010a – אין נערכין – פרק שני – ערכין, דף י ע”א

and the added month of the year was thirty, and last year we made both [months] full; take away three against three, and it stands in its place.^[1]

ועיבור שנה שלשים - The added month was thirty days – here you have one [extra] full month; and last year we made both full, Marcheshvan and Iyar – here you have three more full months than in the regular order. Therefore, when [Rebbi] now made three [extra] deficient against them, [the month] stood in its place.

He said to him: Lamp of Israel! So it was.

נר ישראל - That you light up the eyes of the Sages.

Mishnah

One does not blow fewer than twenty-one blasts in the Temple [in a day], and one does not add beyond forty-eight.^[2]

The Mishnah’s twenty-one blasts and forty-eight blasts are explained in Tractate Sukkah, in the chapter החליל (Sukkah 53b).

One does not have fewer than two nevalim, and one does not add beyond six.^[3]

משני נבלים - Two Levites [playing them].

ולא מוסיפין על ששה - The reason is not explained.

One does not have fewer than two pipes, and one does not add beyond twelve.

משני חלילין - A chalil is קלמייל"ש in the vernacular.^[4]

ולא מוסיפין על י"ב - If they wished, they would make twelve, corresponding to the twelve days on which the pipe plays before the altar.

And on twelve days in the year the pipe plays before the altar: at the slaughter of the first Pesach, at the slaughter of the second Pesach, on the first Yom Tov of Pesach, on the Yom Tov of Atzeres, and on the eight days of the festival.^[5]

מכה - There were holes in the pipe, and he would strike with his finger on a hole to make the sound pleasant.

בשחיטת פסח ראשון - On the 14th of Nisan, when they would read the Hallel in the courtyard at the time of the slaughter, as we say in [the chapter] תמיד נשחט (Pesachim 64a).^[6]

And he would not play on a copper abuv, but on an abuv of reed, because its sound is sweet.

אבוב - That is the pipe, and the Gemara explains so.

And he would not end [the tune] except with a single abuv, because it finishes smoothly.

ולא היה מחלק - Means ending. “Except with a single abuv” – when he reached the end of the tune, one of the pipes would hold on after the other fell silent, for this is a finer ending than if both finished together. Chiluk means the ending that separates one tune from the next. At the time of the offering there was this music: the Levites sang the Hallel by mouth on those twelve days while the pipes played; on other days there were harps, cymbal and lyres, and the song was the one explained in Rosh Hashanah (Rosh Hashanah 31a): on the first day of the week “The earth is the Lord’s and its fullness” and the whole psalm, on the second “Great is the Lord and much praised”, and so all of them.^[7]

And they were slaves of kohanim – the words of R’ Meir.^[8]

ועבדי כהנים היו - Those who played the pipe.

R’ Yosi says: They were the families of Beis Pegarim and Beis Tzippara from Emmaus, who married [their daughters] into the kehunah.^[9]

בית הפגרים ובית צפריא - The name of the family.

מעמאום - The name of the place.

ומשיאין לכהונה - Kohanim would marry their daughters, for they were Israelites of pure lineage.

R’ Chanina ben Antigonus says: They were Levites.^[10]

Gemara

Our Mishnah is not like R’ Yehuda, as it was taught: R’ Yehuda says: [One who blows the minimum] should not blow fewer than seven, [and one who adds] should not add beyond sixteen.^[11]

גמ' מתני' - Which counts twenty-one blasts and forty-eight blasts, is not like R’ Yehuda; for our Mishnah counts each tekiah and each teruah by itself, and there is no teruah without a plain tekiah before it and after it; while R’ Yehuda counts tekiah, teruah and tekiah only as one. So you have: the twenty-one of our Tanna are seven for R’ Yehuda, and the forty-eight of our Tanna are sixteen for R’ Yehuda.

On what do they disagree?

R’ Yehuda holds: tekiah, teruah and tekiah are one;^[12]

and the Rabbanan hold: the tekiah is by itself, the teruah by itself, and the tekiah by itself.

What is R’ Yehuda’s reason?

It is written (Bamidbar 10) “And you shall blow a teruah”, and it is written (Bamidbar 10) “A teruah they shall blow”; learn from this: tekiah, teruah and tekiah are one.^[13]

ותקעתם תרועה - So [the Torah] calls a teruah a tekiah and a tekiah a teruah.

And the Rabbanan? That comes for a plain blast before it and a plain blast after it.^[14]

לפשוטה לפניה ולאחריה - For from here is derived a plain blast before it, as it is written “and you shall blow” and then “a teruah”; and a plain blast after it, as it is written (Bamidbar 10) “a teruah” and then “they shall blow”. But in truth each one is a mitzvah by itself.

And what is the reason of the Rabbanan?

As it is written (Bamidbar 10) “And when you assemble the congregation, you shall blow, but not sound a teruah”; and if you should think that tekiah, teruah and tekiah are one, would the Merciful One say: do half a mitzvah?^[15]

And R’ Yehuda? It is merely a signal.

סימנא בעלמא - A signal for them to gather, and not for any mitzvah.

Whom does that which Rav Kahana said follow: “Between the tekiah and the teruah there is nothing at all”?^[16]

ולא כלום - That he should not linger and pause between the plain blast before it and the teruah, nor between the teruah and the plain blast after it, but [blow them] at once, close to one another.

Whom? R’ Yehuda.

כר' יהודה - Who said they are one mitzvah, and need no pause.

That is obvious!

You might have said: it goes even according to the Rabbanan, and [comes] to exclude [the view] of R’ Yochanan, who said: “If one heard nine blasts in nine hours of the day, he has fulfilled his duty”;^[17]

אפי' כרבנן - And this “there is nothing between” does not mean they should be made so close together, but only that one should not wait too long in between.

ולאפוקי מדרבי יוחנן - Who said regarding Rosh Hashanah: if one heard nine blasts – three of malchiyos, three of zichronos and three of shofaros – in nine hours, waiting an hour between each one, he has fulfilled his duty.

It teaches us [that it is not so].

But say it is indeed so!

If so, what is “nothing at all”?^[18]

ולא כלום - Implies: one should not pause at all.

“On twelve days in the year he plays the pipe, etc.”^[19]

What is different about these?

Since the individual completes the Hallel on them,^[20]

as R’ Yochanan said in the name of R’ Shimon ben Yehotzadak: “Eighteen days on which the individual completes the Hallel: the eight days of the festival, the eight days of Chanukah, the first Yom Tov of Pesach, and the Yom Tov of Atzeres;^[21]

שמונה ימי חנוכה - It is not counted in the Mishnah because there is no offering [on them].

and in the Diaspora twenty-one: the nine days of the festival, the eight days of Chanukah, the two Yamim Tovim of Pesach, and the two Yamim Tovim of Atzeres.”^[22]

What is different about the festival [of Sukkos], that we say it every day, and what is different about Pesach, that we do not say it…^[23]

Tosfos

אין פוחתין מכ"א תקיעות במקדש בכל' יום - (Belongs to the Mishnah) And it is explained in Sukkah (Sukkah 53b): three for the opening of the gates, and nine for the morning tamid, for the Levites would sing at the time of the libations, and it had three sections; for each section they blew tekiah, teruah and tekiah.^[24]

ולא מוסיפין על ששה - (Belongs to the Mishnah) Rashi explained: “The reason is not explained.” One does not have fewer than two pipes and does not add beyond twelve, corresponding to the twelve days on which the pipe plays.

Some texts read Beis Hapegaris with a samech, and some read Beis Hapegarim with a mem; and so it is written in the Tosefta (chapter 1), and the verse (Yirmiyahu 31) “the valley of the corpses [pegarim]”.^[25]

הפוחת לא יפחות מז' - According to R’ Yehuda, who said there are only seven blasts, because he counts kar"ak as one blast. And that which is said in Shabbos, in the chapter במה מדליקין (Shabbos 35b), that they would blow six blasts on Erev Shabbos to stop the people from work – according to R’ Yehuda that is only two, for he counts kar"ak as one blast; but it says six according to the Rabbanan, and we count kar"ak as three blasts.^[26]

