OU Torah Triumph Trumpets By Shira Smiles

Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein We are all familiar with the sound of trumpets. Throughout the ages, they heralded the approach of kings and the call to battle. Hashem had special trumpets made for the Mishkan that would serve these purposes as well as other purposes. In the desert, their blasts would alert the camp to pack up and begin moving. Enumerating the uses of the chatzotrot/trumpets, Hashem says,“It shall be for you an eternal decree for your generations,... when you go to war against an enemy” to “be recalled before Hashem, your God, and you shall be saved from your foes.” You shall also sound them “on a day of your gladness, and on your festivals, and on your new moons, you shall sound your trumpets over your elevation-offerings and over your feast peace-offerings; and they shall be a remembrance for you before your God, I am Hashem, your God.” Our Sages interpret the “days of gladness to include Shabbat when the special peace offerings of the day were brought, as were the special offerings of the festivals.