Hilchos Tekias Shofar: The Sounds, Seder, and Practical Halachah Pt.1

Topics

• The Torah Structure of Tekias Shofar
• How Much of the Nine Sounds Is Min HaTorah?
• What Is the Torah’s Teruah?
• Was Rabbi Abahu Resolving a Safek?
• Why We Blow Again During Shemoneh Esrei
• From Sixty Sounds to One Hundred
• When the Full Seder Cannot Be Done
• What Makes a Tekiah “Peshutah”?
• One Breath, One Sound, and a Pause in the Tekiah
• Tekiah Gedolah, Length, and Rising Tones

Transcript

## The Torah Structure of Tekias Shofar

The Torah speaks about teruah in connection with the seventh month in three places: twice regarding Rosh Hashanah and once regarding Yovel. On Rosh Hashanah the Torah says, “zichron teruah” and “yom teruah yihyeh lachem” (Vayikra 23:24; Bamidbar 29:1). Regarding Yovel, the Torah commands that the shofar be sounded on Yom Kippur of the fiftieth year (Vayikra 25:9).

The Gemara explains that these passages are joined through the gezeirah shavah of the seventh month, so that the three teruos are learned together (Rosh Hashanah 33b). The basic Torah structure is therefore three teruos.

But a teruah does not stand by itself. From the language surrounding the Yovel teruah — “v’ha’avarta shofar teruah” and “ta’aviru shofar” — Chazal learn that each teruah requires a peshutah, a straight shofar sound, before it and another afterward (Rosh Hashanah 33b). The result is three units of tekiah-teruah-tekiah, for a total of nine sounds.

This is the opening halachah in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 590:1: the fundamental obligation consists of three teruos, each with a peshutah before it and a peshutah after it.

At this stage, there are no shevarim yet. The basic Torah picture is simple: tekiah, teruah, tekiah — three times. The shevarim enter only because of the later question: what exactly is the sound that the Torah calls teruah?

## How Much of the Nine Sounds Is Min HaTorah?

Once we understand the nine basic sounds, a second question appears: are all three sets min haTorah?

Rabbi Walkin points to the Gemara’s discussion in Rosh Hashanah, where different views are presented regarding how many of the three teruah-units are Torah obligations and how many are miDivrei Soferim. One view understands one unit as min haTorah and the remaining two as rabbinic; another view understands two as min haTorah and one as rabbinic.

Why does this matter? Because whenever there is a safek, the level of the obligation affects how strictly the doubt must be treated. A safek de’oraisa is treated more stringently, while a safek derabbanan can sometimes be treated leniently.

Rabbi Walkin therefore reviews the derivation again. The Torah gives three teruos in the seventh month. Two are stated in the context of Rosh Hashanah and one in the context of Yovel. The gezeirah shavah combines them, and each teruah has a peshutah before and afterward. That produces the nine sounds.

He notes, however, that there is substantial discussion among the Rishonim about the exact Torah status of these three units. Tosafos brings earlier views that distinguish between them. At the same time, Shulchan Aruch presents the obligation simply as nine sounds and does not formulate a practical distinction between one set and another.

Rabbi Walkin’s practical point for the shiur is that when learning the halachos of shofar, one cannot dismiss doubts casually. The entire structure rests on determining what the Torah itself requires and how the later enactments were built upon it.

## What Is the Torah’s Teruah?

The Torah says teruah, but what sound is that?

The Gemara describes two possibilities. One is genuchei ganach — a groaning, broken sound, which corresponds to what we call shevarim. The other is yelulei yalil — a rapid cry or wail, which corresponds to what we call teruah (Rosh Hashanah 33b–34a).

That creates a basic safek: perhaps the Torah’s teruah is shevarim, or perhaps it is the rapid teruah that we blow today. To cover both possibilities, one set is therefore tekiah-shevarim-tekiah and another is tekiah-teruah-tekiah.

But where does shevarim-teruah together come from?

The Gemara records the enactment of Rabbi Abahu in Caesarea: tekiah, three shevarim, teruah, tekiah (Rosh Hashanah 34a). This adds the possibility that the Torah’s cry contains both stages — first the heavier broken groan and then the shorter, rapid cry.

So we now have three possible forms of the Torah’s teruah:

1. Shevarim.
2. Teruah.
3. Shevarim-teruah together.

Each one must be framed by a tekiah before and a tekiah after. And because the Torah requires three teruos, each possible form must be repeated three times. That is the structure that ultimately produces the thirty basic kolos.

## Was Rabbi Abahu Resolving a Safek?

Rabbi Walkin then emphasizes an important machlokes among the Rishonim about what Rabbi Abahu’s enactment actually accomplished.

One approach, attributed to Rav Hai Gaon and brought by the Rosh and Ran, understands that there was not a genuine forgotten halachic uncertainty. Different communities had valid traditions for the form of the teruah. Rabbi Abahu established one uniform structure so that Klal Yisrael would no longer appear divided, with one place blowing shevarim and another blowing teruah.

According to that approach, the combinations are not simply an attempt to escape a safek. They are part of a takanah creating a common practice.

Rabbi Walkin contrasts this with the implication he sees in the Rambam, as discussed by the Beis Yosef: Rabbi Abahu was dealing with an actual safek regarding the Torah’s teruah and therefore required all the possible forms.

He then mentions a further approach cited by the Kaf HaChaim in the name of the Zohar: shevarim and teruah are themselves both part of the deeper form of teruah. In that reading, the later practice did not invent a new sound; it revealed the full structure that had been contained in the mitzvah from the beginning.

Whichever explanation one follows, the practical result is the same structure: tashrat, tashat, and tarat, each repeated three times — the thirty basic kolos.

## Why We Blow Again During Shemoneh Esrei

The thirty basic kolos are the tekiyos d’meyushav. Chazal then established additional tekiyos within the seder habrachos of Mussaf — the tekiyos d’me’umad.

Why place shofar inside Shemoneh Esrei?

Rabbi Walkin first explains that the tefillah of the day must contain me’ein hame’ora — the essential character of the day. Rosh Hashanah is “Yom Teruah” (Bamidbar 29:1), so the shofar belongs within the tefillah itself.

He then brings a deeper explanation from the Brisker Rav: tekias shofar itself has an aspect of tefillah. The nusach says that Hashem hears the kol shofar and listens closely to the teruah of Klal Yisrael.

Rabbi Walkin develops the difference between shemi’ah and ha’azanah. Moshe says, “Ha’azinu hashamayim va’adabeirah, v’sishma ha’aretz imrei fi” (Devarim 32:1), while Yeshayahu says, “Shimu shamayim v’ha’azini eretz” (Yeshayahu 1:2). He cites the explanation that ha’azanah indicates closeness, while shemi’ah can describe hearing from farther away.

That becomes the meaning of the shofar tefillah. Hashem hears the kol shofar, but what does He draw close to hear? The teruah — the broken sound. The teruah expresses the brokenness within a Jew.

That is why, Rabbi Walkin explains, shofar belongs inside Shemoneh Esrei. It is not merely a sound added to the tefillah. The broken kol of the shofar is itself a form of tefillah.

## From Sixty Sounds to One Hundred

Why do we blow before Mussaf if the tekiyos are also placed inside the brachos of Mussaf?

The Gemara says that the repeated blowing confounds the Satan (Rosh Hashanah 16b). Rabbi Walkin explains that there is also a display of chibuv mitzvah: Klal Yisrael does not wait until the formal place inside Shemoneh Esrei. We rush to perform the mitzvah and then blow again in its place within the tefillah.

That gives us thirty tekiyos d’meyushav and thirty tekiyos d’me’umad — sixty sounds. Where does the minhag of one hundred come from?

Rabbi Walkin cites Tosafos in the name of the Aruch, connecting the hundred sounds to the cries of Sisera’s mother as she waited for her son: “Madua boshesh richbo lavo?” — “Why is his chariot delayed in coming?” (Shoftim 5:28).

He recalls a beautiful thought from Rav Avraham Pam: Chazal sought an image of the deepest human cry, and there is hardly a deeper cry than a mother crying for her child. The shofar reaches for that depth of emotion.

Rabbi Walkin then gives an important warning. There are many chumros in hilchos shofar, and they matter, but a person must first know the basic halachah. The first day of Rosh Hashanah carries the Torah obligation of shofar, while the second day is rabbinic. He cites the Mishnah Berurah regarding a person who is uncertain afterward whether he heard shofar: on the first day the doubt is treated more strictly, while on the second day the principle of safek derabbanan can change the ruling.

But he leaves open an important distinction: perhaps that leniency applies only after the fact. While one is still in the middle of performing the mitzvah and can easily repeat a questionable sound, there may still be reason to be medakdek even on a rabbinic day.

## When the Full Seder Cannot Be Done

Rabbi Walkin next collects several practical cases that show the difference between the ideal seder and the minimum needed when circumstances are difficult.

First, what if the sounds were blown in a different order? He cites the Shaar HaTziyun that if the order was reversed, the person can nevertheless be yotzei, because the Torah itself did not state the later full arrangement in the form we use today.

Second, what if a person simply cannot produce one of the sounds? For example, he can blow shevarim but cannot make a proper teruah. Rabbi Walkin cites the Biur Halachah that he should blow the sounds he is able to produce rather than abandon the mitzvah entirely.

Then he discusses the common case of a baal tekiah going through a hospital, where time and strength may be limited. He cites the Mateh Ephraim as indicating that one tashrat can at least contain tekiah, shevarim, teruah, and tekiah. He then contrasts this with a ruling he attributes to Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv: the minimum should be one complete set of tashrat, tashat, and tarat — ten kolos.