אין בין תקיעה לתרועה ולא כלום - And it concludes that it follows R’ Yehuda, who says kar"ak is one blast; and so too for the Rabbanan it is forbidden to pause between the blasts. From here it seems to Rabbeinu that one may not pause between the shevarim and the teruah, for we are in doubt [whether] it is groaning or wailing together, and so we make shevarim and teruah together in one blast out of doubt, and one may not pause between them; and if he was forced in the teruah and could not do it because of shortness of breath or any other constraint, he should go back to the shevarim; and Rabbeinu agreed with him. From here it is implied that one may not pause between one blast and the next. And that which we say in Shabbos (ibid.) that they would pause – [for we say] “The first blast was to stop the people in the fields, the second to stop the city and its shops, etc.” – it is different there: since they instituted it so, that each one be a sign for a different thing, it is not counted as a pause.^[27]

שמונה עשר ימים - That Erev Pesach is not counted – for then there would be nineteen – is because it is only in the Temple; [therefore] he does not count it.^[28]

י"ח ימים שהיחיד גומר בהן את ההלל - Explanation: and on other days it is not said at all. For one cannot explain that on other days it is not completed but is read with omissions, since he says “Rosh Chodesh is called a festival; let it be said?” – implying that he holds it is not said on Rosh Chodesh at all. And likewise what he says, “What is different about the festival, that we say it, and about Pesach, that we do not say it”, implies that there is no obligation to say it at all on Rosh Chodesh and on Pesach. And so it is implied in Tractate Taanis (Taanis 28b): “Rav came to Bavel; he saw them reading Hallel on Rosh Chodesh, and thought to stop them; when he heard that they were skipping, he said: The custom of their fathers is in their hands” – implying that Rav thought they did not say it at all. If so, certainly what we say is only a mere custom and not an obligation as on the eighteen days.^[29] Even so, Rabbeinu Tam says that one must make a blessing over it, for so it is implied in the passage where he thought to stop them, (since) they were blessing over it; for otherwise, as soon as Rav saw that they did not bless before it, he could have understood at once that it was not an obligation but a custom; rather, learn from it that they blessed. And so it is implied from the beginning of the second chapter of Berachos (דף יד:), where Rava says: “The halachah is: on the eighteen days on which the individual completes the Hallel, between one section and the next he may pause, in the middle of a section he may not pause; on days on which the individual does not complete the Hallel, he may pause even in the middle of a section” – and if no blessing is made over it, what pause is there in the matter? Moreover, he should pause even for an optional matter; yet he only asked about [pausing] out of fear and out of respect. And it is not like that which is said in the chapter לולב וערבה (סוכה דף מד:), “Over a custom we do not bless” – that applies to handling, a custom like the aravah; but over a reading that is a custom one may well bless. And that which is said there in the fourth chapter of Taanis (Taanis 28b): It was taught: “An individual should not begin, but if he began he completes” – explanation: an individual need not begin, but if he began he completes, with omissions; implying that the congregation is obligated – that is out of mere custom. But it is somewhat difficult: how could Rav think to stop them, when it is taught here that the congregation is obligated to read it, and an individual too completes once he began? And Rabbeinu Chananel explained: an individual should not begin with a blessing, but if he began with a blessing he completes. In any case, hold (that of Rabbeinu Shimshon) [that of Rabbeinu Tam] in your hand, that it is good for an individual too to bless at the start; for granted that he is certainly not obligated to say it, still, since he binds himself to it, it is not a blessing in vain – just as women bless on taking the lulav and it is not in vain, for although they are exempt, they are permitted to take it, and it is not a blessing in vain. [End of] ruling.^[30]

