Make for Yourself Two Silver Trumpets

Parashat Beha'alotecha is a rich Torah portion, chock-full of famous and prominent elements: for example, it opens with a commandment regarding the seven-branched lampstand of the menorah, and ends with a distinctive pair of backwards nuns that set off the "vayehi binsoa" verse which was recited when the ark was on the move. 

This week, however, it's a small instruction from the middle of the Torah portion -- a few lines about silver trumpets -- that have caught my attention. These are the very last instructions the Israelites receive as they prepare to leave Sinai, one year after having departed from Egypt together. Numbers chapter 10 opens:

וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ עֲשֵׂ֣ה לְךָ֗ שְׁתֵּי֙ חֲצֽוֹצְרֹ֣ת כֶּ֔סֶף מִקְשָׁ֖ה תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה אֹתָ֑ם וְהָי֤וּ לְךָ֙ לְמִקְרָ֣א הָֽעֵדָ֔ה וּלְמַסַּ֖ע אֶת־הַֽמַּחֲנֽוֹת׃

 "Adonai spoke to Moses, saying: Make for yourself two silver trumpets; make them of hammered work. They shall serve you to summon the community and to set the camps in motion."

The verses that follow go on to detail precisely how these two silver trumpets worked in conveying messages. When blown in long blasts (tekiah), they signal assembly; a long blast on both trumpets brings together "kol ha-edah," "all the people," and a long blast on a single trumpet functions to assemble just the tribal leaders. When short blasts are blown (teruah), this signals movement, and the various tribes encamped on the different sides of the Tabernacle await the short trumpet blasts that indicate that it's their turn to fall into line and move. 

The different blasts of the silver trumpets point to two distinct and important functions of community: 1) knowing how to assemble and 2) knowing how to move forward together. Assembly is fundamentally about being in community -- knowing how to come together, how to build internal bridges and how to communicate, how to build a shared identity and culture. Movement, on the other hand, is about having a shared sense of purpose -- an outward orientation, knowledge of how to travel together and a sense of where we are trying to go. As our ancestors begin their historic journey through the wilderness -- one that we know will last another 39 years --  it is critical that they have both of these skills: the ability to gather together and the ability to move. 

A second element of the trumpet commandments that I'd like to lift up is embedded in the opening line where the text reads: "Aseh l'cha shtei chatzotzrot kesef,"  "Make for yourself..." The Midrash and several later commentators pick up on the word "l'cha," "for yourself." As in other places in the Torah where "l'cha" appears together with an imperative verb (such as God's "lech l'cha" command to Abraham), the midrash is sure that this small word cannot be extraneous. On this verse, Sifrei Bamidbar 72:1 interprets "make for yourself" as teaching "from what is yours." In his book Unlocking the Torah Text - Bamidbar, Rabbi Shmuel Goldin extrapolates on this point:

Based upon the specific language “Make for yourself,” the rabbis discern a striking distinction between the trumpets and all other utensils fashioned by Moshe in the wilderness. While other utensils were appropriate for use in future generations, Moshe’s trumpets were his alone, to be used only during his lifetime. Each future generation would have to fashion its trumpets anew.

I really appreciate this idea -- that every generation has its own wilderness to traverse, and therefore it is incumbent upon each generation to fashion its own trumpets. This notion rings true to me this week, in particular, when on so many levels, I feel like we are poised at the start of a new journey through a vast and uncharted wilderness. The wilderness that stands before us now is particularly fearsome: it features challenges to our most core values, attacks on American democracy, and also the existential threat of climate change. For Jews in particular, we currently find ourselves "walking multiple tightropes at once" (as Forward columnist Jay Michaelson wrote last week) when it comes to thinking about support for Israel and the brutality and endgame of the Gaza war, how we understand and respond to recent attacks such as the one in Boulder, and more. Now, on top of all the rest of what lies ahead of us, Israel's unprecedented strike on Iran's nuclear capabilities over the last day is kicking up new uncertainty and an increased sense of dread.

How will we traverse this wilderness that lies in front of us? Parashat Beha'alotecha provides us with one ancient formula. We must make for ourselves "silver trumpets" -- that is, build the tools we need to call ourselves into community... something we already do each and every day here at Kavana. And then, with the right combination of long and short blasts on the instruments we have fashioned, we will assemble ourselves and move forward to the best of our abilities. The journey that lies ahead surely won't be straightforward, but with silver trumpets to guide us, we can ensure that we will venture forward, through this unknown, together.

With prayers that this Shabbat will be one of increasing shalom,

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum