Why Tashrat should really suffice

The Mishna in Rosh Hashana (33b):

מתני' סדר תקיעות שלש של שלש שלש שיעור תקיעה כשלש תרועות שיעור תרועה כשלש יבבות

Or, in English:

MISHNAH. THE ORDER OF THE BLASTS CONSISTS OF THREE SETS OF THREE EACH. THE LENGTH OF A TEKI'AH IS EQUAL TO THREE TERU'AHS, AND THE LENGTH OF A TERU'AH TO THREE YEBABOTH.

Thus, the Mishna defines a teruah as 1/3 of a tekiah, and a yevava as 1/3 of that. This is important since the Torah had declared that we are to blow teruot, as for instance in Bemidbar 29:1:

א  וּבַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ, מִקְרָא-קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם--כָּל-מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה, לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:  יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם.

1 And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a day of blowing the horn unto you.

and we now seem to have a definition of a teruah.

The gemara has as follows:

שיעור תרועה כג' יבבות:

והתניא שיעור תרועה כשלשה שברים אמר אביי בהא ודאי פליגי דכתיב (במדבר כט, א) יום תרועה יהיה לכם ומתרגמינן יום יבבא יהא לכון וכתיב באימיה דסיסרא (שופטים ה, כח) בעד החלון נשקפה ותיבב אם סיסרא מר סבר גנוחי גנח ומר סבר ילולי יליל

THE LENGTH OF THE TERU'AH IS EQUAL TO THE LENGTH OF THREE YEBABOTH. But it has been taught, ‘The length of the teru'ah is equal to three shebarim’? — Abaye said: Here there is really a difference of opinion. It is written, It shall be a day of teru'ah unto you, and we translate [in Aramaic], a day of yebaba, and it is written of the mother of Sisera, Through the window she looked forth, [wa-teyabab]. One authority thought that this means drawing a long sigh, and the other that it means uttering short piercing cries.

The pasuk in Bemidbar, cited above, certainly says Yom Teruah. And the Targum on that is:

כט,א וּבַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ, מִקְרָא-קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם--כָּל-מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה, לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:  יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם.

וּבְיַרְחָא שְׁבִיעָאָה בְּחַד לְיַרְחָא, מְעָרַע קַדִּישׁ יְהֵי לְכוֹן--כָּל עֲבִידַת פֻּלְחַן, לָא תַּעְבְּדוּן:  יוֹם יַבָּבָא, יְהֵי לְכוֹן.

So we know that teruah is equal to the Aramaic yabava. And what does yabava mean? See what how it is defined in Biblical Hebrew, by the mother of Sisera, in Shofetim 5:28:

כח  בְּעַד  {ר}  הַחַלּוֹן נִשְׁקְפָה וַתְּיַבֵּב אֵם סִיסְרָא, בְּעַד הָאֶשְׁנָב:  {ס}  מַדּוּעַ, בֹּשֵׁשׁ רִכְבּוֹ  {ר}  לָבוֹא--  {ס}  מַדּוּעַ אֶחֱרוּ, פַּעֲמֵי מַרְכְּבוֹתָיו.  {ס}

28 Through the window she looked forth, and peered, the mother of Sisera, through the lattice: 'Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

Note the translation of teyabev as "peered", taken as parallel to nishkefa, "looked forth". Abaye took this at as making a teruah sound.

See Radak, who writes:

[ה, כח]
ותיבב - הריעה.  מתרגם:  תרועה - יבבא. 

ויונתן תרגם:  ואודיקה לשון הבטה.

Thus, it could either be the same as making a teruah sound or, according to the local Targum Yonatan, peering.

It is interesting that the term יבבא has possibly undergone a change. Otherwise how can one say in the gemara that teruah, which had been translated as יבבא, means 3 יבבות, and another that it means 3 שברים?

At any rate, we only have two possible definitions of teruot / yevavot here, and nothing Tannaitic which defines it as both the sound long sighs followed by short piercing cries. That would be rather unexpected, since יבבא means one particular thing, and Sisera's mother is only a means to the end of discovering what that Targum Onkelos meant.

On the next daf, 34a, we have the following:

אתקין רבי אבהו בקסרי תקיעה שלשה שברים תרועה תקיעה מה נפשך אי ילולי יליל לעביד תקיעה תרועה ותקיעה ואי גנוחי גנח לעביד תקיעה שלשה שברים ותקיעה מספקא ליה אי גנוחי גנח אי ילולי יליל 

מתקיף לה רב עוירא ודלמא ילולי הוה וקא מפסיק שלשה שברים בין תרועה לתקיעה דהדר עביד תקיעה תרועה ותקיעה 

מתקיף לה רבינא ודלמא גנוחי הוה וקא מפסקא תרועה בין שברים לתקיעה דהדר עביד תש"ת אלא רבי אבהו מאי אתקין אי גנוחי גנח הא עבדיה אי ילולי יליל הא עבדיה מספקא ליה דלמא גנח ויליל אי הכי ליעבד נמי איפכא תקיעה תרועה שלשה שברים ותקיעה דלמא יליל וגנח סתמא דמילתא כי מתרע באיניש מילתא ברישא גנח והדר יליל:

Or, in English:

R. Abbahu prescribed in Caesarea that there should be a teki'ah, three shebarim, a teru'ah and a teki'ah. How can this be justified? If [the sound of teru'ah] is a kind of wailing, then there should be teki'ah, teru'ah and teki'ah, and if it is a kind of groaning, there should be teki'ah, three shebarim, and teki'ah? — He was in doubt whether it was a kind of wailing or a kind of groaning.

