B'ha-alotcha -- 5775

Two silver trumpets shine in the sun.  Their blasts, loud and sweet, resound through the hills and across the plains.  They summon soldiers with their cry “War!” and they announce joyous occasions.   They shall be “l’chukat olam l’doroteichem,” in Fox’ translation, “as a law for the ages, throughout your generations” (Numbers 10:8).

If the law of the trumpets is for the ages, doesn’t it inherently last throughout the generations as well?  Why the repetition?

Ibn Ezra picks up on the dual nature of the trumpets when he observes that they are to be used both in the Land and out of the Land.  That is, they are to sound when the Israelites are invaders and also when they are defenders.

The twin trumpets are no more, yet we are told they exist forever.  Perhaps, then, they live on inside us.  Perhaps the trumpet’s call is the pure voice within us that we summon when we cry out for what’s good and true.  It’s the righteous demand in times of trouble.

 If so, why are there two of them?

• One trumpet calls out when you need to defend yourself, and one calls sounds when you need to protect others.
• One trumpet summons Justice; the other trumpet cries for Mercy.
• One trumpet blasts when it is time to start, and the other when it is time to stop.

Be the trumpet, and sing out.