Sukkah, Daf Nun Daled, Part 2

 

Introduction

Today’s section deals with how many trumpet blasts were sounded on days with additional offerings, musafim.

 

כי אתא רבי אחא בר חנינא מדרומא, אייתי מתניתא בידיה: +במדבר י’+ ובני אהרן הכהנים יתקעו בחצצרות שאין תלמוד לומר יתקעו, שכבר נאמר +במדבר י+ ותקעתם בחצצרות על עלתיכם ועל זבחי שלמיכם ומה תלמוד לומר יתקעו? – הכל לפי המוספין תוקעין.

 

When R. Aha b. Hanina came from the south, he brought a baraita with him: "And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with trumpets" (Numbers 10:8). For Scripture would not have needed to state explicitly "shall blow" since it is also written, "You shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt-offering sand over the sacrifices of your peace-offerings" (Numbers 10:10). Why then was it stated, "shall blow"? [To teach you that] the sounding of the trumpets is in accordance with the number of the additional offerings.

 

R. Aha b. Hanina’s baraita exploits the redundancy in the word, "you shall blow" which appears in both Numbers 10:8 and 10:10. From the redundancy the baraita learns that the trumpet blasts should be in accordance with the musafim, the additional offerings, that are sacrificed on the festivals. Below the Talmud will explain this in greater detail.

 

הוא תני לה והוא אמר לה: לומר שתוקעין על כל מוסף ומוסף.

 

He taught this [baraitha] and he also explained it to mean that the trumpet is to be sounded for every single additional offering.

 

R. Aha explained that the baraita means that there is a trumpet blasting for each musaf offering. On days where there are more musaf offerings, the trumpet would be sounded more frequently.

 

תנן: ערב שבת שבתוך החג היו שם ארבעים ושמנה. ואם איתא, ליתני: שבת שבתוך החג, משכחת לה חמשין וחד! – אמר רבי זירא: לפי שאין תוקעין לפתיחת שערים בשבת.

 

We have learned "On the eve of Shabbat during the intermediate days of the festival there were [therefore] forty-eight blasts." Now if it were so, why was it not stated that on Shabbat during the festival it was possible to have fifty-one blasts?

R. Zera answered, Because the trumpet was not sounded at the opening of the gates on the Shabbat.

 

The Talmud raises the difficulty that if there were three trumpet blasts for every musaf, then on Shabbat during the festival, there should have been more than forty-eight. There would have been fifty-one, including the extra three for the extra musaf.

R. Zera answers that on Shabbat they didn’t sound the trumpets when opening the gates, because this was not a mitzvah, such that it would override Shabbat.