common denominator between these four functions? What do these four things have in common, such that they are unified by this mitzvah?

Now, it is tempting to answer question #1 by searching for some sort of symbolism in the trumpets and their blasts, and then use that symbolism to answer question #2. There are a number of details about the trumpets which lend themselves to this approach: the fact that they had to be hammered out of silver and no other type of metal, the fact that there can never be fewer than two trumpets and never more than 120, the fact that they were only sounded in the Mikdash, the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu made the first set of trumpets and no one else was permitted to use them - even to the point where they were put into genizah when Moshe died - etc. etc.

That is certainly a fine approach, and I have no doubt that it can yield good results. However, I would like to share a simpler approach which is often overlooked, due to its simplicity.

The Sefer ha'Chinuch explains:

At the root of this precept lies the reason that at the time of a korban they had to intensely focus their thoughts on its purpose, for as is it is known, it could become disqualified through certain specific thoughts. Moreover, an offering required perfect concentration of intention before the Lord of all, Who commanded us about it. Similarly, at a time of trouble, a man needs great concentration when he pleads before his Creator that He should have mercy on him and rescue him from his misfortune. Therefore they were commanded about sounding the trumpets at these times. For man, insofar as he is a physical being, requires a great arousal to matters. For human nature, with nothing to arouse it, will remain asleep. And nothing will stir him like the sounds of melody - it is a known matter - and especially trumpets, the blast of which is the strongest sound among all musical instruments. 

And there is another benefit to be found in the blast of the trumpets, as it would seem, apart from the arousal to proper intention. For by the force of the sounds, a man will remove from his heart the thought of other affairs of the world, and he will pay attention at that time to nothing but the matter of the offering. But why should I go on at length, when this is evident to anyone who gives ear to hear trumpets and the peal of the shofar with proper intention? 

See what I mean by "simple"? The Sefer ha'Chinuch's answer to the first question (Why trumpets?) is "because trumpets are loud, and they help you focus." His answer to the second question (What do these functions have in common?) is "they all require focus." (Technically, he didn't explain the two Midbar functions, but it is reasonable to assume that he would apply his explanation there as well.)

This explanation of the trumpets certainly isn't glamorous, but it is conservative and cogent. It explains the reason for the mitzvos without positing anything other than what the facts, themselves, suggest. It eschews the perils of metaphor and symbolism-speculation. Last but not least, it helps us to understand the mitzvah on its most basic level, which is a necessary step before moving on to a more advanced understanding. 

In my opinion, the Sefer ha'Chinuch's explanation here should serve as a paradigm for analyzing the reasons for all mitzvos. Start with the basic structure of the mitzvah and develop a theory from the bottom and up, making the minimum number of assumptions possible. The navi's admonition to "walk humbly with your God" (Michah 6:8) applies as much to methodology in learning as it does to life.