Behaalosecha: The Non-Symbolic Trumpets

What’s the reason for the mitzvah of the chatzotzeros (trumpets)? The Sefer ha’Chinuch reminds us that sometimes, the simplest answer is the most compelling.

Jun 13, 2025

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Behaalosecha: The Non-Symbolic Trumpets

Parashas Behaalosecha features the multifaceted mitzvah of the chatotzeros (trumpets). Here is the Torah’s presentation (Bamidbar 10:1-10) with my own paragraph divisions:

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, the heads of Israel’s thousands. 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 a teruah on 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 a tekiah on 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 purposes: (1) summoning the assembly and the leaders, (2) signaling the camps to move, (3) causing us to be remembered before Hashem in times of oppression or affliction, and (4) accompanying the korbanos (offerings) on joyous occasions. The first two functions were only relevant while the Israelites were in the Midbar (Wilderness). The latter two apply to all generations, as long as the Mikdash (Temple) stands.

Two basic questions arise from these facts:

Why are trumpets the instrument of choice? What is their significance? And 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.
What do these four functions have in common? What is their common denominator?

It’s tempting to answer the first question by searching for some sort of symbolic meaning in the trumpets and their blasts, and then use that symbolism to address the second question. Several striking details about the trumpets lend themselves to this approach: they had to be hammered out of silver (and no other type of metal); there could never be fewer than two trumpets or more than 120; they were only sounded in the Mikdash; and the first set was made by Moshe Rabbeinu and no one else was permitted to use them—even to the point that when Moshe died, his trumpets were retired and placed in genizah (a storage facility for sacred items no longer in use). These details seem to cry out for symbolic interpretation.

That is certainly a valid approach, and I have no doubt it can yield good results. However, I’d like to take a different route—one that is simpler and often overlooked precisely because of its simplicity. The Sefer ha'Chinuch (mitzvah #384) explains:

At the root of this precept lies the reason that at the time of a korban, one needed to focus their minds (lechavein daatam) well on its meaning, for—as is known—it could become disqualified by certain specific thoughts. Furthermore, the korban required complete focus (kavanah) before the Master of all, Who commanded us regarding it.
Likewise, at a time of distress (eis tzarah), a person needs great focus when pleading before their Creator that He should have mercy on them and rescue them from their misfortune. Therefore, they were commanded to sound the trumpets at such times, because man, being a physical creature, requires a strong awakening to matters. For [human] nature, with nothing to arouse it, remains dormant, like one asleep. And it is a known fact that nothing rouses him like musical sounds—especially the sound of trumpets, which is the loudest of all musical instruments.
Moreover, there is an additional benefit in the sound of the trumpets, it seems, beyond the arousal to focus: through the power of the sounds, a person removes worldly thoughts from their heart and pays attention at that moment only to the matter of the korban. But why should I elaborate? This is known to anyone who has inclined their ear to hear the trumpets and the sound of the shofar with focus.

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—like a siren. 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 (since they’re not part of the mitzvah), but it is reasonable to assume he would apply his explanation there as well.

This explanation of the trumpets certainly isn't glamorous, but it is conservative and cogent. It accounts for the mitzvah of trumpets and all their functions without positing anything beyond what the facts themselves suggest. It avoids the perils of metaphor and speculative symbolism. More importantly, it helps us understand the mitzvah on its most basic level, which is a necessary step before attempting a more advanced interpretation.

Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh (in a letter dated 9/12/1836) derided Shadal for offering a similarly non-symbolic explanation of the shofar and for rejecting the Kabbalistic interpretations. Benamozegh writes:

Tomorrow you will hear the shofar and I will hear it. What will that sound say to you? Your material Mosaism, what will it say to you? Surely nothing other than one of the charming but puerile reasons that have been given outside of the Kabbalah, and to hear it with devotion, to give importance to the teki‘ah, shevarim, teru‘ah, will require of you an extraordinary effort of faith. For me, as you know, the matter is quite different. Every note has its importance, just as every atom of material is a mystery, just as every physical object has its place and value in Creation. For me, the Torah is the prototype of the world, it is the world in the mind of God, it is the true incarnate word of the mitzvot ha-ma‘asiyyot (action-based commandments). What does it seem to you?

I couldn’t find Shadal’s explanation of the trumpets, but I suspect he would be more receptive to the Sefer ha’Chinuch’s grounded theory than Benamozegh’s mystical reasons.

In my view, the Sefer ha'Chinuch's explanation here should serve as a paradigm for analyzing the reasons behind all mitzvos: begin with the basic structure of the mitzvah and build a theory from the ground up, making as few assumptions as 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.

What do you think of the Sefer ha’Chinuch’s explanation? What is YOUR favorite theory about the chatzotzeros?

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