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.
