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Does there appear anywhere in Torah Sheb'al Peh a sufficiently detailed description of the musical instruments played by the Levi'im in the Beit Hamikdash that they could theoretically be reconstructed and played?

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The Temple Institute claims to have reconstructed many of the holy artifacts required by the Bais Hamikdash

The chatzotzros (trumpets), Gold plated Shofar, Silver Plated Shofar, Harp, Lyre

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  • Do you happen to know if they have a source for constructing the harp and the lyre as they did? – Ze'ev Dec 29 '15 at 16:52
  • @Ze'ev You would have to check their web site and contact them to get the details. – sabbahillel Dec 29 '15 at 17:09
  • @Ze'ev they use whatever limited archeological evidence is available, and fill in the gaps with contemporaneous artifacts. Their kinnor is based off a coin dating from the bar kochba period. – ShamanSTK Dec 29 '15 at 19:34
  • OTOH, a magreifah is anything from a portable pipe organ to something like an accordion or maybe a bagpipe. The descriptions in the Yerushalmi, Sukkah 5:6. It has 10 holes, or 10 pipes -- or 10 pipes that have 10 holes each, was capable of playing chords, and a 1 ammah cube sized thing that blew air. I don't think the Temple Institute will guess at that one quite yet. (The same word, magreifah, means the rakes used to clean the coals and ash off the altar. Which may refer to a visual similarity if the pipes were splayed like the ribs of a hand-fan.) – Micha Berger Dec 30 '15 at 16:57
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You can start with the Mishnah in Erchin (Arachin, if you insist) on daf 10a and Mishnah and Gemara later on 13b. Rashi there discusses what, exactly, the various instruments were.

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  • Does he give "a sufficiently detailed description of the musical instruments played by the Levi'im in the Beit Hamikdash that they could theoretically be reconstructed and played"? – Double AA♦ Aug 18 '16 at 14:54
  • He tells you what they are. Don't we all know what cymbals look like? – DonielF Aug 18 '16 at 15:24
  • I wouldn't be surprised to find there are multiple kinds of cymbals, and even less surprised to find there are multiple kinds of harps. Knowing the name isn't necessarily sufficient (unless you can prove that all variations of harps are equally kosher) – Double AA♦ Aug 18 '16 at 15:31
  • Well, Rashi does say both a kinor and a neivel are types of harps... – DonielF Aug 18 '16 at 15:32
  • Ok so that supports that the particular type is relevant. What if we bring lots of harps to the Mikdash and it turns out they are all Kinnorim and not Nevalim? – Double AA♦ Aug 18 '16 at 15:34

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