Notes

1. 1. Continues from the previous amud [Arachin 9b]: Rabbi Shimon the son of Rebbi resolves Rebbi’s surprise – the added month was thirty days, and last year two months were made full; three full months against three deficient ones, so the month stood in its place. Tosfos ד"ה מעשה ועשה רבי, whose end the Vilna edition prints at the top of this amud, is given whole there.
2. 2. Twenty-one blasts – each day in the Temple they blew three at the opening of the gates, nine at the morning tamid and nine at the afternoon tamid. On days with added blowings the number rose, up to forty-eight at most. The reckoning is set out in Sukkah [Sukkah 53b].
3. 3. Nevel – a stringed instrument, one of the instruments the Levites played as the offerings were brought.
4. 4. Chalil – a hollow wind instrument, a pipe. “Kalameils” is Rashi’s la’az, an Old French word for a reed pipe.
5. 5. The twelve days: 14 Nisan (the slaughter of the Pesach offering), 14 Iyar (the second Pesach), the first day of Pesach, Atzeres (Shavuos), and the eight days of Sukkos – twelve in all.
6. 6. While the Pesach offerings were slaughtered the Levites recited Hallel in the Temple courtyard; if they finished before the slaughter ended, they repeated it, and if need be repeated it a third time.
7. 7. The song of the day – on each day of the week the Levites sang a set psalm over the offering: on Sunday “The earth is the Lord’s and its fullness” (Tehillim 24), on Monday “Great is the Lord and much praised” (Tehillim 48), and so on.
8. 8. In R’ Meir’s view the pipers were slaves of kohanim, not Levites; for the essence of the song is by mouth, not on the instrument, so the players need not be Levites.
9. 9. In R’ Yosi’s view the pipers came from Israelite families of pure lineage, whose daughters kohanim would marry.
10. 10. In R’ Chanina ben Antigonus’s view the pipers were Levites, the playing being part of the Levites’ service of song.
11. 11. For R’ Yehuda a tekiah-teruah-tekiah set counts as one; so the Mishnah’s twenty-one are for him seven, and its forty-eight are sixteen (as Rashi explains).
12. 12. Tekiah – a plain, long blast; teruah – a broken, quavering blast. Every teruah has a plain tekiah before it and after it.
13. 13. The verses on the trumpets [Bamidbar 10:5–6]: “and you shall blow a teruah” and “a teruah they shall blow” – the Torah calls the teruah a tekiah and the tekiah a teruah, implying that they are one thing.
14. 14. Pashutah – a plain tekiah. For the Rabbanan the verses teach that a plain blast comes before and after the teruah, but each is a mitzvah of its own.
15. 15. [Bamidbar 10:7]: when the congregation is assembled one blows without a teruah. Were tekiah-teruah-tekiah one mitzvah, the Torah would be commanding half a mitzvah.
16. 16. Rav Kahana says there may be no pause at all between the tekiah and the teruah; they are blown one right after the other.
17. 17. R’ Yochanan says that one who hears the nine blasts of Rosh Hashanah (three each for malchiyos, zichronos and shofaros), even an hour apart, has fulfilled his duty [Rosh Hashanah 34b].
18. 18. “Nothing at all” means no pause whatever; were it according to the Rabbanan, it would be enough not to pause too long.
19. 19. The Mishnah lists twelve days in the year on which the pipe played before the altar; the Gemara asks what sets these days apart.
20. 20. Completes the Hallel – says the whole Hallel, not with omissions (the “half Hallel”). On these days there is an obligation to say it complete.
21. 21. The eight days of the festival – the seven days of Sukkos and Shemini Atzeres. On Chanukah Hallel is completed all eight days; on Pesach only on the first day of Yom Tov.
22. 22. Outside the Land of Israel the festivals are kept two days because of doubt, adding the second day of Shemini Atzeres and the second days of Pesach and Shavuos – twenty-one.
23. 23. The question continues on the next amud [Arachin 10b]: why is Hallel completed on every day of Sukkos, but not on Pesach?
24. 24. These two Tosfos marked “belongs to the Mishnah” are printed by the Vilna edition on the next amud [Arachin 10b]; they are given here, on this amud’s Mishnah, following Sefaria’s assignment.
25. 25. “The valley of the corpses” – from the verse in Yirmiyahu (31:39); this supports the reading “Pegarim” with a mem.
26. 26. Kar"ak – shorthand for tekiah-teruah-tekiah. On Erev Shabbos six blasts were blown to stop the people from work [Shabbos 35b]; for R’ Yehuda these count as only two.
27. 27. Shevarim – a blast broken into three. Because it is in doubt whether the Torah’s teruah is a groan (shevarim) or a wail (teruah), both are blown [Rosh Hashanah 34a]; and one may not pause between them.
28. 28. On Erev Pesach Hallel was said at the slaughter of the Pesach offering, but only in the Temple; so it is not counted among the eighteen days on which the individual completes it.
29. 29. Hallel on Rosh Chodesh is a custom, not an obligation, which is why it is said with omissions; Rabbeinu Tam holds that a blessing is made over it.
30. 30. The Vilna edition prints the end of this Tosfos at the top of the next amud [Arachin 10b]; it is given here whole, following Sefaria.