Rosh Hashanah: The Hundred Kolos of Shofar
- In Moadim
AI summary (may contain mistakes)
How do the nine kolos of the Torah become the hundred blown on Rosh Hashanah? The pesukim give three sets of tekiah, teruah, tekiah, nine kolos. Teruah could mean longer cries, short cries or both, so the Gemara records that all three patterns were instituted, thirty kolos, blown twice to confuse the satan. The last forty are a minhag, found in neither the Gemara nor the Shulchan Aruch.
Key points
- Through a gezeira shava, the Gemara gives Rosh Hashanah three teruos, each between two tekios.
- Onkelos renders teruah as yevava, a cry, leaving open whether long, short or combined cries.
- Tashrat alone would not do, says the Gemara, since an extra sound interrupts tekiah and teruah.
- The Gemara has the thirty kolos blown a second time to confuse the satan.
- The Mishnah Berurah credits the last forty kolos, a minhag, to the Shelah HaKadosh.
