The Two Sounds of the Trumpet

Like the shofar, the hatzotzra (silver trumpet) has two basic sounds: t’ki’a and teru’ah. T’ki’a is the sound of rejoicing, as the verse (10:10) states:

          And on the day of your joy and on your festivals, you shall blow (t’ki’a) with the trumpets .

            Teru’ah, on the other hand, is translated by Onkelos as yebaba, sighing. The teru’ah expresses uneasiness and perhaps even distress.

The call for the camp of Israel to journey was teru’ah (10:5). However, based upon the exact wording of the verse, our Sages teach that the teru’ah was preceded and followed by t’kiot.

            This order conveys a significant lesson. The journeys of the Children of Israel should be times of joy. This feeling is conveyed by the prefatory t’ki’a.  After all, the camp was moving closer to the Promised Land.  However, the journey can arouse feelings of wariness and anxiety, over the need to leave a familiar, comfortable place for the unknown. Thus, the actual call to begin the journey is teru’ah. Yet the teru’ah was followed by a t’ki’a, teaching that since the journeys are “by the word of God” (9:18;20;23), we are guaranteed that in the end the journey will be a positive and joyful experience. Thus the call to the journey ends with t’ki’a.