Rabbi Walkin does not treat this as a theoretical discussion. A baal tekiah going room to room must know what the minimum obligation is before deciding how much can be shortened.

He therefore closes this section with the practical rule that all these cases need to be understood within the earlier sugya: what is min haTorah, what was established because of the safek in teruah, and what was added as later takanah or minhag.

From here he turns to the sound itself: what exactly is a valid tekiah?

## What Makes a Tekiah “Peshutah”?

Rabbi Walkin points out an important expression in the Gemara and Shulchan Aruch. The original term is not simply tekiah; it is peshutah — a plain, extended sound. The later name for that sound is tekiah.

What does peshutah require?

He brings the well-known stringency attributed to the Maharil Diskin: the tekiah should remain completely straight, without a noticeable change in pitch or character from beginning to end. According to this approach, a deviation can compromise the requirement of peshutah.

Rabbi Walkin contrasts this with the Chazon Ish, who did not require the entire sound to remain perfectly level. He nevertheless cites a concern, based on the Ritva, that the end of the tekiah should remain a proper straight sound and should not turn into a broken or altered ending.

He then brings Rav Elyashiv’s broader formulation based on the rule “kol hakolos kesheirim”: different shofar tones can be valid. The issue is not that every tekiah must have one identical pitch. Rather, the sound throughout must remain a valid shofar kol. If the tekiah degenerates into mere air or an invalid noise, that portion cannot simply be treated as part of a kosher tekiah.

Rabbi Walkin’s point is that these poskim may not be arguing about whether the sound can ever vary. They may be defining differently what counts as a valid peshutah and what kind of variation transforms the sound into something else.

He also raises a further question without resolving it: does the Maharil Diskin’s demand for straightness apply only to tekiah, because tekiah is specifically called peshutah, or should some form of consistency also be required in shevarim and teruah?

## One Breath, One Sound, and a Pause in the Tekiah

Rabbi Walkin next asks whether a tekiah must be produced in one uninterrupted breath.

He cites the Chayei Adam and another later source as understanding that if the baal tekiah actually stops to take a breath in the middle, the tekiah is no longer one continuous kol and the person is not yotzei with that sound.

He then notes that the Mateh Ephraim appears more lenient. According to the way Rabbi Walkin reads it, a baal tekiah may recover his breath or make a very slight interruption so long as the listeners do not perceive the tekiah as having split into two separate sounds.

That leads to the opposite question. What if the baal tekiah does not take a breath, but the listeners clearly hear a stop in the middle? Intuitively, Rabbi Walkin says, that seems worse, because the tekiah itself has audibly become two pieces.

Yet he brings a striking historical source from the Tashbatz. The Tashbatz records that in Ashkenaz there was a practice of making a slight stop within the tekiah, although he personally preferred the Sefardic practice.

Rabbi Walkin emphasizes that this does not mean one should casually interrupt a tekiah. It shows how much the definition of one continuous kol depends on the halachic tradition behind the sound. A pause, a breath, and an audible break are not automatically the same question.

These distinctions are especially important for a baal tekiah, because a sound that seems acceptable to an untrained listener may involve a real machlokes in how a tekiah is defined.

## Tekiah Gedolah, Length, and Rising Tones

Rabbi Walkin closes this part of the shiur by separating two ideas that are often confused.

A tekiah gedolah is not a separate category of shofar sound with its own independent mitzvah. The length of a tekiah is connected to the length of the teruah-pattern that it surrounds. Chazal teach that the shiur of the tekiah corresponds to the shiur of the teruah. Because tashrat, tashat, and tarat contain different middle sections, the required tekiah-length becomes part of a larger sugya that Rabbi Walkin plans to explain separately.

He then returns to the shape of the sound itself. Until now he described the Maharil Diskin’s preference for a straight tekiah. But he notes that there are older traditions that intentionally shaped the sound differently.

Rabbi Walkin mentions a practice associated with Leket Yosher of making the tekiah rise. He then cites a lashon attributed to the Ramban describing the sound as “k’adam hameirim kolo l’shorrer” — like a person raising his voice to sing.

That phrase itself can be understood in opposite ways. One person may hear it as support for a rising tone. Another may understand singing as precisely controlled: the singer maintains the intended note rather than producing an accidental break.

Rabbi Walkin’s broader point is that hilchos shofar cannot be learned from instinct or from how one particular baal tekiah happens to blow. There are old mesoros and major Rishonim behind the different sounds. The baal tekiah must know what he is trying to produce and why.

He therefore ends by telling the group that the next stage will be the more difficult part of the sugya: the exact lengths of tekiah, shevarim, and teruah and how the different shitos calculate them.