Kohanim in the Jewish Quarter

The Lord spoke to Moses saying: “Make yourself two trumpets of hammered silver; they shall be used by you to summon the congregation and to announce the departure of the camps. The descendants of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; this shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations.” Numbers 10:1-2, 8         

Last week we took a virtual tour of the Jewish Quarter in the footsteps of the Levi’im. This week we shall return and tour in the footsteps of the Kohanim.

            As there are alleyways of the Jewish Quarter named for the jobs of the Levi’im and for their musical instruments, so too there are alleyways which received their names from the functions of the Kohanim in the Temple.

            The only musical instrument used in the Temple which was played specifically by Kohanim is the trumpet, as the verses above make clear. Indeed, there is an alleyway of the Quarter which is named “Haẓoẓrot” (Trumpets).

            Sefer Ḥinuch writes of the mitzva of making trumpets [#382]:

(The mitzva) is to blow the trumpets daily when the sacrifices are offered, as well as in times of distress, as the verse states: “When you enter into battle in your Land against an adversary who is attacking you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God and be delivered from your enemies.” [Numbers 10:9] The following verse is: “You are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your ascent offerings (olah) and on the days of your rejoicing, on your appointed festivals, and the beginning of each of your months. They will serve as a reminder for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.” Even though the verse states “On the day of rejoicing, on your appointed festivals, and the beginning of each of your months,” this is not exclusive, and our Sages taught [Babylonian Talmud, Rosh haShana 29a] that the trumpet was blown in the Temple on a daily basis.

            Indeed, Midrash Sifrei [Numbers 1:40] elucidates:

“On the days of your rejoicing” – Rabbi Natan says “this refers to the daily perpetual sacrifices (t’midim) because it is joyous for Israel when their offerings are accepted by their Father in Heaven.”

            Aruch haShulḥan heAtid [Laws of Temple Vessels 27:9] writes that the use of trumpets in conjunction with the sacrifices apparently is a tradition dating to Moses at Sinai.

            Kohanim blew the trumpets specifically when the wine offered along with the t’midim was poured on the altar:

When the wine offering was poured on the altar, the Levi’im sang, and the daily psalm was divided into three sections, after each the Kohanim blew the trumpets and the people bowed, as is taught in Tractate Tamid [7:3]: When they came to a break (in the Psalm) a tekiah was blown, and the public prostrated themselves; at every break there was a tekiah and at every tekiah a prostration. [Kehati commentary on Mishna, Rosh haShana 3:4]

            Second Chronicles thus describes the dedication of the First Temple:

The Levitical singers of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, and of their sons and their relatives, dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, were standing east of the altar, and with them were one-hundred-twenty Kohanim blowing trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the Lord with one voice in praise to the Lord: “For He is good; His faithful love endures forever”; the Temple, the Lord’s Temple, was filled with a cloud. [5:12-13]

            Concerning the founding of the Second Temple we read:

When the builders had laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple, the Kohanim, dressed in their robes and holding trumpets, and the Levites descended from Asaph, holding cymbals, took their positions to praise the Lord, as King David of Israel had instructed. [Ezra 3:10]

            The Mishna [Sukka 5:5] notes that the number of trumpet blasts in the Temple ranged between twenty-four and forty-eight:

There were no fewer than twenty-four trumpet blasts in the Temple and no more than forty-eight. Each day there were twenty-four: three when the gates were opened in the morning, nine for the daily morning offering and nine for the daily afternoon offering, totaling twenty-one. When additional offerings (musaf) were sacrificed, nine blasts were added. On Shabbat eve they would add six blasts, three to stop the people from working and three to distinguish between sacred and profane. On Shabbat eve of the festival of Sukkot, there were forty-eight blasts: three (in the morning) for the opening of the gates; three for the upper gate; and three for the lower gate; and three for filling the vessel (for the water libation); three when poring the water on the altar; nine for the daily morning offering; and nine for the daily afternoon offering; and nine for the additional offerings; three to stop the people from work; and three more to distinguish between sacred and profane.

            Despite the Mishna’s enumeration, Maimonides [Commentary on the Mishna] notes that the Mishna is not exact, since it is possible to reach a maximum of fifty-seven trumpet blasts:

(The Mishna) is not exact, rather it intends (that forty-eight is the maximum number of blasts) under usual circumstances, but there are years during which one day can have fifty-seven blasts, namely when the eve of Passover is on Shabbat. Since we have been taught that the Paschal offering was slaughtered in three groups, and when each entered the courtyard of the Temple there were three trumpet blasts which accompanied the recitation of Hallel, and the Hallel could be recited by a given group as many as three times, it is possible to reach twenty-seven blasts for Hallel; add to this eighteen blasts for the two daily offerings, nine for the Musaf of Shabbat, and three for the opening of the gates in the morning, the total would be fifty-seven. This is the number of blasts cannot be exceeded in the Temple.