R. ‘Awira strongly demurred against this procedure, saying, Perhaps it is a kind of wailing, and the three shebarim make an interruption between the teru'ah and the [first] teki'ah? — We assume that he afterwards blows teki'ah, teru'ah, teki'ah. 

Rabina strongly demurred against this, saying, Perhaps it is a kind of sighing and the teru'ah makes an interruption between the shebarim and the [second] teki'ah? — We suppose that he afterwards blows teki'ah, shebarim, teki'ah. 

What then is the point of R. Abbahu's regulation? If it is a groaning sound, it has already been made, and if it is a wailing sound it has already been made? — He was in doubt whether it does not include both groaning and wailing. If so, the reverse should also be carried out, namely, teki'ah, teru'ah, three shebarim, teki'ah, since perhaps it is wailing and groaning? — Ordinarily when a man has a pain, he first groans and then wails.

I would say that the correct understanding of Rabbi Abahu is as the gemara originally understood. That is, with tashrat, he was trying to fulfill all the shitos. Therefore, misafek, he instituted tashrat. Thus, a tekia before; and then, for the teruah, both shevarim and yevavot (what we call teruah), such that whatever it was, he fulfilled; and finally, tekia to close.

Rav Avira (see here, here, and here; presumably the one who was contemporary to Rabbi Abahu and student of Rabbi Yochanan) and Ravina's (later) objection is that it would form a hefsek. One held that the hefsek would come from before, the other held the hefsek would even apply after, such that he is not fulfilling anything. And the setama degemara supplied that he also would perform tarat and tashat. (Why Ravina would need to give this objection after Rav Avira is open to discussion. Perhaps as I suggested above in this paragraph, perhaps as displaying a preference for teruah or shevarim as primary. Unless all of this setama degemara was supplied by the 8th generation Amora, Ravina II.)

I would say that Rabbi Abahu does not hold that Sisera's mother both groaned and wailed, and thus a Targumic yevava, and thus a Biblical teruah, is shevarim teruah, wailing and groaning. As I noted above, there is no Tannaitic source for this position. Nor do I see any Amora explicitly suggesting this. This is the setama degemara adding to what Rabbi Abahu's institution was, on the basis of objections by Amoraim, and extrapolating from the earlier statement of Abaye about groans and wails. It seems that the named Amoraim, namely Rabbi Avira, who was a contemporary of Rabbi Abahu and could see for himself, as well as the much later Ravina, both understood Rabbi Abahu's institution as a compromise shitta, and objected because they did not believe that he separately blew other sets.

Even in Yerushalmi, there is no mention of this third position, that teruah is actually groan + cries. Rather, only two positions are mentioned. Yerushalmi 21b:

איזו היא הרעה רבי חנניא ורבי מנא חד אמר אהן טרימוטה וחורנה אמר תלת דקיקן.  רבי חנניה חשש להדא דר' מנא ולהדא דידן.

What is a haraah {teruah}? Rabbi Chanania and Rabbi Mana: One said these terimota {one light blast?}, and the other said three light ones. Rabbi  Chanania was choshesh for the position of Rabbi Mana as well as these of ours. Perhaps that means short ones and slightly longer ones?

In terms of hefsek mentioned by Rav Avira and Ravina, we can simply point to Rabbi Yochanan's position. For Rabbi Yochanan was the teacher of Rabbi Abahu. At the end of the amud, going on to the next:

אמר רבי יוחנן שמע תשע תקיעות בתשע שעות ביום יצא תניא נמי הכי שמע תשע תקיעות בתשע שעות ביום יצא מט' בני אדם כאחד [לא יצא] תקיעה מזה ותרועה מזה יצא ואפי' בסירוגין ואפי' כל היום כולו

R. Johanan said: If one heard nine blasts at nine different times of the day, he has performed his religious obligation. It has been taught to the same effect: ‘If one heard nine blasts at nine different times of the day, he has performed his religious obligation. If, however, he heard nine different people at once, he has not performed his obligation. If he hears a teki'ah from one and a teru'ah from another, he has fulfilled his obligation, even if the intervals extended over the whole day’.

The gemara goes on to contrast it with a conflicting opinion, of Rabbi Yochanan citing his teacher Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak. But Rabbi Yochanan himself holds this, and thus so does Rabbi Abahu. Just as you can hear these nine blasts spaced out across the entire day, so can you happen to hear other blasts which do not undo the legal blasts you have heard.

At the end of the day, I am convinced that tashrat tashat tarat is a waste, and tircha detzibura. I think that we could say like Rabbi Abahu and just do tashrat. Or, we can pick a tradition and run with it. Or, if we want to be choshesh for all traditions, and believe that the opposite tradition is a hefsek, we can do tashat and tarat. But if so, for goodness sake, skip the tashrat! Don't reinterpret Rabbi Abahu to this extremely forced explanation, that he was innovating a completely new teruah, to be blown alongside the other two.

So nine blasts became (for Rabbi Abahu) twelve (tashrat tashrat tashrat, with shevarim and teruah separate), and at the end of the gemara, more than that: 3 tashat, 3 tarat, and 3 tashrat. See this post how it got expanded even further, though with some bending for and acknowledgement of tircha detzibura. And then expanded more to 100 shofar blasts, with no concern for tircha detzibura. Also, a note there about speaking after the first round of tekiot, and whether it is really an issue.

Note: Not halacha lemaaseh. In other words, if you want to act for yourself, don't blame me. And learn through the sources yourself. This is more my reason for getting aggravated at the development of halacha is an expansive fashion, which ends up more burdensome upon the tzibbur.