(1)יהוה spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, on the first new moon of the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, saying: (2) Let the Israelite people offer the passover sacrifice at its set time: (3) you shall offer it on the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, at its set time; you shall offer it in accordance with all its rules and rites.

בחדש הראשון [AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES] IN THE FIRST MONTH — The section which appears at the commencement of this Book was not spoken before Eyar (the second month; cf. Numbers 1:1): you learn, therefore, that there is no “earlier” or “later” (no chronological order) in the Torah. But why, indeed, did not Scripture open the Book with this section? Because it implies something disparaging to Israel (Sifrei Bamidbar 64:1) — that during all the forty years they were in the wilderness they offered only this single Passover sacrifice (Tosafot on Kiddushin 38b s. v. הואיל)

(1)יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Have two silver trumpets made; make them of hammered work. They shall serve you to summon [military bodies of] the community and to set the divisions in motion. (3) When both are blown in long blasts, the whole company [of fighters] shall assemble before you at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; (4) and if only one is blown, the chieftains, heads of Israel’s contingents, shall assemble before you. (5) But when you sound short blasts, the divisions encamped on the east shall move forward; (6) and when you sound short blasts a second time, those encamped on the south shall move forward. Thus short blasts shall be blown for setting them in motion, (7) while to convoke [military bodies of] the congregation you shall blow long blasts, not short ones. (8) The trumpets shall be blown by Aaron’s sons, the priests; they shall be for you an institution for all time throughout the ages. (9) When you are at war in your land against an aggressor who attacks you, you shall sound short blasts on the trumpets, that you may be remembered before your God יהוה and be delivered from your enemies. (10) And on your joyous occasions—your fixed festivals and new moon days—you shall sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your sacrifices of well-being. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I, יהוה, am your God.

A ‘T’RUAH’ THEY SHALL BLOW FOR THEIR JOURNEYS. I have already explained in Seder ‘Emor El Hakohanim’ (Speak unto the priests) that the t’ruah alludes to the [Divine] attribute of justice, for so it is written concerning the journeyings that they were ‘al pi Hashem’ (at the commandment of the Eternal) by the hand of Moses, and it is that [attribute] which brings victory in war, as it is written, And when ye go to war in your land … ‘vahareiothem’ (ye shall sound a ‘t’ruah’). Therefore Moses said, and let them that hate Thee flee ‘mipanecha’ (before Thee), and I have already explained the secret of the panim (face) in the Ten Commandments. And similarly you see that the wall of Jericho fell to the sound of a t’ruah, for it is written, Ye shall not shout … until the day I bid you ‘hari’u’ (sound a ‘t’ruah’); ‘vahari’othem’ (then shall you sound it), and it is written, and the people sounded a great ‘t’ruah,’ and the wall fell down. It was for this reason that it [the city of Jericho] was declared cheirem (devoted) [to the Eternal, and prohibited for private use.]. But when the assembly is to be gathered together ‘tithke’u’ — they are deserving that the t’kiah be sounded, for the ‘p’shutah’ [plain long and continuous sound] alludes to the [Divine] attribute of mercy, for “His right hand is p’shutah (stretched out) to receive the penitent” [as it is stated at the Closing Service on the Day of Atonement — a time of mercy]. Therefore, when the ark rested, Moses said, ‘Return, O Eternal, unto the myriads of thousands of Israel.’ And it is written, And in the day of your gladness and in your appointed seasons … ‘uthkatem’ (ye shall blow a ‘t’kiah’), since war is [suitable] for t’ruah [which alludes to the attribute of justice, as explained above], and the appointed seasons and joyous occasions are for mercy [i.e., for the sound of t’kiah, which alludes to mercy]. And our Rabbis have received by tradition that there should be a long continuous sound before [the t’ruah] and a long continuous sound after it and the t’ruah in the middle, on the New Year, the Day of Atonement [of the Jubilee year], and at the bringing of the offerings, in order not “to mutilate the shoots” [of faith]. But as far as their purpose is concerned, the one is for t’kiah [which alludes to mercy] and the other for t’ruah [which alludes to judgment]. The student learned [in the mystic lore of the Cabala] will understand.

(1)יהוה said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

(16) On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.