            To summarize, in addition to blowing the trumpets when the t’midim were offered, they were blown at the start of the work day of the Temple, with the opening of the gates of the Temple courtyards, on Shabbat eve, at the water libation ceremony during Sukkot and when the Paschal lambs were slaughtered.

            Maimonides codifies the law that no fewer than two trumpets are to be blown, and no more than one-hundred-twenty. Clearly, Maimonides based his ruling on our sources. The Torah itself commands the use of two trumpets, while the verse in Second Chronicles cites the maximum number.

            While Sefer haḤinuch [mitzva 384] infers from Maimonides’ wording [Laws of Temple Vessels 3:4] that the daily trumpet blasts are not required to be done specifically by Kohanim, since they are in force only by rabbinic decree, Aruch haShulḥan heAtid [Laws of Temple Vessels 20:17] posits that all the blasts in the Temple were exclusively with trumpets blown by Kohanim.

            There is a second alleyway in the Jewish Quarter which commemorates the work of the Kohanim in the Temple: Mishmerot Kehuna Street, which is perpendicular to Haẓoẓrot Street.

            The Talmud [Ta’anit 27a] teaches that Moses divided the Kohanim into eight groups (mishmarot), four composed of descendants of Elazar and four of the descendants of Itamar. This was the situation until the days of the prophet Samuel, who, along with King David, reorganized the Kohanim into twenty-four mishmarot.

            At the end of the list of mishmarot in First Chronicles, the verse states: “These are their appointment[s] to their service, to come to the House of the Lord according to their ordinance by the hand of Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.” [24:19] We also read in the Book of Ezra [6:18] “Now they set up the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their classes over the service of God, which was in Jerusalem, as is written in the Book of Moses,” clearly indicating that the division of Kohanim into mishmarot originates with the Torah. Indeed, our Sages saw this is implied by the verse in Deuteronomy [18:8], which states “They shall eat equal portions, except what was sold by the forefathers.” Midrash Sifrei elucidates:

“Except what was sold by their fathers” – that which the fathers “sold” in the days of David and Samuel, when the mishmarot were fixed and they “sold” each other the rights to work in the Temple, (saying) “you take your week and I my week.”

Nonetheless, Naḥmanides’ opinion [Comments on Maimonides’ Book of Mitzvot, positive mitzva 36] is that the division into mishmarot was a “decree of the prophets, not mandatory.”

            Each mishmar worked for a week at a time, from Shabbat to Shabbat, with the change of mishmarot coming before the offering of the daily afternoon offering, and both mishmarot sharing the showbread. [Maimonides Laws of Daily Offerings and Additional Offerings 4:9]

            Taking into account the fact that the Hebrew calendar is lunar, any given mishmar would work on average two weeks per year in a non-leap year. Yehuda Kiehl, in Da’at Mikra First Chronicles, notes that the division into twenty-four mishmarot established a suitable internal arrangement of Shabbatot among the mishmarot, guaranteeing that no mishmar can ever have a fixed Shabbat of the year, and throughout the course of years, each mishmar will work in every month.

            Each mishmar was headed by a Kohen responsible for its proper functioning, and he divided the mishmar into clans (batei av) with each clan working one day per week. [Maimonides Laws of Temple Vessels 4:11]

            There were two exceptions to the rule, in which all clans of the mishmar worked together:

1) The verse tells us that at the dedication of the First Temple, “all the Kohanim who were present had consecrated themselves regardless of their tour of duty.” [II Chronicles 5:11] Malbim explains that all Kohanim participated in the dedication, despite the fact that the division into mishmarot had already been established. Radak presents a common sense explanation: “So many sacrifices were offered and so many people participated in the dedication that it was necessary for all Kohanim to work.” Indeed, at the Temple’s dedication “King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep!” [I Chronicles 7:5] Offering this massive number of sacrifices required the participation of every Kohen.

2) During the three pilgrimage festivals “All (Kohanim) worked equally.” [Maimonides Laws of Daily Offerings and Additional Offerings 10:12].

            As well any Kohen had the right to perform the service for his own sacrifices, even during another mishmar’s week. [Laws of Temple Vessels 4:7]

            We may add that every Shabbat the outgoing mishmar blessed the incoming one with the unique blessing “May He Who causes His name to rest in this house cause love, brotherhood, peace, and friendship to rest among you.” [Laws of Daily Offerings and Additional Offerings 6:4]

            The ability of the Kohanim to represent the nation of Israel before God in the holy service depends directly on their unity and that of the nation.