the right and left of the player upon the cymbal (Zelazal)
by whom the signal was given, sounded the trumpets at the
nine pauses ((
Hebrew characters)), into which it was divided when sung by
the Levites, and the people bowed down and worshipped.[1]
The Levites standing upon the suggestus ((Hebrew characters)), — i. e. upon
a broad staircase consisting of a few steps, which led up from
the court of the laity, to that of the priests, — who were both
singers and musicians, and consequently played only on strin-
ged instruments and instruments of percussion, not wind-
instruments, were at least twelve in number, with 9 citherns,
2 harps, and one cymbal: on certain days the flute was added
to this number.[2] The usual suggestus on the steps at the side
of the altar was changed for another only in a few cases; for
it is noticed as something special that the singers had a dif-
ferent position at the festival of water-drawing during the
Feast of Tabernacles (vid. introduction to Ps. cxx — cxxxiv),
and that the flute-players who accompanied the Hallel stood
before the altar, (Hebrew characters) (Erachin 10 a). The treble was taken
- ↑ B. Rosh ha-Shana, 31a. Tamid vii. 3, comp. the introduction to Ps. xxiv. xcii and xciv.
- ↑ According to B. Erachin 10a the following were the customary
accompaniments of the daily service: 1) 21 trumpet blasts, to as many
as 48; 2) 2 nablas, to6 at most; 2 flutes ((
Hebrew characters)), to 12 at most. Blowing the
flute is called striking the flute, (Hebrew characters). On 12 days of the year the
flute was played before the altar: on the 14th of Nisan at the slaying of the
Passover (at which the Halle! was sung), on the 14th of Ijar at the slaying
of the little Passover, on the ist and ith days of the Passover and on the
eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles. The mouth-piece ((Hebrew characters) according
to the explanation of Maimonides) was not of metal but a reed (comp. Arab.
anbub, the blade of the reed), because it sounds more melodious. And
it was never more than one flute ((Hebrew characters), playing a solo), which con-
tinted at the end of a strain and closed it, because this produces the
finest close ((Hebrew characters)). On the 12 days mentioned, the Halle! was sung with
flute accompaniment. On other days, the Psalm appointed for the day was
accompanied by nablas, cymbals and citherns, This passage of the treatise
Erachin also tells who were the flute-players, On the flute-playing atthe fest-
ival of water-drawing, vid. my Geschichte der jidischen Poesie 8. 195, In
the Temple of Herod, according to Erachin 10 6, there was also an organ.
This was however not a water-organ ((Hebrew characters), hydraulis), but a wind-
organ ((Hebrew characters)) with a hundred different tones ((Hebrew characters)), whose thunder-
like sound, according to Jerome (Opp. ed. Mart. v. 191), was heard ab Je.
rusalem usque ad montem Oliveti et amplius, vid. Saalschtitz, Archéol
i. 291—284
